(Photo: Marion Rice)
The victim of the crash at NW Lovejoy and 9th yesterday morning, left a comment last night saying she has been discharged from the hospital and has suffered no major injuries. The woman’s name is Asha and she’s a student at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA).
(PNCA, you might recall, was the school of both Brett Jarolimek and Tracey Sparling, both of whom lost their lives in October from right-hook crashes.)
From witness accounts and police statements on the scene, we had feared much worse, so this is welcome news.
“I had no idea what was up with him but I could not for the life of me figure out why he would not have stopped when he hit me.”
Here is Asha’s comment (emphasis mine):
“Hello, I am the woman who was the victim of this insane accident.
First of all, thank you all for your kind remarks and wishes of fast recovery, I really appreciate it. I am miraculously fine. I spent last night at the hospital but I am now at home with no broken bones, just a broken tooth, some stitches on my lip, and a scraped up face and leg, which I can’t put too much weight on. I believe my helmet saved my life. It was an insane and traumatic experience but it could have been so much worse.
It is interesting to hear about the driver, I had no idea what was up with him but I could not for the life of me figure out why he would not have stopped when he hit me, why he continued to drive on top of me. His condition makes this a lot clearer for me. I just pray that he has insurance and that I don’t have to deal financially with the mistakes of some idiot drunk.
Lisa: Thank you so much for being there and holding my head steady, I felt so well protected and taken care of as soon as the accident happened. I really appreciate your love for a perfect stranger. [Read Lisa’s comment here.]
I want to mention that I go to PNCA, which is the community that Brett and Tracey were a part of when they had their bike accidents last year. Thank god I am still here to tell my story.”
Asha’s partner Darshan also left a comment. He was happy to learn about the “take the lane” method that many commenters said would have helped Asha stay safe in this situation.
Darshan also wants to find Asha’s bike. “From the photo,” he wrote, “it looks like it might actually be salvageable…”
UPDATE: Here’s more info about how to recover a bike in this situation (thanks to Officer Robert Pickett):
— He should call the property/evidence division at 503-823-2179, tell them her name and what happened and that she is interested in having the bike back. Hopefully they will have it listed under her name.
— If it was seized as evidence, he will not be able to have it back until after prosecution is over.
— If it was simply taken as safekeeping, he should be able to get it back immediately.
— It is possible that the paperwork has not completely made its way around yet–if the property room doesn’t have her on record, he should call back again in a day or two.