A bicyclist who was struck by a car Saturday evening is in good condition, according to hospital spokeswoman Mary Briggs.
James Brown, 53, is being treated at Lee Memorial Hospital after he suffered serious injuries at the intersection of Palm Beach Boulevard and Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard.
The driver of a Nissan Maxima was traveling west on Palm Beach and had the green light when Brown, traveling south on Veronica Shoemaker on his bicycle, entered the roadway and the two collided.
Brown hit the windshield and was thrown several feet.
Investigators learned Brown’s blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit, and he was determined to be at fault for the crash.
The driver of the car suffered minor injuries from broken glass.
On October 23, James Paz remembers something inhuman slamming into his bike, the terrifying sensation of his body hurtling through the air, and the instinct of trying to land with-out smashing his face on the Brooklyn asphalt. He remembers struggling to his feet and looking back for his girlfriend, Michelle Matson, who'd been pedaling behind him down Franklin Avenue on her beat-up cruiser. And he remembers that she wasn't there.
Michelle! He kept screaming her name. Michelle!
When he finally spotted his 29-year-old companion, she'd been thrown startlingly far ahead—her body was immobile and unconscious in the Greenpoint street. Her black bicycle, the vintage women's clunker that seemed so indestructible, was terribly mangled. Even though the hour was after midnight, concerned strangers emerged from who knows where, rushing to help. Someone called an ambulance. Several people phoned 911. James began to shake Michelle. He didn't know if she was dead or alive.
Stephen Conte, a twentysomething Greenpoint resident who'd just come from a Calyer Street loft party, saw the four-door sedan that hit them. "I've seen cars speeding in Greenpoint—it's not a new thing," he says. The eyewitness lives by McGuinness Boulevard, a Frogger-like Long Island City connector that New York news aggregator Gothamist has likened to Queens' infamous Boulevard of Death. "I don't look at every car that comes past me, but this time, I was like, 'Holy shit, this guy is going fast, and he's not really in control,' " he recalls close to 10 months later. "But this one screeched and swerved. Four or five seconds later, I just heard the crash and glass breaking."
Conte saw James crying at Michelle's legs. "She was motionless, she couldn't move at all. Her breathing—" To this day, his voice falters when he describes her condition. "It sounded as if she could stop breathing at any moment. It was very shallow and painful. She was barely there."
A squad car arrived and two officers surveyed the scene. An old green Saab parked on the western side of Franklin Avenue was newly missing its driver's side rearview mirror. Glass, apparently vestiges of a broken headlight, was all over the road. Michelle was a bloody heap, her blond hair caked brown and matted to her head, her right hand missing streaks of skin. "You could see she had a broken leg—it was bent," James recalls. He began to shake Michelle, and after what seemed like forever, she came to. At some point, she instinctively tried to get up, not realizing that her feet couldn't function; two girls immediately ran over, cautioning her not to move.
Conte hovered over them until the ambulance arrived, dictating the scene to a 911 attendant. "I asked James if he needed anything, he was so—his world was completely ripped from him. He wasn't very responsive."
In the confusion, James decided he should salvage Michelle's bike wreck for evidence. But when he tried to carry the destroyed relic, his back hurt too badly and he dropped the metal hunk—it was never seen again. By then, the paramedics were hoisting her onto a stretcher and snapping on a neck brace; soon after EMTs ushered him in there, too. Conte had been on his way somewhere that night, but canceled his plans. "I was very shook up."
After being treated for five broken ribs and a broken nose at Bellevue Hospital, James slept by Michelle's side, upright in a chair, for three days. Her skull was fractured. Her C-spine, the neck's cervical vertebrae, was broken. Her lower left leg was shattered; the break was so severe that doctors couldn't set the bones for a week. When the hospital relocated Michelle to a women's floor and James had to leave, the Viacom employee returned to their Bushwick apartment and found a business card left by a 94th Precinct detective. He called the station immediately. The officer on the other end delivered miraculous news: The hit-and-run weapon had been found. "We were like, 'Great, that's amazing! This guy's caught.'
MIDDLETOWN—
Police are seeking information about a 17-year-old boy who has been missing since about 6 a.m., according to family members.
Nathan James Carman apparently left his Middletown home early Thursday morning, telling his parents that he was going to take a 35 mile bicycle ride to Westbrook, police said. When he didn't return home by 7 p.m., police said his family notified authorities that he may be missing.
Carman, who has Asperger's Syndrome, has never run away before, police said. According to family members, he makes the trip to Westbrook "all the time" and it is unlike him to miss curfew.
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State police were searching for Carmen for several hours on Thursday.
He has light brown hair, brown eyes, is 6-foot-3 and weighs between 145 and 170 pounds.
