Downed rider
 

Well, I came upon a downed rider late Thursday / early Friday. It was a disturbing situation.

My wife, a friend, and myself were headed home after a few beers around 1:00 a.m. Friday morning. My wife had the munchies, so we went through Wendy's drive through. While we were waiting, the friend said she heard a loud noise, but my wife nor I heard it. Sure enough, about 1/4 mile away, on our route home, a biker had been t-boned at a traffic light.

When we got on the scene, probably one to two minutes had passed after the accident. The intersection was four lanes on three sides with planted islands, and two lanes on one side. The biker was lying on his back in front of one of the islands. His bike was about 20 feet away, and a small, compact car was in the middle of the intersection. The car was fucked, with both air bags deployed. The bike was a large custom Harley, and it too was fucked. It was impossible to tell who did what, but obviously both vehicles went through the intersection at the same time at 90 degree angles.

No on to the bad part. The rider was lying on his back writhing in pain. There were about 6 people at the scene, just standing there looking. All the observers were younger kids, so they were pretty shocked. I blocked the road with my car, turned on the hazards, and ran to the guy. He was in his mid 40's, portly, but pretty average all things considered. The left side of his body, which took the brunt of the blow, was pulverized. His left boot was dislodged, and his foot had no shape whatsoever. The leg looked like a sack full of marbles, and had no structure at all. His left shoulder was messed up, and he had a pretty good gash on his left forehead, with some bleeding from his head. He was probably wearing a skull cap helmet, which did fuck all to protect him. I never did find the helmet, as it was knocked off at impact.

I started talking to the guy, and did my best to treat him for shock. I removed my shirt, and covered him the best I could, which really wasn't enough. I started speaking with the guy to find out just how bad he was. He was coherent, but in massive pain. The really scary thing was that he was gurgling due to internal bleeding.

Another person, my wife, and myself worked with the guy for about 10 minutes before the cops showed up. The cops were a joke. I told the first cop that the guy was in shock, and needed a blanket to cover up with. The first cop didn't have a blanket, and apparently didn't know jack-shit about treating an accident victim. A second cop showed up, and whipped out a new, still in the package, silver space blanket. Thankfully, the fire department showed up and took over. We were told to leave, which we did.

Eventually, the guy was life-flighted to downtown Atlanta. As it stands today, he is in a drug enduced coma while they try to save his foot and leg. He has been stabilized and his life is no longer in jeopardy, but there is a good chance he will lose his foot and a portion of his leg.

This was a very sobering situation (literally and figuratively). The driver of the car said that the biker ran the light, and that he was the tail end of a larger pack. If that statement is true, none of his fellow riders returned to check on him, which is unspeakable.

All I know about the guy is that his name is J.R., and he lives in Kennesaw, GA. If any locals know of the guy, post up.

Sorry to hear that, hats off to you all for assisting as best you could.

Thank you for being one of the good guys and stopping.

Always hate to hear stories like this. My cousin lost a leg in a motorcycle accident a few years back. I hope this guy doesn't suffer the same fate, but it sounds as if he might. :(

Good work 655321.... hope this guy makes it through.

Unfortunatly, we've had 2 deaths in 2 days here on the west side of Columbus alone. Both sportbikes. Both in super high traffic areas. We think one lives down the street from my bestfriend.

Ugh. How horrible is that? Thank you for stopping! Hope the Guy makes it.

:dthumb: to you doing what you could. I'm sure that guy is grateful for your help. Although he may lose his foot and/or leg, he maybe would have lost more had you not been there.

Thats terrible. Cops are a fucking joke.

I thought cops were trained for that kind of shit?

Glad to hear you helped out.

Real cops, not the rent-a-cop that he obviously encountered.

I've had a similar yet not as a bad. Long story... don't feel like repeating.

Go you! You did well.

Will you know the outcome of him? I still talk to the guy I helped at his accident scene. His family considers my his savior/angel. It was intense.

Hope everyone pulled through :(

Thats terrible, but good on you for doing what you could. Hopefully he pulls through intact and well.

Glad you did what you could for him :dthumb: Where did that happen? Kennesaw-Marietta area? I grew up down there.

