10-year old bike rider killed in Hesperia

Just heartbreaking.

According to the Hesperia Star, a young bike rider was killed yesterday when he rode out in front of a car at an intersection.

Ten-year old Hesperia resident Arnold Covarrubias was riding east on the north sidewalk along on Main Street at Third Avenue at 8:45 pm when he attempted to cross Main without warning, and was hit by a Kia SUV. He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9:35 pm.

Investigators say Covarrubias may have been distracted by a stray dog when he rode out into the intersection against the light and was hit by the SUV, which was headed west on Main with the green light.

A satellite view shows a major intersection with two to three lanes of traffic in every direction.

The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with police; speed or alcohol use did not appear to be factors in the collision. As always, however, the key is whether there were other witnesses besides the driver, who has an inherent interest is seeing his actions in the best possible light.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Deputy Simon DeMuri from the Hesperia Station at 760/947-1500.

This is the 60th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth in San Bernardino County. Remarkably, that’s exactly the same rate as this time last year in both the county, and the greater SoCal region.

It’s also the fifth bicycling death in Hesperia, population 92,000, in the last three years.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Arnold Covarrubias and his family. 

2 comments

  1. You know me, and that I would never side with a driver in a bike wreck without strong evidence, but the driver might not be lying about the kid. Note that I didn’t say “might be right”, but “might not be lying”. I haven’t been able to do any experimenting on my own, but there are studies that prove drivers in Anglophone countries don’t process the existence of a cyclist in the road even when the cyclist is plainly visible, sometimes not until just before or the moment of impact. The person’s brain does a quick (and conscious) “Where did THAT come from?” and then sub-consciously creates a narrative that explains where the cyclist “came from” to explain why the driver did not notice the cyclist. Since this does not take place in the conscious mind the driver is not lying when he or she says “Swerved from the side of the road” because that is the reconstruction they created to explain to the conscious mind what happened. The same thing can also happen with the “crossing cyclist”.

  2. JD says:

    Our prayers go up for the family and friends of young Mr. Covarrubias.

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