Please make it stop.
After a terrible start to the year — and one of the worst weeks in memory — yet another bike rider has lost his life on the mean streets of Southern California.
And once again, it may have been a hit-and-run.
My News LA is reporting that 58-year old Fullerton resident Ivars Borsteins was found lying in the street at Malvern Ave and Basque Ave in Fullerton around 9:30 pm Thursday.
Borstens was discovered suffering from serious injuries, next to a mountain bike that had been converted to an ebike.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police are investigating the crash as a possible hit-and-run, but acknowledge it’s possible that Borstens may have fallen off his bike for some reason.
Officers stressed that Borstens’ bike had been modified to add an electric engine, rather than manufactured as an ebike. There are any number of conversion kits on the market that can turn any bike into an ebike.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Fullerton Police Department at 714/738-6812.
This is at least the 23rd bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Orange County. It’s also the fifth SoCal bicycling death in just the last week.
If this turns out to have been a hit-and-run, it would be the eight fatal bike hit-and-run since the first of the year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Ivars Borsteins and all his lived ones.
