A second L.A. area cyclist has died of injuries received on the Fourth of July.
According to the Daily Breeze, 39-year old Steven Pyle was critically injured when he rode off the sidewalk and out into the street between two parked cars. As he emerged from between the cars, he was hit by an eastbound Nissan Altima near the intersection of 22nd Street and Barbour Court in San Pedro around 2:05 pm Monday.
The paper reports that he was narrowly missed by a white van before being struck by the car; the driver of the car that hit him stopped at the scene, while the other driver did not.
Pyle, a musician who was well-known in the area, suffered a severe head injury and was rushed into emergency surgery; he was taken of life support Tuesday afternoon and died later the same day.
The paper quotes LAPD Lt. Brian Whitten as saying no charges were expected to be filed in this case.
“It’s a traffic accident,” Whitten said. Pyle “rode between parked cars and into traffic. He was crossing the road when it wasn’t safe to do so.”
Pyle’s death is the second cycling fatality in Los Angeles resulting from collisions on the 4th of July; 32-year old cyclist George Loudon was killed on a dark El Segundo street while riding home from work early Monday morning. It was also the second fatal traffic collision in San Pedro in two days, as a pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run early Sunday morning.
This is the 36th confirmed traffic-related cycling fatality in Southern California this year; five other riders have died as a result of shootings. Pyle is the 11th confirmed cycling traffic fatality in Los Angeles County since the first of the year; that compares to an average of 24.2 for the last five years for which statistics are available, from 2005 – 2009.
My deepest sympathies to his family and loved ones.
