Too often, someone can be killed in a bicycling crash, and it never makes the news.
Or if it does, it may show up somewhere far away.
That was the case this March, when a 20-year veteran of the US Army was killed, without making a blip in the local media until the story popped up in his home country of Belize yesterday.
According to the Breaking Belize News website, 49-year old Sergeant Brian George Martinez was killed in an early morning collision while training for the Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Class, a one day amateur bike race held annually in the country since 1928.
The news surfaced in a story about his mother donating his bicycling gear to the Cycling Federation of Belize following his death.
An April Facebook post from the organization said Martinez was killed in Los Angeles on March 17th, just one week after he sent in his registration for the race.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office confirms his death.
Meanwhile, a website for a Los Angeles law firm places the collision at the intersection of East Victoria Street and South Avalon Boulevard in Carson.
He died at the scene.
There’s no word on how the crash occurred, or if the driver was ticketed or charged. Or even stopped following the crash, for that matter.
In addition to his military career, Martinez worked as a Licensed Clinical Health and Mental Health Therapist in Los Angeles.
This is at least the 46th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 17th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Brian George Martinez and all his loved ones.
Yes I remember this popping up in my inbox when it happened. It was around the same time Andrew Jelmert was killed in Griffith Park. At the time I thought about the contrast in how each incident was treated. I included this incident, as well as others that I’ve learned about for 2022, in an LA County map for “Angelenos killed while riding” in this blog post: https://www.la-bike.org/post/why-it-s-essential-to-talk-about-power-when-talking-about-traffic-violence
Thank you for consistently keeping an ear to the ground on these incidents and spreading the word.