Sadly, I was told today that he passed away after he was disconnected from a ventilator Thursday morning.
Don Hernandez was on a club ride from the Rose Bowl to Duarte on Saturday morning when the group passed through a parking lot at Santa Fe Dam. Hernandez somehow hit a parking curb and went over his handlebars, landing on his face.
Even though he was riding at slow speed, he suffered a number of severe injuries, including a fractured skull and breaks to his neck and spine.
And yes, he was wearing a helmet, but it offered little protection the way he landed.
He was placed in a medically induced coma; however, a neurologist found no brain activity just days after his fall, making this ending virtually inevitable.
The only good to come out of this is that Hernandez was an organ donor, so his death will bring life to others.
This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
Correction: I originally placed the site of Hernandez’ cash in the parking lot at Hanson Dam; as the story now reads, it was actually at Santa Fe Dam. I apologize for any confusion.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Don Hernandez and all his family and loved ones.
Or to put it another way, just after the bars closed Saturday night.
According to the Desert Sun, 34-year old Coachella resident Raul Gulliver was riding his bike north on Grapefruit Boulevard near Mitchell Drive around 2:15 this morning when he was hit head-on by a pickup driven by 32-year old Hector Polanco, also of Coachella.
The victim, identified as 57-year old Lynwood resident Vicente Lopez, was struck by a driver around 10:10 Friday night as he was leaving a 7-11 parking lot at Alameda Street and Firestone Boulevard.
Lopez allegedly rode out into the path of a large pickup headed south on Alameda.
He was taken to Lynwood’s St. Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead an hour and a half later.
As always, the question is whether there were independent witnesses to the crash, and why he wouldn’t have seen a big truck before he rode into the street.
This is at least the 22nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Vicente Lopez and all his loved ones.
According to a press release from the LAPD, a man was killed while riding along westbound Foothill Blvd east of Commerce Ave in Tujunga at 10:50 Thursday morning.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, and identified only as white man in his 30s.
This is at least the 21st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fifth in the City of Los Angeles.
And it’s another reminder that riding on the sidewalk is more dangerous than it seems.
Update 2: Family members have identified the victim as Steve Jensen.
I’m told Jensen was actually riding downhill in the street, and swerved to avoid a car stopped in the lane. He crashed into a sign for a smog test center that was in the street illegally, and hit a tree on the sidewalk.
The badly dented sign is still there, visible inside the fence for the smog test center.
The question is whether they’ve learned anything, or if the sign will go back out in the street in the morning.
Update 3: Apparently bad bike infrastructure played a significant roll in this crash, as well. LA’s typical disappearing bike lane design at intersections may have helped cost Jensen his life, forcing him into the traffic lane after gaining speed on his descent.
I now have a ghost bike in my neighborhood. I ride this section of Foothill often. Westbound is full of dangers. The hill his steep. Speed gathers quickly going down, and just then the road narrows, the bike lane vanishes, and your out 'in the lane' like it or not. https://t.co/ebkNl1uvfd
He was struck by a vehicle driven by 26-year old Andrew Scott Walters at the intersection of Van Buren Blvd and Limonite Ave around 11 pm Saturday. The force of the impact threw him to the far side of the road, where he died within a few minutes after impact.
Walters was arrested at his home after fleeing the scene, and booked on suspicion of hit-and-run resulting in death; he was released on $75,000 bond.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Rigoberto Guzman and his loved ones.
Anyone with information on the hit-and-run is urged to call the LAPD at 877/527-3247. And as always, there is a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver in any fatal hit-and-run crash.
This is at least the 19th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fourth in the City of Los Angeles.
Update: The LAPD is now saying the victim was a pedestrian who was walking across the street outside of a crosswalk. Still no ID on the victim, and no explanation for why witnesses said he was riding a bicycle.
Update 2: Family members have identified the victim as Samuel Hernandez; sadly, he won’t be there to witness his daughter’s graduation from Cal State Northridge next month.
They also clarified that he was walking his bike across the street when he was killed.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Samuel Hernandez and his loved ones.
Samuel Hernandez’ daughter at the ghost bike installation with Zachary Rynew; top photo: people attending ghost bike installation with finished ghost bike
Unfortunately, we have to start with bad news today.
I’ve received an unconfirmed report from a credible source that a bike rider was killed in a collision with the driver of a big rig truck in Gardena yesterday.
