He was already that person before the lottery changed anything
On a quiet Essex road at dawn, a man who had once saved a stranger's life with his bare hands lost his own to a driver who did not stop. Anthony Canty — a water worker, a lottery winner, and a man whose instinct in crisis was always to stay — died in hospital four days after being struck while cycling in Tiptree on May 21st. His story asks something of us: what it means to show up for others, and what it costs when others do not.
- A man celebrated for saving a police officer's life during the first COVID lockdown was killed in a hit-and-run collision on a morning commute in Essex.
- The driver of a black Ford Ka struck Canty on Maldon Road and fled, leaving him critically injured on the roadside.
- Canty spent four days in hospital before dying — a death made sharper by the particular shape of the life it ended.
- An 18-year-old was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, driving while impaired, and failing to stop, and remains under active investigation.
- Police are urgently appealing for witnesses, dashcam footage, and CCTV to reconstruct the moments that unfolded on Maldon Road that morning.
Just after half past six on the morning of May 21st, a black Ford Ka struck a cyclist on Maldon Road in Tiptree, Essex. The driver did not stop. The man on the bicycle was Anthony Canty, and four days later, he died in hospital.
Canty had already lived a life marked by unlikely moments. In April 2020, during the earliest weeks of the pandemic, he was riding a bus when a police officer collapsed beside him. He performed CPR without hesitation. The officer was airlifted to hospital and survived five days in intensive care. Canty kept in touch with the family throughout the recovery — bringing fruit and flowers, checking in quietly. It was the kind of decency that asks nothing in return.
A month later, Canty won £1 million in the EuroMillions lottery, sharing the prize with his partner Katie Sullivan. He was a water supply worker in Maldon, and he said he planned to keep his job. The money was a windfall, not an exit.
Six years on, that same man was cycling when the Ford Ka hit him and the driver fled. An 18-year-old has since been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, driving while unfit through drink or drugs, and failing to stop, and remains under investigation. Police are appealing for anyone with CCTV footage, dashcam recordings, or witness accounts from that morning on Maldon Road to come forward.
On the morning of May 21st, just after half past six, a black Ford Ka struck a cyclist on Maldon Road in Tiptree, Essex. The driver did not stop. The cyclist, a man in his thirties, was rushed to hospital in serious condition. Four days later, he died. His name was Anthony Canty.
Canty was not a stranger to crisis or to doing the right thing when it mattered. In April 2020, during the first weeks of the pandemic lockdown, he was on a bus when a police officer collapsed beside him. Without hesitation, Canty performed CPR. The officer was airlifted to hospital, where he spent five days in intensive care. Canty stayed in touch with the officer's family while he recovered, bringing fruit and flowers, checking in afterward. It was the kind of quiet decency that most people never have to summon, and most never will.
A month later, in May 2020, Canty's life changed in a different way. He won £1 million in the EuroMillions lottery draw. He shared the prize with his partner, Katie Sullivan. But Canty was not the type to disappear into sudden wealth. He worked as a water supply worker in Maldon, and he made it clear he intended to keep his job. The lottery win was a gift, not a reason to stop showing up.
On that May morning six years later, Canty was cycling when the Ford Ka hit him. The driver fled the scene. Police arrived and found Canty injured. He was taken to hospital, where he remained for four days before he died.
An eighteen-year-old man was arrested in connection with the collision. He was initially held on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving while unfit through drink or drugs, and failing to stop at the scene. As of the time of reporting, he remained under investigation, and the inquiry was ongoing.
Police appealed for witnesses. They asked anyone who had seen the black Ford Ka in the area around the time of the collision to come forward. They requested CCTV footage, dashcam video, or any other evidence that might help establish what happened in those seconds on Maldon Road when a lottery winner's life ended, and a young driver's life changed forever.
Citações Notáveis
Canty said he stayed in touch with the officer's partner while he was in hospital, dropped off fruit and flowers, and kept in contact after he recovered— Essex police statement
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
What strikes you most about this story—the lottery angle, or something else?
The lottery is almost beside the point. What matters is that Canty was the kind of person who performed CPR on a stranger during a pandemic, then kept showing up to his water supply job even after winning a million pounds. That's the shape of his character.
So the hit-and-run is what—a senseless interruption of a life that was already meaningful?
Yes. The lottery made him visible to the press, but it didn't make him who he was. He was already that person. The collision just happened to end the life of someone we now know about.
The eighteen-year-old driver—do we know anything about him beyond his age and the charges?
Not from the reporting. He remains under investigation. That's all we have. He's a name without a face, a suspect without a story yet.
Four days in hospital before Canty died. That's a long time to be conscious, or unconscious, or somewhere in between.
It is. And his family and friends had four days of not knowing whether he would make it. Then he didn't.
What happens next?
Police continue investigating. They're looking for witnesses, for footage, for the evidence that will determine what charges stick and what the driver's fate becomes. And somewhere, a family is grieving a man who saved a stranger's life and then lost his own to a stranger.