A reader writes in seeking witnesses to an accident (the cyclist suffered broken bones) that occurred Thursday morning at 12th and I Street. He'd very much like to talk to you if you witnessed the incident, or if you know one of the people who stopped to help. You can leave contact info in the comments, or you can email me at elise.bernard[at]gmail.com and I will put you in touch with him.
My wife was in a fairly bad bike accident [Thursday] morning in the neighborhood. Details to follow. I'm posting to thank the guys who helped her and ask if there were any other witnesses who may have seen the car involved.
She was biking to work [Thursday] morning (Nov. 5, around 8:45 a.m.) and as she turned right from 12th St. NE onto I St. NE, a car pulled out from an illegal parking spot into her path without warning. She hit the brakes and her bike went out from under her. She landed on her left hand and right arm. A man in a white pick up truck asked if she was OK. At the time she thought she was just bruised and said and said yeah so he moved on. Two men helped her get her bike out of the street onto the sidewalk, which is when she started to think she had broken her left wrist. The car that caused the accident did not stop, it just proceeded to turn right on 12th St. NE heading south.
I Street Northeast is a one-way with a contraflow bike lane. The car had been parked on the left side of the street in a spot that is crossed out and not meant for cars to use. She believes the car was a gray Prius, but didn't get the license plate number.
We filed a police report and went to the hospital in an ambulance. She has not only a broken wrist, but also a fracture in the elbow on the other arm. We are looking for anyone who may have seen the accident itself, or a gray Prius-like car going south on 12th St. NE a little after 8:45 a.m. on Thursday. If you did see anything, please reply to this e-mail or leave a comment here. We also want to thank the people who helped her again and see if we can track them down. This could have been even worse.
18 comments:
i'd suggest getting a feed from a few of the nearby MPD cameras, or check with local business see if
they have a street camera....
Well odds are that car will be back again, but you will need to prove it's the same one...
I am sorry and hope the cyclist recovers quickly. Is the poster saying the driver broke the law or is to blame for the accident, injuries?
The driver was in the bike lane when the cyclist turned onto I st NE, in braking to avoid colliding the bike went down and the driver left the scene without stopping to help. I think it was a grey prius. Have asked the police if there was any cameras.
so the car was in the bike lane prior to the cyclist's turn into the bike plane?
Yes the car was transitioning from the crossed out non parking area into the bike lane as I turned. I saw a right headlight and turn signal coming at me and braked. The road was slippery and my bike went sideways. I looked up to see the back end of a prius turn up 12th st towards H st. Driver did not stop, I was taken to the ER in an ambulance. I am in a great deal of pain and want the identity of the driver. He/She fled the scene of an accident.
I am truly sorry for you injury, but you are asking your neighbors to help you find another human being for you. Could you please stop with legal jargon (enough lawyers in DC can spin words) and simply say what you want from this person or people ? Do you want them arrested, do you want them to pay you for you pain and suffering, do you only want an apology or explanation as to why they did what you believe they did? This person most likely has a job and family....
did the car hit you?
Obviously a car doesn't have to physically strike someone to cause an accident.
Yeah, it doesn't sound like the car even hit her.
did the biker stop prior to the turn?
Can commenters here read?
I think 4:03 has a good question - did the biker stop at the stop sign at 12 & I? If the biker stopped at the intersection, as she is supposed to do, she most likely would have been aware of the vehicle parked/pulling out onto I St. Further, if she had stopped at the intersection, I doubt she would have accelerated quickly enough in the time turning left to brake with the force causing the accident and subsequent injury. Hope you get better soon, but this doesn't quite add up.
I think we all owe it to each other to ask rational questions and not jump to emotional conclusions. The blogger should be more responsible before starting a manhunt even if they
sincerely believe "Obviously a car doesn't have to physically strike someone to cause an accident." the driver was at fault.
9:37,
That's not just my opinion. It's also the law. It's not a "manhunt." Do you see me calling for helicopters and checkpoints? There was an accident that resulted in injuries. The husband of the injured party asked for witnesses.
Sounds like you don't know very much about "the law," Inked.
It's my understanding that the husband of the cyclist asked that this be posted for two separate reasons: 1) "to thank the guys who helped her" and 2) locate "witnesses who may have seen the car involved."
The first reason is to thank the driver of the truck and any other folks who were kind enough to stop and assist the cyclist before medical assistance could arrive. I don't think any rational person has a problem with that. The second reason was to find people to help figure out what happened. Memory is a funny thing, especially during a traumatic event (like wiping out on a bike). The cyclist's recollections may or may not be correct. Witnesses could say any number of things to either support or refute the idea that the car somehow caused the accident. In helping locate witnesses, no one is supporting the idea that car *caused* the accident.
And, yes, there are many ways to be legally liable for causing an accident without actually ramming into someone with your car. 1:53 and 9:37 -- go (re)read a couple of torts texts and Chapter 18 of the D.C. Municipal Regulations and show me where that's not the case. Until then, leave the legal interpretation to those who actually have a license to practice law.
Anon 11/11 3:25pm -- Sorry to break it to you, but the comments part of this blog is a cesspool, and the commentariat here is over-represented by sociopathic douchebags whose lives are so empty that they get their pleasure from being a jerk to others' reasonable inquiries. Don't know anything about the incident? A reasonable person would think "I have nothing to offer, so let's move on to something else". But not on this blog. Here, requests for help finding lost dogs get met with queries of whether the dog owner abused the dog and that's why it ran away. Here, notices of folks forming organizations to support their neighborhood school get met with diatribes about how taxes should take care of that. Inked's articles are frequently useful; the comments on them almost never are. So unfortunately, your suggestions are as likely to be helpful as pissing up a flagpole is. This place is overrun by trolls. I wish it weren't true, but there it is.
Annoyingmous,
I'd say it's less that it's a large volume of trolls than that you have one or two people who suffer an odd compulsion to write the same comments over and over again and to post as if it is a larger number of people. I guess that's probably just easier than admitting to being an isolated and lonely person incapable of finding more constructive outlets.
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