Hit By A Car

I got hit by a car on my way to work in the morning yesterday while riding my bike. I was riding westbound on Cesar Chavez going to Downtown L.A. This car coming from the opposite side made a left turn and kept coming. She didn't stop, but kept going. She hit me with her front bumper. I flew about 10 feet and hit the road. I kept sliding on my arms, knees, ankle, and chest. I thought I was going to die. Fortunately, I had another life left. If it was anyone else, I'm sure they would have been seriously injured or could have died.

The person who hit me was a fat Hispanic lady aged 54. She was with someone who I think was her husband. She was entering this warehouse that seemed to be a discount store wholesaler. It looks like she knew one Hispanic guy that worked there because I saw her talking to him.

A person on the street said she would call 911. Nobody else stopped because there was no place to park and they all probably wanted to get to work without getting involved.

A firetruck and ambulance came in about 5-10 minutes. They bandaged me up and asked if I needed to go to the hospital. I declined, because I felt okay aside from my cuts and sore muscles. I should have gone to the hospital, because I'm really sore now and maybe I could have gotten checked out. My legs are really sore. My back, neck, and chest is also sore. I got cuts and scrapes on both my arms, elbows, knees, and left ankle.

I asked the lady why she didn't stop and she said that she stopped and that I hit her! That was total b.s. She kept going and didn't stop until she hit me. I screamed out in pain. She said that I was coming down at 35 mph which was not true since there was a lot of traffic. I went slow around 10 mph. If she said I was coming down fast, then she did see me, but she didn't stop.

My bike is ruined. My front wheel is totally bent and needs to be replaced. I have to special order a derailleur hanger for my Motobecane Nemesis. I also need a new rear derailleur because it's bent. My bike seat is scraped up. My bar tape is also scraped up. I need new brakes and cables. I probably need a tune-up too to make sure that the bike will run okay. My front bike lights also fell off and broke.

She seemed to be in a rush because she said that she had to get to the airport to go to Florida. She said she was coming back in 10 days. She didn't want to give me any of her info until the police came. When a police officer finally showed up he took my info but said I needed to order a police report. I still don't have her insurance info. Hopefully, the police report will be okay. I'm not quite sure if he took the correct information about what happened and how much damage there was to my bike. The fat lady asked how my tire was. It wasn't my tire, but my whole wheel. I said that the wheel probably costs around $200. She said that she would pay for it if I showed her the receipt, but there is more damage than just the wheel. She probably doesn't know anything about bikes so she didn't think there was much damage.

She didn't even apologize to me. She kept insisting that it wasn't her fault. She kept lying to the police officer so she wouldn't get in trouble. She said that the car she drove, a junky bluish 1996 Nissan Sentra with different colored body parts and duct tape, was not hers. I guess she borrowed it from someone. I hope they have insurance. She and her husband were not injured and there was no damage to the car.

The pictures don't quite show the magnitude of the damage to me and my bike. It's worse in person than in the pictures.

Hopefully, this case will be resolved soon and quickly. I hope both my bike and I will be okay and riding together soon.