AN emotional witness told today how he helped comfort a young man fatally injured in a road accident.
Last night the 18-year-old rider had still not been officially identified by police.
The accident happened at around 6pm on Tuesday at the junction of Abbey Street and Mercian Way.
Yesterday, a close family friend, who did not wish to be named, said that she had only seen the victim less than an hour before his death.
She said he was "one of those people who could always make you laugh.
"He would come out with most random things but they couldn't help but make you smile.
"I only saw him at 5pm, just before it happened.
"I can't believe that he is gone.
"It just shows you how you can be there one minute and gone the next.
"His family was incredibly important to him and he always did the best for them and his friends."
The witness, a van driver who saw the collision, said he tried to comfort the cyclist before paramedics arrived.
The driver, who said that he was "just a few hundred yards from home", said he held the cyclist while waiting for the emergency services to arrived and saw that he was still breathing.
The man gave a statement to the police at the scene of the collision on Tuesday night and called the Derby Telegraph after reading online reports of the incident.
Legal reasons mean that the Telegraph cannot reveal all of the details discussed.
However, the man did say: "It all happened so fast.
"I was the first person on the scene.
"I was sitting at the red light at the junction of Mercian Way and Abbey Street and saw the collision.
"I pulled my van over to the central reservation and ran out while calling the police.
"All I was trying to do was my best for the lad.
"I couldn't sleep that night and went to work but was sent home."
The cyclist died yesterday morning in the Royal Derby Hospital.
The driver said: "I read the reports on the internet and Facebook and wanted to tell people what I saw.
"To hear that the boy has died is absolutely heart-breaking.
"My thoughts go out to his family."
