A 20-year-old Dunedin man was enraged after being injured in a hit-and-run incident on George St yesterday, but on reflection acknowledged the incident might well have been his own fault.
Connor Mullan said he was crossing the street near the Meridian about 9.30am, and was about to step on to the footpath outside Glassons, when a white Toyota hatchback ran over his right leg.
''The car clipped my heel, so my heel went right underneath the wheel.
''Then the car took off. It was pretty bad.
''I was sort of raging. I wasn't very happy.
''The car could have stopped. He would have seen me, but he just zoomed on by.''
The Aoraki Polytechnic early childhood education student said the pain was tolerable for the first few minutes, but then he started hopping up and down when it became excruciating.
He was taken to Dunedin Hospital by ambulance with a suspected broken ankle, but it was only a bad sprain, severe bruising and grazing.
The long wait in the emergency department yesterday morning, gave him time to reassess the situation, he said.
''It's all my fault really. I was crossing the road while I was texting. I did have a quick look, but obviously not good enough.
''I should have just put my phone down.''
Mr Mullan acknowledged the incident gave him a huge fright and he had been lucky to escape without more serious injury.
''The lesson is don't be on your phone when you cross the road. Actually look at the road.''
The incident has sparked a Dunedin police hunt for the driver of the white Toyota hatchback.
Constable Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said despite Mr Mullan playing a major role in the incident, he believed the driver should have stopped to ascertain injury.
''[Mr Mullan] said he was texting at the time, so he wasn't paying attention to the road.
Const Bond asked for the driver of the car to come forward, and appealed for any witnesses to contact police with information about the incident.
