Ottawa Coun. Jeff Leiper, who is running for mayor this fall, fell off track Friday in a late-morning scooter crash that landed him briefly in the hospital for minor bruises.
Leiper was taken to The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus after what he described on X as a “gnarly” scooter accident.
“He’s sore and a little bruised,” Heather Badenoch, Leiper’s mayoral campaign media representative said Saturday to Postmedia, which reached out to Leiper for comments about the crash.
Badenoch said Leiper was taking the weekend to rest and recover from his injuries and won’t be able to further comment on the crash until next week.
In a Bluesky post the day before the crash, Leiper wrote: “My new scooter arrived and I’m in my happy place.”
Following the crash on Friday, Leiper took to social media to express his gratitude to those who helped him along the way.
Online, dozens expressed their well-wishes for the mayoral candidate, who used the opportunity to remind Ottawa to wear helmets.
“Today, I was reminded of the kindness and care that define who we are, Ottawa,” Leiper wrote in a May 29 afternoon post on X.
“I was riding alone, but within moments, two drivers stopped to check on me, to help, and to take me to the hospital.”
Leiper’s campaign has confirmed that no other vehicles were involved and the councillor was wearing a helmet at the time of the incident.
He extended his thank you to the Ottawa hospital staff and the strangers who treated him “like a friend and neighbour.”
