Hit and Run

This past Friday night my friend Kenny and I were hit
by a car that ran in Santa Fe Springs. I ended up
getting an ambulance ride, bruises, contusions and
five staples in my head at Presbyterian in Whitter.
Kenny got knocked out and was bleeding from a cut on
his head, but came to after about a minute. My phone
got killed in the collision and a cool motorist
stopped to call 911 for us. Kenny got carted off to
St. Francis in Lynwood and will be alright. I'm ok
too, just a little sore still from where my lower back
hit the junction of the roof of the car and
windshield. It was a helluva kidney-punch. A recent
return to core abdominal exercise sure came in handy
in preventing more serious injury.

We got hit from behind by a silver Honda 2 door. The
passenger side mirror was ripped off by my left ankle
I was getting launched into the air and bouncing off
of the windshield, which made identifying the run
vehicle easy for the Police. We were riding slightly
staggered far right on a wide shoulder, Kenny was in
front and I was about six inches to the right off of
his rear wheel when we were hit. I remember hearing
the car coming and seeing a headlight beam hitting the
ground right in front of me a split second before
getting launched. I saw Kenny going into the air right
after I was hit. My bike ended up in the grass on the
other side of the sidewalk and I ended up just about
at Kenny's bike on the sidewalk. Kenny was about
another 40 feet down. As soon as I stopped
sliding/tumbling, I got up, ran towards Kenny, trying
to get a look at the car and to check on him. My waist
pack was on the ground where I landed, so after
checking to see if Kenny was breathing, I tried 911.
It worked enough to have the call go through, but they
couldn't hear me because my phone had been impacted. I
flagged a kind motorist down and he made the call as I
went back to check on Kenny, who was coming to. He
kept trying to get up and I has to restrain him until
the Paramedics arrived so he didn't injure himself
further. The next thing I know, I'm in a collar on a
backboard being transported to the hospital.

This happened on Santa Fe Springs Rd at McCann Dr in
Santa Fe Springs about Midnight. We had just been
riding around, checking things out and were headed
home after riding a few streets and sitting outside a
club in Uptown Whitter, listening to a band. Both of
us were sober and our bikes had bright blinking
taillights as well as headlights. I was wearing light
colored clothing and Kenny was wearing a reflective
messenger bag. The intersection where we were hit is
well-lit and the right lane is wide enough for another
lane, as well as a bike path.



The Officers on scene said they had a good idea where
the car came from. The bar we had passed a half mile
earlier is notorious for producing DUIs and has
security cameras all over the place, including the
parking lot. They were really cool and felt like they
would not have too much trouble finding out who hit
us. My garbled 911 call will give them a good timeline
to go back from on the security videos. When we passed
the bar right before we got hit, the bouncer outside
exchanged pleasantries with us, making him the closest
witness to what happened. I'd say if that car came
from that bar, the Police have a good chance of
finding this coward.

After being released from the hospital around 0230, I
was still a little dazed and my phone was not working
at all. I couldn't remember any phone numbers, so I
walked from the hospital to Beach Blvd because I knew
OCTA runs a bus up and down it all night. After
walking and hopping a couple of bus rides, I got home
about 0730.

The rest of the weekend was spent resting and hanging
around with Rebecca, after a visit to Kenny in the
hospital and ensuring his people knew where he was.
I'm ok and already feel pretty good. The kidney punch
is all that's still sore and I'll be getting the
staples out of my nugget on Friday.

There was nothing we could have done to avoid this
collision. It happened and hopefully the perpetrator
has already been or does get caught. It will not
prevent me from living my life as I have been,
enjoying as much of it as possible and a lot of that
from the saddle of my bicycle. I may be looking over
my shoulder a bit more often though.