Here’s the word from the PPB:
“At 4:56 pm yesterday, officers from East Precinct and investigators from the Traffic Division Major Crash Team responded to a serious injury collision involving a motorist and bicyclist near the intersection of Northeast Halsey Street and Northeast 157th Avenue (map). Investigators arrived and contacted witnesses and the driver of the vehicle, 46-year-old Janet Gomez. Investigators have concluded that the collision occurred when Gomez, who was driving a Kia eastbound on Northeast Halsey Street, stuck the 14-year-old bicyclist who was traveling northbound on Northeast 157th Avenue and failed to stop for the stop sign at Northeast Halsey Street.
Investigators do not believe that speed or impairment will be factors in the collision. Gomez remained at the scene and has fully cooperated with the investigation. The bicyclist was not wearing a helmet at the time of the collision and there is no evidence that he attempted to stop or slow down as he continued past the stop sign and onto Northeast Halsey Street.Family of the juvenile has been notified and he is listed as in critical condition at Emanuel Hospital. Because he is a juvenile the Police Bureau can not release his name. No citations have been issued.”
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This sounds like another case of blaming the victim. I’m sure when the full story gets out it’ll be clear the guy driving the car could have avoided this tragedy.
Since the stop sign wasn’t in ladds addition or anywhere else affluent southeast, and since the rider wasn’t riding an expensive road bike he must’ve deserved to get hit.
Wow Fred, that’s awfully presumptive. There may well be more inofrmation about the accident that tells a more complete story, but if the cyclist did run the stop sign, it’s pretty hard (unless you don’t care about the reality of the situation) to simply pin all fault on the car involved. While ignorant drivers are a real problem, there are also plenty of cyclists out there who make poor decisions, sometimes with serious consequences.
I hope the rider in this case is OK and makes a full recovery.
Thank you Jonathan for bringing this to our attention.
It is unfortunate that the first two comments are angry and empty. At least Otis came in to represent the reasonable crowd. Like Otis, I hope the kid recovers well.
If it turns out that a cyclist ran a stop sign, I would not be surprised because I see it all the time (like I see drivers almost kill riders with their inattention all the time). Also, the kid is 14 years old and kids do make mistakes sometime.
In any event, the facts will come out.
Holy crap people! I have seen tons of cyclists blow through stop signs without a care in the world. Why are we assuming the car is at fault? I am suprised this kind of collision does not happen more often. Fred, did you even read the story? It was a woman driving the car. And Quendolyn, that is a strange conclusion you’ve come to since a) nobody until you said that, and b) it’s totally insane.
And so it begins…[sigh]
Hmm…
Driver not impaired, driver apparently not speeding. Driver traveling eastbound at 5pm – so the sun isn’t a factor either. Sounds like the driver was obeying the law.
Cyclist under 16 years old and no helmet – illegal. Reportedly ran stop sign – illegal. No evidence of slowing or stopping past the sign – not illegal, but really unwise.
That sounds really straightforward, and unless something odd shakes out from a witness, no charges will be filed – nor should they. The driver apparently did everything right, and I applaud her for staying at the scene and cooperating fully with police, unlike many recent instances with other drivers.
I’m really sorry this 14-year old got hurt. I feel bad for the family, who has to pay the medical bills, has to deal with the pain and stress and recovery, etc. It’s easy to say that the cyclist was in the wrong, but that doesn’t correct or fix anything. Anyone who is the parent of a teen knows how difficult it is to get them to obey *any* rules. I hope that this teen is able to recover quickly and learns something from this.
Not necessarily to obey the law or to wear a helmet (we can debate those 2 issues ad infinitum), but the most important lesson any cyclist can learn – to be aware of his or her surroundings.
Yeah… I have to admit, I make at least as many stupid errors riding a bike as I do driving a car. I wouldn’t say the majority of my close calls can be attributed to my mistakes (there are a lot of terrible drivers out there), but I would never assume I’m automatically in the right, even though I’m an experienced cyclist. I assume the same applies to others.
“I’m sure when the full story gets out it’ll be clear the guy driving the car could have avoided this tragedy.”
Pardon? Like it’s impossible for an accident to be the cyclist’s fault, EVER? Sure, it’s likely that the car could have been more careful, but if the cyclist rolled through a stop sign and in front of a car it seems to me that he is the one at fault. We don’t have the full story yet, I aggree. We’ll see how things turn out.
I do very much hope that he pulls through though. I always hate to hear about anyone getting hurt, esspecially in a collision with a car. Best of luck!
Some of you responding actually sound
concerned for this boy who was struck by the car, but I didn’t appreciate some of the negative comments. This is just a story to some of you, but to others, like our family who happen to be personal friends with the boys family is a heart wrenching ordeal. I did not give my name for this reason. Let’s put all the blame and negative comments aside, and just pray for him and his loved ones. This is a total shock, and they all need as much positive support as possible. He looks like he’s going to be ok, but has a long road ahead of him as far as recovery goes.
As a resident living just feet from this intersection, I can clarify some of the details. Traveling north on 157th leads you to a stop sign at the bottom of a very steep hill (at least 9% grade). If any part of your vehicle fails, mainly the brakes, you are screwed as this is a residential road thet intersects a moving arterial road (halsey). Additionally, there always seems to be some loose gravel on the road at that stop. I have laid down my scooter making the turn off halsey before and have lost control of my bicycle once going down the hill in the fall (wet leaves). Fortuneately, neither incident involved any other traffic. Additionally, an overgrown parcel of weeds partaillr blocks a drivers (on halsey) view of anything coming down that hill. I can only come to the conclusion that this happened as a very unfortunate set of circumstances that defines the word accident.
I, too, am familiar with that intersection. NE 157th is VERY steep for a couple blocks before it intersects with NE Halsey. It would have been easy for the bicyclist to be going faster than intended — and difficult to slow down, let alone stop. Also, the posted speed limit on that section of Halsey is 45 mph. Bad combination.