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Bike Destroyed In Collision With Unsupervised 7yo Child On A Dirtbike. What Kind Of Restitution Am I Entitled To?

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Location: Alaska

My girlfriend and I were recently involved in a collision with a 7 year old child riding a motorcycle unsupervised. My bicycle was completely destroyed in the process, though thankfully injuries were minor.

The child was alone at dusk, riding a CRF50 (I believe) coming around the corner of a school in the parking lot. We were traveling at 8mph (recorded on Strava) when he collided with the left side of my bike and plowed through me, continuing on to hit my girlfriend on her bike roughly 8ft to my right side. He was young enough that he did not know his parent's phone numbers or their home address - we walked ~1.5miles to his home to speak with the parents and inform them of what happened. Aside from the age of the rider, off road vehicle are not allowed in the area of the incident.

My bike is completely destroyed, requiring replacement. I just purchased the bike 9-10 weeks prior to the collision, it was still in 'like-new' condition.

I have been having a very difficult time dealing with the parents with regards to reimbursement. While I have a long text message history with them acknowledging their responsibility, they are doing everything possible to drag the matter out and attempt to negotiate the lowest possible reimbursement amount.

What exactly am I entitled to, here? Is it fair to ask for the actual replacement value of the bike in question?

I am concerned because I purchased this bike during a sale that immediately preceded the implementation of tariffs on the industry. The bike that I paid ~2000-2500 for in July is now closer to $5000. I am not trying to gouge this family, I just want my bike back. I even told them that if they could find the same bike/same size in similar condition that I would take that and be happy. My concern is that even if I can get $2000-2500 from them that I will still be nowhere near able to afford replacing the bike.

Edit - I forgot to mention that I did contact the police, but they chose to make an 'Information Only' police report and did not respond to the scene of the crime. The extent of their involvement appears to be creating the report and having an officer contact the mother briefly (they tried contacting the father as well, but he provided me with a deactivated phone number on the night of the incident).

submitted by /u/Any_Net8363
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