Almost four months after being seriously injured in a cycling accident, Toronto resident Stephanie Pimentel finally got the chance to thank one of the “stranger angels,” a young woman named Kimberly Crabtree, who came to her aid that fateful day.
“I just thanked her for being there and for being so kind and for taking the time to be with me in a really scary moment. … Thank you is just never enough,” Pimentel, who was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, told CP24.com.
“Kimberly is part of my community now. She has no choice.”
On the morning of Oct 9, 2024, Pimentel was cycling in a bike lane on Shaw Street, just south of Queen Street West, when she said she crossed into the middle of the road to avoid a construction zone. Somehow in that moment one of her tires got stuck in a streetcar track sending her flying over her bicycle onto the roadway.
“It all happened in seconds. … I landed on my head and then my left arm,” she shared.
“I knew right away that I’d broken my arm. … It was the worst physical pain I’ve ever experienced.”
Several people helped Pimentel after crash
In the moments following the accident, several people came to Pimentel’s aid.
One of them was Crabtree, who sat down next to Pimentel’s head and comforted her until paramedics arrived about 35 minutes later and whisked her away to Toronto Western Hospital for treatment.
“Kimberly was the first person by my side, and she stayed there the entire time,” she shared.
“She helped me calm down and distracted me until the ambulance arrived.”
Pimentel said the young woman helped her calm her breathing and chatted with her about all kinds of things to pass the time. She even applied Chapstick on her lips, said Pimentel, who didn’t think to exchange contact info with the woman before she was taken to the hospital.
Pimentel shattered her humerus and broke her elbow in the crash, which also left her with several bumps and bruises. She spent the nine weeks in bed recovering and has yet to return to her work as a private nutrition cook or get back on a bicycle.
Pimental said she didn’t exactly know who Crabtree was until recently when she felt well enough to try to find the kind strangers who helped her in her time of need.
“I wanted to find them right away (to thank them), but I was incapacitated,” she said.
“I’ve thought about those people for the last three months. It actually brings tears to my eyes when I think about them.”
Earlier this month, Pimentel took to social media asking if anyone knew a young woman in her 20s with “gorgeous skin” who used to plan music festivals and was walking home after getting a facial when she stopped to help a cyclist who had been hurt in an accident last fall.
“I would love to find her to express how grateful I am that she was there. This is where I need your help! Please share this so maybe, if six degrees does exist, someone knows this wonderful human!,” she wrote.
“I would also love to find the construction worker that held my hand and played music for me. I can’t remember his name, something like Saleem? It’s not every day we get to truly experience the kindness of strangers.”
Pimentel’s posts went viral and while they didn’t necessarily connect her to her “stranger angels” they did give her the momentum she needed to try to locate Crabtree, who shortly before the accident had visited a local spa.
Pimentel reached out to several businesses in the area and asked them if they had a client on Oct. 9, 2024 named Kimberly and if they’d be willing to contact her on her behalf.
A ‘cool full-circle moment,’ says woman who helped cyclist
Days later, Pimentel connected with the young woman over Instagram and expressed her gratitude to her for her “immense kindness.”
Crabtree told CP24.com that she’d just finished getting a facial at a spa on Ossington Avenue and was walking home that sunny fall day when she happed upon the crash.
“Obviously it was quite a dramatic scene,” she said.
Crabtree said she noticed that no one was comforting the injured woman, so she ran over and immediately sat near her head and started talking to her in an effort to keep her distracted until medics arrived.
“I could see that she is a strong person, but anyone who goes through that needs someone to help them,” she said.
“If I was in that situation, I’d want someone to help me.”
Crabtree added that she never expected to hear from Pimentel, but is “very touched” that she found her to say thanks.
“Stephanie is a super kind lady. I’m really glad she’s doing OK,” she said.
“This is kind of a cool full-circle moment.”
Pimentel, a long-time cyclist, shared there were two other people who helped her that day: another kind woman who called 911 and a handsome construction worker who held her hand and told her jokes in the minutes following the crash. Pimentel recalled that the worker also played music on his phone, including her favourite song: Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen, until EMS got to the scene. He also kept her bike safe in the days that followed, she said.
“He was just a really nice guy,” Pimentel said of the man.
Pimentel said she hasn’t had any luck so far in locating the construction worker or the other lady, but hopes that sharing her story with the media might help connect the dots.
Pimentel said their thoughtfulness of those strangers following her accident might have seemed like a small thing to them, but it meant “everything” to her, especially
in the difficult days and weeks that followed.
“They held me up mentally. Connecting with kind people helped me through the pain,” she shared.
“I do truly believe that community is everything and we belong to a large community, even in a big city. People are there for each other.”
