Yesterday

My Oldest is perfectly okay.  No physical harm.   His bicyle is trashed by a taco bend in it where the truck ran it over.

Tuesday, I got a call at work by the paramedics saying my son had been in a collision.  They could not answer 'which son?' becuase they did not have a name.  My mind went to Connor, until the paramedic said he was born in 1980.  Not exactly sure why they did not ask his name...  

anyways...

Trevor had an appointment and was riding his bike from our house.  We have a long gradual hill, Winchester street, that is rather busy.  This street runs North South.

On this street there is a convience market, that is a little too close to the street.  The expansion of the road over time has taking more and more away from the sides.  The truck in question was using the entrance as an exit and intended on turning right and heading south down Winchester.

The Exit was blocked by the Pepsi bottleing company.  My son had crossed to the same side of the street the store was on (to avoid crossing at the higher traffic) and was heading at a "walking speed" North up the hill.

The truck driver, concerned about merging into the southbound traffic, never looked to his right.  and pulled forward.  This impacted Trevor, who clawed his way from under the vehicle up the grill and up on the hood as the truck continued over his bike.

Next door to the store is a complex of business suites.  A couple of the workers there were getting the daily mail and had unobstructed view of the incident.  They also called emergency services.  

According to the police officer at the sceen all four gave identical statements which coincided with my sons version of the events. The Driver was sited for failure to yeild right of way.  My son was not sited for riding on the sidewalk. 

I walked to the location (it is about 1/4 mile from where I work).  Trevor was a bit shaken up and upset at the loss of his bike.  He was also convinced I would be mad at him for not being careful enough.  He said he was fine and had no scrapes, bumps or bruises.  He still wanted to make the appointment and inquired of the policeman if he was free to go.

The officer indicated he was, Trevor left.  I waited to get the accident information.  It was during this time I started hearing the Driver of the vehicle arguing that he was not at fault.  The police officer, going off the combined statements made a very clear case that he would have hit anyone on the sidewalk, walker or biker rider.  Further, my mind started considering what could have happened by a matter of inches.  I started to get angry at this guys carelessness and more at his attempting to wriggle out of responsibility.

Finally the officer handed me the insurance information.  The driver then wanted to 'talk' with me.  Seeing as how I did not want to be arrested for assault and battery, I told him that is not a good idea.