Jagdev Toor doesn’t speak much English, but he doesn’t need to in order to get his point across.
Two years ago this week, Toor was hit by a car while clearing leaves outside the Dasmesh Darbar Temple in Surrey. The driver took off, leaving him badly injured, lying in a pool of his own blood.
How is he doing today?
“OK,” he told CTV News without the help of a translator. “Yeah, OK.”
Compared to Toor’s condition after the accident, “OK” is a remarkable improvement.
“We got information that he might die,” Toor’s friend Surjit Singh told CTV News on Tuesday. “The congregation prayed for him at that time for his recovery.”
At the time of the incident, witness Shefali Gupta told CTV News she was surprised that the driver didn’t stop.
“When something flew up in the air, I thought the car may stop, but it didn’t stop, it just ran away,” she said.
Surrey RCMP have so far been unable to find a suspect in the hit-and-run. It’s the only case the detachment’s Criminal Collision Investigation Team hasn’t been able to solve since its formation in 2009.
Police received dozens of tips from the public after the incident took place, and they’re appealing to the public again for any information that may help break open the case.
On Tuesday, Toor also made an appeal. His was to the driver of the vehicle.
“He says that (the driver) should come forward and let the police know, ‘I made a mistake,’” Singh said, interpreting for his friend. “Because we are human beings. Everybody can make a mistake.”
Police say the suspect vehicle is “a reddish burgundy colour” and would have sustained damage to the right front bumper, fender, and likely the windshield. Anyone with information is asked to call the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or Crimestoppers at 800-222-8477.
