The Mormon Church has confirmed that a missionary assigned to the Arcadia area has died as a result of a bicycling collision.
According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, 18-year old Andrew Edward Page of Charlotte, NC died of injuries suffered when he was hit by a car in or near Arcadia; no date or other details are available at this time.
There is no mention of Page’s death or the collision that caused it in the LA-area press yet.
This is the 69th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 29th in Los Angeles County, compared to 22 in the county for all of last year.
My deepest prayers and sympathy for Andrew Page and all his family and loved ones.
Update: In the comments below, Calwatch, along with a handful of other sources, pointed to this story in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, which reports that an 18-year old bike rider from out of state was critically injured when he was hit by a car in Azusa Thursday afternoon.
That collision occurred around 4 pm at the intersection of Newburgh Street and Cerritos Avenue in Azusa. There’s no word on how the wreck may have happened, however, the paper reports the victim suffered major head trauma.
While the details match up, there’s no guarantee this is the same collision. I’ve reached out to the author of the story for confirmation.
Update 2: As Calwatch indicates in another comment below, the Deseret News has updated their story, confirming that Page was the victim in the Azusa collision reported by the Tribune.
According to the story in the Deseret News, he was riding with a companion when they missed their turn, and were turning around when Page was hit from behind.
“For some reason Andrew stopped for a minute and adjusted his pants leg and then he just kind of whipped around his bike and didn’t look and a car was coming,” he said.
The paper reports he was taken to a nearby trauma center with major injuries, including head trauma, despite wearing a helmet. He was pronounced dead at 10 pm Thursday night.
An officer at the scene reportedly said there was no fault on anyone’s part, and it was due to just a moment of inattention.
Which is exactly the problem.
As this case sadly illustrates, it only takes a moment of carelessness to result in tragedy.
