Once again, a bike rider appears to have been the tragic collateral damage of someone else’s collision.
According to KTLA-5, a woman in her 40s, whose identity has not been publicly released, was riding her bike on the 7100 block of North Shoup Ave just below Sherman Way around 4 pm, when she was somehow involved in a collision with two motor vehicles.
Details are still very sketchy; the best clue to what happened comes from a fire department spokesperson who described it as “a two-car accident also involving a bicyclist.”
The rider was killed at the scene; at least one other person was taken to a nearby hospital with critical injuries.
An aerial photo showed the victim covered by a tarp on the sidewalk, her mangled bike resting against the curb in front of the two vehicles that were apparently involved, one of which ended up on the sidewalk.
This is the 53rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 21st in the County of Los Angeles. She is also the 7th bike rider to lose her life in the City of Los Angeles this year.
Update: A writer for the Huffington Post who lives in the neighborhood fills in some of the missing details.
Linda Milazzo reports seeing news of the collision on her Twitter feed, then driving to the collision site after seeing a helicopter hovering overhead.
According to Milazzo, the victim was standing on the sidewalk next to her bike when a northbound car turning left onto Sherman Way collided with a car driving south on Shoup; the second car went onto the sidewalk where it struck the victim, who suffered “multiple traumatic injuries to her face and body.”
The victim wasn’t wearing a helmet; Milazzo was told no when she asked an investigator for the Coroner’s office if that could have made a difference.
And this is why you should always carry ID when you ride. The victim, identified only as a woman around 40 years old, didn’t have any with her. While authorities think they know who she is, final identification will have to wait for confirmation from fingerprints or dental records next week.
Update 2: The LAPD Valley Traffic Division reports that it was a DUI collision. And while the victim has not yet been publicly identified, a comment from Jocelyne below says she knew the victim, who was most likely standing on the corner waiting for a bus; suggesting that the bike may not have been hers.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and her loved ones.
Thanks to Melissa Pamer for the heads-up.
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I hate pinball wrecks, there is nothing a human cyclist can do to avoid getting hit.
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Hello my name is Jocelyne i thank you for taking your time to write this post and taking us into concederation. It makes us glad to know that there are people who even thought they dont know the victim they take the time to type their thoughts and give their condolences to those who are sufffering for the event. I just wanted to let you know that she was not a cyclist she was standing in the corner waiting to cross the street to catch the bus. Our family is going through a really hard time right now she was my mother. How the bike was there I dont know but she wasnt a cyclist she just rode the bus everyday to her work and come back home to her family.
OK now I’m even more confused, not hit in the shoulder of the road, not even riding a bike but waiting on a bus, and a bike that looks like it was upright when it was hit. So who was riding the bike, and where is he/she? We are missing a body.
I wonder if the bike might have been chained to, or at least leaning against, the lamppost the car crashed into.
Jocelyne, Thanks for leaving this post. Let me start of by saying sorry for your loss I happened to pass by this accident just as it had happened. It has been eating me up inside since. I feel very badly, I can’t imagine what you and your family must be going through. I drive by this street pretty much everyday and I have noticed the candles that where placed but Ive also noticed a man that comes on his bike sometime in the afternoon and lies down next to the candles. Who is this man? I’m just curious. But like I stated earlier I am so sorry for your loss, my thoughts are with you and your family
Im dieing ever since my mother passed she was my life she left me (15yrs) and my sister Sandra(17yrs) . On Friday the day after my mother left us we went to the scene and left the candles and flowers where my mother last layed. The man that you are talking about i have no idea who he is my moms death is such a mystery because she never rode a bike and you can clearlery see there is a bike next to her body which they covered. If any of you guys saw something please tell me let my family and i finally be in peace to know how my mother died the cops havnt even talked to us at all we dont know how my mom got hit if any of you guys saw please tell me how it happened . Please
My email is yanin.yanin.herrera@gmail.com
Angel please if you ever see the man that you say that cries for my mom can you please take a picture a send it to me im just very curious to wonder who he is.
My email is yanin.yanin.herrera@gmail.com
I saw him three nights in a row but that was it, I stopped seeing him. I wanted to talk to him but I assumed I would see keep seeing him and would be able to talk to him the next time I saw him, but I haven’t seen him.
That is very tragic. It could be possible that the man who mourns by the candles is the driver of the vehicle that struck the victim… just a thought.