Good for you for helping out. I find it hard to believe the car drivers story. I can't imagine a group of riders bailing when someone in their group gets in an accident. Even if they didn't see it they would have circled back looking for him. Sounds Shady.

Yeah, no witnesses?

Unless they were all drinking...

The accident was in Towne Lake. So far, I haven't heard any updates aside from the fact that he may or may not lose the foot.

Sadly, I thought the same thing. I don't have any evidence to support that idea, but I don't think its too far fetched. However, drunk or not, I would never leave a fellow rider or a stranger for that matter. Hell, I was three sheets to the wind when I helped the dude. The last thing I was worried about was getting popped since someone's life was in the balance.

Poor guy. I hope it's not too serious and he gets away with keeping his foot.

On another note... I know of no biker, Harley rider or not, that would leave a fellow rider behind. Ever.
It does sound kinda fishy....I wonder what really happened.

Well, I have heard horror stories of "biker dudes" as I like to call them leaving a friend out to dry. I think 90% of the posters on this forum would never do that.

I should get some more details in the next couple of days so I will post up later.

i WOULD CONSIDER IT IF IT WAS SOME OF THESE PEOPLE. tHAT rIDER GUY IS SHADY! :D

That's terrible thoughts and prayers to that guy and his family.

Wow...hate it for that guy. Cool of you to stop and at least...be there. Does sound fishy that IF he was really riding with a group that they just left him so yes it sounds like maybe they were drinking...geez.

Damn... if he was left... fuck those guys...


I will ALWAYS stop if I see a biker stopped... even if (most of the time) they're just taking a piss or reading a map)

thanks for stopping... keep in touch with the guy... sounds like the guy needs some positive biker friends

Good for you guys for stopping to help. I always try to stop if I see a biker on the side of the road, thankfully I have never come across a moto accident, that didn't already have emergency personnel.

I had a similar incident happen right in front of me last thrusday.
17 year old girl turned left in front of a dude on a Triumph bonneville.

He was luckier, he only suffered some rash and a broken thumb.

I stuck around as a witness, and an off duty cop blocked traffic for him.

The latest update is this:

The guy was going to have his foot and leg operated on, but had a heart attack, and is not stable enough to be put under. Its not looking good at this point.

Wow. Terrible news.

That sucks for the guy. And that's why I rarely ride my bike south of Cartersville, just too much traffic the closer you get to ATL. I like to go north and get farther out in the country,

well let's hope dude pulls through... sad it has to go this far... but maybe his situation will enlighten a few riders to the hazards of drinking and riding and not looking out for your buddies... (if that's what happened... still speculation right?)

So I got some clarification on the situation the night of the accident. The guy was riding with a friend at the time. Where the accident happened, the friend took a right in a turning lane, but the accident victim went straight to go home. Its still unknown whether or not the guy ran the light, but his friend had no idea the accident occurred. So, one good thing to take out of the story, is that the rider's friend(s) didn't leave him for dead.

Below is a diagram of the accident. The car is the red arrow, the downed rider in black, and the rider's friend in green. As you can see, the friend could not have known that there was as accident.


http://173.74.246.28/ktmtalk/photoga...s/tlp_copy.jpg

Wait...the car turned left? With her comment that he ran the light with a pack of riders, and seeing that she turned left, I'm not believing her story now...not that I completely believed it before

The map is a little misleading. There is no island in the middle of the intesection as shown on the map. A car doesn't have to slow down to make the turn at this particular intersection. The driver of the car said they had the turn arrow. So, the car turned left and t-boned the bike. It definitely turns into a he said - she said at that point. The part about a pack of bikes is complete bullshit, however. Its possible they saw the other rider veer off, but highly unlikely.

well just from the "pack of riders" statement I'm inclined to believe the biker now...

glad that his friend didn't turn out to be a douchebag... I'm gonna assume that they were also sober too.

hope dude pulls through!

Good thing you stopped to help. Bad that you were "three sheets to the wind". lol

Did they take a BAC level test on the guy? At 1am, I'm guessing both bikers were drinking.

No idea on the BAC. I'm guessing when the situation is this bad, even the law has a heart. Or not, I don't know.

Here's a bummer update: the guy lost his leg below the knee today. Worse yet, more of his leg is in jeopardy. Ugh.

damn... sad news... but still... could have been much worse had you not stepped in.