A man who ended up in the emergency room after a serious crash while riding on the Eastbank Esplanade last Friday (9/19) is looking for witnesses to help him piece together what happened.
Richard B. (he didn’t want to share his last name) says it was about 3:45 pm and he was riding south on the Esplanade just past the Fire Station near the Hawthorne Bridge. Here’s how he describes what happened next:
“It was one of my regular rides. I remember going by the fire station, then except for one brief blurry memory of an EMT lifting me into the ambulance, the next memory is being in the emergency room at OHSU after CT scan and evaluation.”
Richard says the EMT’s report cites a bike collision but doesn’t give many other details. He says someone apparently called 911 on his behalf but at this point, he wants to know more about what happened.
“It really does not change much,” he wrote in an email to me yesterday, “but it would be nice to know.”
Besides memory loss, the crash left him with broken ribs, a very sore body and neck, and a cracked helmet.
Richard was riding alone and says the EMTs didn’t look in his helmet for ID. Luckily, he says he “woke up enough to give them my wife’s cell number” but now he wonders where others carry ID.
If you saw this crash, please contact me at jonathan[at]bikeportland[dot]org and I will connect you with Richard.