A cyclist in Bayou St. John suffered cracked ribs and a broken back Tuesday (Sept. 27) when a white sedan hit her before speeding off, according to her attorney, Charlie Thomas.
A video from a nearby house shows a cyclist, who Thomas identified as Michelle Phillips, in the distance riding towards the Mississippi River on Esplanade Avenue. As she crosses Crete Street, a white sedan drives through the intersection, striking her to the ground before speeding off.
There is a stop sign on Crete at that intersection.
New Orleans police confirmed they responded to a call about a hit-and-run at 6:09 p.m. They arrived to find a cyclist had been injured.
Thomas said Phillips was rushed to a hospital by ambulance and treated for cracked vertebra and ribs. She was released Thursday.
The crash comes on the heels of an arrest in another hit-and-run on a cyclist earlier this month.
Rebekah Abernathy was struck from behind Sept. 12 as she traveled on Magazine Street in front of the World War II Museum.
The driver, Michael Foley was arrested Wednesday after turning himself in.
Magazine and Esplanade both have dedicated bike lanes.
I don’t know why but every time I read the comment sections I get so mad. I don’t know why I would expect anything besides people being horrible people and writing awful things. But it still get to me.
Horrible. This is why I keep harping that you ride with a camera - front and rear. This poor cyclist needs that video evidence! I sure wish I had a camera for my crash.
Now I ride with a light and camera front & rear.
Pity the article doesn’t mention of they caught the driver or filed charges. I sure hope so.
Horrible. This is why I keep harping that you ride with a camera - front and rear. This poor cyclist needs that video evidence! I sure wish I had a camera for my crash.
Now I ride with a light and camera front & rear.
Pity the article doesn’t mention of they caught the driver or filed charges. I sure hope so.
Horrible. This is why I keep harping that you ride with a camera - front and rear. This poor cyclist needs that video evidence! I sure wish I had a camera for my crash.
Now I ride with a light and camera front & rear.
Pity the article doesn’t mention of they caught the driver or filed charges. I sure hope so.
What cameras are you using? How attached?
What do you care about that? You gonna get hit-and-run on your Velotron?
If you strongly feel the likelihood of serious incident is so high that you need both forward and rear facing video to use as evidence in legal proceedings to assist in extracting monitary damages for your serious and potentially life threatening injuries…then maybe this is an indicator that biking on the streets is perhaps not the optimal sport among the many options available. Just a thought.
Hard to tell but looks like the cyclist could have ridden a little more defensively as well.
The driver of the car is human garbage for speeding away. Setting that fact aside, I agree that the biker does not appear to be riding defensively. You have to assume people are not going to see you. Or not. You can just deal with a broken back in the hospital knowing that you were technically in the right and the driver was wrong.
If you strongly feel the likelihood of serious incident is so high that you need both forward and rear facing video to use as evidence in legal proceedings to assist in extracting monitary damages for your serious and potentially life threatening injuries…then maybe this is an indicator that biking on the streets is perhaps not the optimal sport among the many options available. Just a thought.
Sure. I take a step back, and then keeping on cycling wherever I want anyway.
I do have both a Fly6 and Fly12, but it’s not just about risk to me. One racer in my area was hit-and-run (still can’t walk) and they never found the driver, though he was with a bunch of cyclist - none had a camera. I consider my cameras a community resource, not just personal. On a given week I’ll ride by or with hundreds of cyclists. If something happens, I might get it.
If you strongly feel the likelihood of serious incident is so high that you need both forward and rear facing video to use as evidence in legal proceedings to assist in extracting monitary damages for your serious and potentially life threatening injuries…then maybe this is an indicator that biking on the streets is perhaps not the optimal sport among the many options available. Just a thought.
Sure. I take a step back, and then keeping on cycling wherever I want anyway.
I do have both a Fly6 and Fly12, but it’s not just about risk to me. One racer in my area was hit-and-run (still can’t walk) and they never found the driver, though he was with a bunch of cyclist - none had a camera. I consider my cameras a community resource, not just personal. On a given week I’ll ride by or with hundreds of cyclists. If something happens, I might get it.
Your attitude is baffling to me and I’m surprised how many other cyclists share this immature “cut off my nose to spite my face” stubbornness.
I’m a quadriplegic now, but I’m legally in the right and have video evidence to support my case. I’M THE WINNER!!! VICTORY IS SWEET!! CAN’T TELL ME WHERE TO RIDE!!!
Did you even read what you wrote? The guy in your area STILL CAN’T WALKI!!! Finding the driver won’t change that. WTF?
…Hard to tell but looks like the cyclist could have ridden a little more defensively as well.
