"He’s very slowly getting away!"

Looks like the first Segway-based hit-and-run accident has taken place:

There was a bizarre hit and run that took place in San Francisco on Tuesday between a 3-year-old girl and a Segway. It may be the first accident of it’s kind locally involving the motorized scooter which happens to be banned on city sidewalks.

Three-year-old Ruby Bleskacek sustained cuts, bruises and a nasty bump on her head…The child was walking outside her father’s Potrero Hill store on Tuesday when a Segway ran her down. Witnesses say it was traveling about 10 miles per hour.

Joel Bleskacek, father: “I was quite angry and I confronted him. I asked him why he was driving so fast during the crowded lunch hour on the sidewalk. He claimed my daughter jumped in front of him.”

The man fled the scene on his Segway. Police think he lives in the neighborhood.

I actually didn’t think it was possible to “flee a scene” on a Segway. They don’t go much faster than a brisk trot. A reasonably healthy person who wasn’t wearing leather-soled dress shoes should’ve had no trouble catching up with the guy. I wonder why someone didn’t chase after him.

They guy shouldn’t be too hard to find; Segways are extremely rare luxury items sold directly by the manufacturer. Sales records should narrow the list of suspects pretty quickly.