Talk about lucky

[Hydrant]

http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2009...news/news2.txt
Motorcyclist survives rough rear-end crash
By Steve Sharp of the Daily Times staff
Friday, July 10, 2009 1:20 PM CDT
JEFFERSON - Jefferson police today marveled at the luck of a Fort Atkinson motorcyclist who not only survived, but walked away from, a rough rear-end collision at 4:37 p.m. Thursday in downtown Jefferson.

According to Jefferson Police Department Lt. Dale Lutz, Gary A. Amaral, 35, of Fort Atkinson, was northbound in the 200 block of S. Main St., near the BP gas station, when a pickup truck operated by Fredeslindo Garcia-Ornelas, 37, of Jefferson, immediately in front of him, stopped for traffic. With both vehicles at a standstill, a third vehicle, operated by Amy S. Neitzel, 21, of Ixonia, plowed into the rear of the Amaral cycle, pitching Amaral into the bed of Garcia-Ornelas' truck.

“The guy is lucky,” Lutz said of Amaral, adding that if the same contact would have taken place farther out in the county, where posted speeds are higher, law enforcement would likely have been handling Amaral's fatality.

Lutz said that, after interviewing Neitzel, it was determined she may have been attempting to avoid being hit by another car she said was approaching her from Dodge Street when she accelerated into Amaral's cycle.

“We're not sure what she was trying to do, because she was so shook up after the accident,” Lutz said, noting Neitzel was cited for inattentive driving. “We asked her about texting and phoning and she said when she got to the intersection (with Dodge Street) she thought another vehicle was not going to stop and that's when she hit the cycle.”
Amaral was cited for operating after revocation and the Jefferson EMS transported him to an unlisted area hospital for further treatment after he complained of neck and back pain.

“(Amaral) actually walked over to a bench on the sidewalk after the crash and sat down,” Lutz said. “When I arrived I thought we had a fatality on our hands, but it turned out all right. He was very lucky.”