A man was killed by a pickup driver while riding an ebike in El Monte Monday night.
But what happened still isn’t clear. Nor is it clear whether the victim was riding a ped-assist bicycle, or some other kind of electric bike.
To be honest, I wasn’t planning to write about this crash, because the mangled bike lying in the roadway appeared to be very heavy with wide fat tires, looking more like an electric motorbike than a bicycle.
But video from KCBS-2 clearly shows the bike had operable pedals, so the victim, identified as 48 year-old Estaban Martinez, could have been riding an electric bicycle when he was killed.
All we know for certain is that Martinez, who went by Steve, was found lying unresponsive on the sidewalk on the on the 4100 block Richwood Ave near Bryant Road around 10:45 pm Monday, with his bike and shoes in the street next to him.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the efforts of paramedics.
The pickup driver remained at the scene until she was taken away by police, possibly for blood alcohol test, according to the station.
Unfortunately, that’s all we know with any certainty at this time. Neighbors say Richwood and Bryant has been a problem intersection for some time, with motorists frequently running the stop sign.
Although KABC-7 somehow conflates this tragedy with Sunday’s takeover of the 6th Street Bridge in Boyle Heights in which police confiscated 78 electric minibikes illegally ridden by teenagers, as if there’s no difference between what Martinez was riding and a mini motorbike.
There is a name briefly visible on the side of the bike as it was loaded onto a truck to be taken away, but I’ve been unable to make it out, even with magnification.
Family members remembered Martinez as the father of five children, aged 7 to 30, and a proud grandfather.
According to KCBS,
“He was just so loving. He joked around a lot, played with the kids a lot,” said Martinez’s sister, Josefina. “When we had parties, he was always the one interacting with the kids. The kids loved him; my kids love him.”
They say that Martinez had just gotten the e-bike for his birthday recently, and that he had left his home a few blocks from the crash Monday night to visit a friend.
In the end, maybe it doesn’t matter what Martinez was riding. Because once again, a loving father is gone and a family has been violently ripped apart because the victim chose to travel on two wheels instead of four.
Anyone with information is urged to call the El Monte Police Department Watch Commander at 626/580-2109.
This is at least the 46th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the 15th we know about in Los Angeles County — a number that is probably far higher, since the LAPD has stopped publicly reporting most traffic deaths.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Steve Martinez and all his family and loved ones.