Update: I’ve been informed that the crash actually occurred on the other side of the 110 Freeway at South Broadway near 157th in unincorporated West Rancho Dominguez.
However, there’s still no official confirmation, and nothing in the news.
Curbed catches up with LA’s new plan to create permanent memorials for people killed on bikes. But fails to mention that the city will only post 20 year. So unless Vision Zero succeeds in lowering the city’s rate of bicycling fatalities, someone will be left out.
E-scooters finally invade DTLA. It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, they have on Downtown’s docked Metro Bike bikeshare.
A Nogales AZ man has gone from being a bike skeptic to a bicycling evangelist in just a few years, founding a weekly ride that started with three people and building to over 100. And they don’t take excuses from prospective riders, providing bikes, helmets and lights to anyone without them.
Ouch. A Pittsburgh woman is suing REI, alleging that they failed to properly install or adjust the stem on her bike, causing her handlebars to drop while she was riding and throwing her into a concrete barrier.
I want to be like them when I grow up. A bike club composed of riders ranging from 68 to 94 is taking to the streets around their North Carolina retirement community. Not to mention these bike-born AARP badasses call themselves the Cyclepaths.
No bias here. After a Baton Rouge LA bike rider was found lying dead in a ditch just a block from his home, police concluded that he was the victim of a traffic collision. But insisted there was no foul play, even though the driver who apparently killed him was nowhere to be found. Evidently, leaving someone to die alone in a ditch just isn’t considered foul in the Pelican State.
We need this here. A German app not only names and shames drivers by posting photos of their vehicles blocking bike lanes, it automatically notifies the appropriate authorities to — hopefully — do something about it.
This is the cost of traffic violence. Five members of the Bahrain National Cycle Team were seriously injured by a distracted driver while on a training ride, with three suffering what was described as severe injuries, when the texting driver swerved into the peloton — even though the team’s coach was following the group with a danger sign.
Maybe it’s time to ask what the hell is going on in the Coachella Valley.
Because for the second time in less than two weeks, a Coachella Valley bike rider has been killed in a collision, this time in Rancho Mirage.
According to the Desert Sun, the victim was riding east across busy Bob Hope Drive in the crosswalk on Casino, in front of the Agua Caliente Casino, round 1:30 pm Friday when he was struck by the driver of a car headed north on Bob Hope.
There’s no word on who had the green light, or why the driver apparently didn’t notice an older man on a bicycle in the crosswalk directly in front of him.
The driver stayed at the scene and cooperated with police, and did not appear to be under the influence.
This comes less than two weeks after a Canadian man was fatally injured in a collision just eleven miles away in Indian Wells — at least the fourth bike rider killed in the Coachella Valley in the last year, according to the Desert Sun.
Which would make this man the fifth bicyclist to die in the valley, where surface streets are too often designed like freeways, encouraging drivers to exceed the already too high speed limits.
And what little bicycling infrastructure there is does far too little to keep riders safe.
Anyone with any information is urged to call the Riverside County Sheriff’s department at 760/836-1600.
This is at least the 18th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third I’m aware of in Riverside County.
His mother tried to drive him to the emergency room, but stopped to call for help along the way. Paramedics arrived to provide care and take the boy the rest of the way to a Fontana hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
No ID has been been provided for the victim.
Police note that neither child was wearing a helmet, despite California law requiring a bike helmet for any child under 18. However, they added that it did not appear to be a factor in this crash, suggesting that he did not die from a head injury.
This is at least the 17th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.
He’s also the second child to die in Fontana after falling off his bike in the last three weeks; a 13-year old boy was killed after allegedly falling in front of an oncoming car last month.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the vicitm and all his family and loved ones.
Police are investigating whether he was drunk or stoned at the time of the crash, which seems highly likely.
Video from the scene shows a mangled cruiser bike with plastic baskets front and rear, and a large amount of debris strewn in the street, suggesting the victim may have been homeless or collecting recyclables.
However, that is just speculation at this point.
Anyone with information is urged to call Huntington Beach Police Accident Investigator B. Atkins at 714/536-5666, or Investigator A. Turner at 714/536-5670.
This is at least the 16th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third I’m aware of in Orange County; two of those three deaths have been hit-and-runs.
Update: The victim has been identified by his mother as 33-year old Ray MacDonald, who lived in the Huntington Beach area for the past three years; he was killed the day after his birthday.
He leaves behind a daughter, and a loving family and friends.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Ray MacDonald and all his loved ones.
