THE driver of a car which mounted the pavement and crashed into a 12-year-old girl has been labelled a “coward” by her father.

Alexus Morris was seriously injured as the vehicle ploughed into her – and the bicycle she was riding was broken in two.

Her six-year-old cousin Regan McMinn, narrowly escaped injury in the hit-and-run incident in Tonge Moor on Saturday evening.

According to witnesses, Alexus was thrown 20ft into the air after colliding with the car windscreen, and landed on other side of Le Gendre Street from where she had been chatting with her cousin.

As the severely injured youngster lay unconscious, the driver of the vehicle failed to stop and sped off along the street.

Emergency services attended and Alexus, of nearby Pegamoid Street, was taken to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital with a suspected broken leg, fractured wrist, broken teeth, facial injuries and cuts and bruises. She was kept in hospital overnight before being released.

He dad Graham said: “She is a very lucky girl and it could have been so different.”

Alexus, who was recovering at home yesterday, said that at the time of the smash there had been an altercation further down the street involving a group of males and the driver of the car, thought to be a red Fiat Punto.

She said: “I was talking with Regan and heard a lot of shouting and swearing.

“The driver turned the car around and I could hear him revving the engine and braking hard and swerving as he came down the street at speed.

“I just closed my eyes when I saw he was going to hit me on the pavement and that was the last thing I remembered until the ambulance people arrived later.”

Mum Nikki said: “It’s disgusting for him not to make sure that she was okay. He just sped off leaving her in the road. If I were him, I couldn’t live with myself, to think he could have killed her”

Dad Graham added: “Regan is shocked but otherwise unharmed but was crying when he saw what had happened to his cousin. After the accident the lads involved in the altercation ran off but just like the driver, they are utter cowards”

A police spokesman said: “A girl was left lying in the road with multiple injuries as the driver fled the scene.

“Although those injuries were thankfully not life-threatening, they will sadly be life-changing for her.

“We are doing everything we can to find the driver but are desperate to hear from anyone who saw a red Fiat Punto in the area around the time of the collision.

“If you know who is responsible for this incident, I’d appeal to your better judgement and urge you to contact police.”

Anyone with any information should call police on 101 quoting incident number 1965 of 18 August 2018.