LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. — A Wellington teenager is recovering from multiple injuries after he says he was struck by an electric bike rider while heading home from work on his electric scooter Tuesday night near Lion Country Safari.
His family says the crash was the result of a reckless stunt, not an accident, and they are frustrated by what they describe as little communication from investigators in the days since.
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Seventeen-year-old Chad Filer said he was riding his scooter along a relatively isolated stretch of road when three teenage boys on dirt and electric bikes approached him.
According to Chad, one rider began performing a wheelie and intentionally swerved toward him in what he described as a common “bike life” stunt meant to intimidate people, before pulling away at the last second.
“He came towards me while he was doing the wheelie, trying to swerve,” Chad said. “But instead, he ended up hitting me.”
Chad estimates the rider was traveling around 40 mph when the bike struck the right side of his body. The impact sent him to the ground and left him seriously injured.
“That’s when I realized my foot was broken,” he said. “Imagine if they hit my full body.”
Doctors later found he suffered broken metatarsal bones, three broken toes, significant bruising and multiple road rash injuries across his chest, knee, elbow and side. His mother said part of one nipple was partially detached in the crash.
Because Chad has asthma, the family was especially concerned after paramedics told them the impact had knocked the wind out of him and placed him on oxygen at the scene.
A driver stopped to help Chad after the collision. Chad said the riders initially stayed nearby and told him he was “fine” and had simply gotten the wind knocked out of him. But once witnesses called 911, the group fled.
Witnesses were angry, Chad recalled, and some considered chasing the riders before deciding to stay with him until help arrived. Chad and his mother, Cortez Hornsby, believe the rider intentionally drove toward him.
“They definitely did that on purpose because he came towards me,” Chad said.
Hornsby said the emotional toll has been overwhelming.
“I’m a little exhausted mentally, emotionally,” she said. “I’m so focused on getting justice for him. This is my child, my only son, so I’m not gonna stop.”
She said she was attending a fitness class when her phone began ringing repeatedly. When she answered a call from her mother, she learned Chad had been hit.
“She said, ‘Chad got hit,’” Hornsby recalled. “You don’t know what to think. Then she said something was broken.”
Hornsby rushed to the hospital and stayed on the phone with Chad until she arrived.
“When I heard his voice, I was able to breathe,” she said.
The family says the crash has created financial strain in addition to the physical and emotional recovery. Chad cannot work while he heals, and the scooter he relied on for transportation was heavily damaged.
“The throttle is broken, so it’s done for,” Chad said.
He had been saving for a car and said he was close to reaching his goal before the crash.
“Now this is going to ruin it,” he said.
The family also faces mounting medical expenses because Chad’s health insurance through work was not scheduled to begin until next month. Hornsby says they are paying out of pocket for emergency treatment, ambulance transport, medications, specialist appointments, X-rays and braces for his foot.
“It’s going to be up there,” she said, estimating the emergency room bill alone could exceed $5,000.
Beyond the financial burden, Hornsby worries the riders could continue behaving recklessly if they are not identified.
“These kids need to learn their lesson,” she said. “They’re going to keep doing it. They’re going to hurt someone else, and it can end up worse.”
Chad said dangerous stunts are common in parts of the “bike life” community, where riders perform wheelies and swerve close to cars, pedestrians and cyclists.
“You’ll see it everywhere,” he said. “But it makes it worse that he was on an electric dirt bike.”
Hornsby says she called the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and was told this is a county-wide problem. She also says deputies told her based off how isolated the crash site is between the Deer Run community and Lion Country Safari, and the lack of cameras, it may be difficult to find the teens.
“There’s cameras everywhere nowadays,” Hornsby said. “I just need a little bit more effort. I want to at least feel like you care.”
"It's like, is this the world we're living in? Like, people get away with stuff? ...But this is my child, my only son, so I'm not gonna stop," she went on to say.
PBSO has not publicly commented on the status of the investigation.
For now, Chad spends most of his time recovering at home instead of working, playing basketball or spending time at the beach with friends. The crash has also changed how he feels about riding scooters.
“I don’t really want to ride the scooter no more,” he said.
Despite everything, Chad said he is grateful the injuries were not worse.
“Imagine if they hit me straight on,” he said. “The outcome would’ve been way worse than it is right now.”
Lion Country Safari, where Chad works, has supported him during his recovery, he said, encouraging him to focus on healing before returning to work.
As the family waits for answers, Hornsby says her focus remains on accountability.
“Every day that goes by and I don’t hear from anybody, it’s not a good feeling,” she said. “Something needs to happen. It’s not right.”
To help in Chad's recovery and pay for medical expenses, the family has started a GoFundMe.