Anyone with information on Carman's whereabouts is asked to contact the Middletown Police Department at 860-685-8441.
cars slow to a crawl on North Williams Avenue in front of Lula Parker's Tropicana restaurant. Bicyclists zip by the soul food joint on their way home from work. A TriMet bus engine rumbles, and the sun reflects off cars and onto her hanging portraits of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Barack Obama.
Parker, who owns one of the street's remaining black-owned businesses, perches on her stool and stares out the window, where she has a front-row seat to the accidents and near misses. The congestion has only grown since her family bought the restaurant in 1957.
North Williams "wasn't that busy, and the people didn't ride this fast," says Parker, 88. "They go through here sometimes like it's a runway."
Once a passage for cars between Portland and Vancouver, North Williams is now a one-way thoroughfare shared by bikes, buses, other motor vehicles and pedestrians. Bike advocates say the road has become unsafe as cars speed and zigzag between the two lanes, and as bicyclists navigate a narrow bike lane used by an estimated 3,000 riders daily during warm months.
But in recent weeks, the conversation has shifted from safety and road behaviors to examinations of race inequities and gentrification in inner North and Northeast Portland -- once the heart of Oregon's African American community. Some residents say a safety project launched earlier this year didn't adequately involve people of color. And as people debate whether race and gentrification belong in a discussion of transportation safety, divisions have emerged.
Some question why the city now has $370,000 to pour into a project they say favors the bike community while residents for decades asked for resources to improve safety in those same neighborhoods. To the community, the conversation has polarized the issue: white bicyclists versus the black community.
DOWNTOWN AKRON — There’s something for everyone at the University Park Arts Fair & Food Fest, organizers said.
This is the sixth year for the event, which will bring more than 100 local and regional artists, several food vendors, musical entertainment and family activities to Grace Park Aug. 13 from 10 to 6 p.m.
“We have added some components to it that draw in more of the local community and showcase the local community,” said Beth Houseman, senior director of communication and community relations for the University Park Alliance (UPA).
She added the event has changed in its six years.
“It’s definitely grown in terms of the number of artists showcased,” she said. “This year we have six tents of artists and some individual artists in tents of their own.”
Houseman said artists participating will have offerings for sale from “every media you can think of,” such as painting, sculpture, jewelry and photography.
Many community organizations also will feature art activities for children as well as adults. And artists Leandra Drumm and Daniel Coffield will help participants create lanterns out of willows and papier-maché that will be used for UPA’s Light-UP! Lantern Festival Oct. 8.
More emphasis is being placed on food this year, with several vendors from the University Park neighborhood or nearby scheduled to be onsite with their offerings. Mick & Shirley’s Catering and Café will be on hand with soul food, while Ms. Julie’s Kitchen will feature its locally sourced vegan specialties. Taste of Bangkok, EuroGyro and the Stew Pot Kitchen also will be at the fair, as well as Arnold’s Candies, which features an array of retro sweets.
Music will be in the air all day, Houseman said.
“We really tried to offer a variety where there’s something for everyone,” she said.
The Four Corners Jazz Quartet will start off the day at 10 a.m. with its jazz standards, followed by the folky pop of Low Watt Radio at 11:45 a.m., the Open Door Gospel Choir at 1:30 p.m., The University of Akron (UA) Steel Drum Band at 3 p.m. and gypsy jazz trio Moustache Yourself at 4:30 p.m.
Costumed mascots also will appear, as well as a stilt walker and balloon and origami artists.
Sports also will be part of the day, with Gamesnake officials on hand to demonstrate the game of futsal, a version of soccer with five players on each team. Also, the Summit Cycling Center Bicycle Co-op will have refurbished bicycles for sale.
UPA is a nonprofit community development corporation dedicated to the revitalization of University Park, a 50-block area surrounding the UA campus. Houseman said the arts fair is one way UPA is helping to showcase the community.
“It gives us an opportunity to bring people in to visit the neighborhood and this beautiful historical park that is Grace Park,” she said. “It’s also a chance to showcase the cultural assets of the neighborhood.”
Grace Park is located at the corner of Perkins and Prospect streets. Admission and parking are free.
After the Greater Glenside Chamber of Commerce opted not to hold the annual Cruzin’ Glenside Vehicle Show this year, a group of local business owners took the initiative to continue the event in 2011.
Glenside Bike Night took place Aug. 6 from 4 to 9 p.m. on Easton Road, between Waverly Road and Mt. Carmel Avenue.
“I’m just thrilled,” said Lisa Rittler, owner of Elcy’s Café in Glenside, who spearheaded the effort to coordinate the event. “We want to continue to do this stuff and continue to bring these events to downtown Glenside. We were just trying to be creative, and we hope to keep having these events so people know about Glenside.”