Cyclist clearly hit the brakes, just wasn’t enough time to avoid the car. I’m not sure what else they could have done.
I’ve watched the video several times and it appears to me she didn’t really slow down until after she was in the intersection. Her speed looked to be pretty high rolling up to that intersection. By definition it was too high because she didn’t have enough time to stop without being hit.
I’ve looked at google maps with birds eye view and also street level view and in my estimation this is most definitely not the place to be riding at anything above a basic “average joe commuter/leisurely pace”, even though there is a bike lane. The street grid angles and intersections are crazy with lots of traffic. If you are on Crete street driving where the a-hole in the white care was driving you would intersect five different streets in less than 700 feet. Right in the middle of that is where he hit the woman on the bike.
Your attitude is baffling to me and I’m surprised how many other cyclists share this immature “cut off my nose to spite my face” stubbornness.
I’m a quadriplegic now, but I’m legally in the right and have video evidence to support my case. I’M THE WINNER!!! VICTORY IS SWEET!! CAN’T TELL ME WHERE TO RIDE!!!
Did you even read what you wrote? The guy in your area STILL CAN’T WALKI!!! Finding the driver won’t change that. WTF?
I’m equally baffled by your attitude.
There are multiple issues to consider here.
One is the overall risk due to cycling outside, and how it compares to other risks we take in life. Cycling does appear to be somewhat risky, but it’s difficult to quantify since we don’t have good data. But, in my personal history over my cycling life, I have probably several hundred thousands miles over decades - logging about 10K per year, almost exclusively outdoors. And I’ve never made contact with a car, and never been seriously injured. I’ve gone down, I think, twice. (and one was a Cat 5 criterium ) Popped right back up both times. I balance that against the immense joy I get from cycling outdoors. It’s not “training.” (though I’m an avid racer) I consider it a fundamental part of my quality of life. So there’s maybe a bit of blindness to rationality there. But I’ve talked in over with my wife, and she, without hesitation, said, 'You need to ride. It’s what you do."
The second issue is the video. Right, being able to identify and bring the criminal into the criminal justice system is cold comfort compared to a traumatic injury. But it helps. Holding criminals accountable is fundamental part of an effective culture. And, of course, having the criminal’s insurance company help out with medical expenses can certainly relieve some stress for the victim and his family. Particularly since having cameras on my bike puts very little burden on me due to cool technology.
And there’s also the chance I could video myself doing something cool and badass. A side benefit.
Obviously you would have known that car was going to roll a stop sign from a block away so you would have turned around and gone home and trolled about it online instead of getting hit.
I always forget how smart you are when you feel the need to post here.
I’ve watched the video several times and it appears to me she didn’t really slow down until after she was in the intersection. Her speed looked to be pretty high rolling up to that intersection. By definition it was too high because she didn’t have enough time to stop without being hit.
I’ve looked at google maps with birds eye view and also street level view and in my estimation this is most definitely not the place to be riding at anything above a basic “average joe commuter/leisurely pace”, even though there is a bike lane. The street grid angles and intersections are crazy with lots of traffic. If you are on Crete street driving where the a-hole in the white care was driving you would intersect five different streets in less than 700 feet. Right in the middle of that is where he hit the woman on the bike.
Looking at it again it does appear she is moving at a pretty good clip. Eesh. I need to check myself - I ride plenty of places similar to this where I wouldn’t necessarily think to keep my speed down. But even keeping your speed in check I don’t think would help much if someone runs a stop sign at the right moment.
Obviously you would have known that car was going to roll a stop sign from a block away so you would have turned around and gone home and trolled about it online instead of getting hit.
I always forget how smart you are when you feel the need to post here.
Yes we are talking about taking a defensive posture. You ride at slower speeds on those streets or you pick different streets. You don’t have to be very smart to figure that out. That’s the essence of defensive driving. Car or bike.
You are correct, I would not ride on that street. And guess what, I don’t have a broken back. And guess what, there are lots of options to have fun outside on planet earth that don’t involve playing chicken with 2 tons of metal.
Do what you like. We’ll see how it works out for both of us.
Obviously you would have known that car was going to roll a stop sign from a block away so you would have turned around and gone home and trolled about it online instead of getting hit.
I always forget how smart you are when you feel the need to post here.
Yes we are talking about taking a defensive posture. You ride at slower speeds on those streets or you pick different streets. You don’t have to be very smart to figure that out. That’s the essence of defensive driving. Car or bike.
You are correct, I would not ride on that street. And guess what, I don’t have a broken back. And guess what, there are lots of options to have fun outside on planet earth that don’t involve playing chicken with 2 tons of metal.
Do what you like. We’ll see how it works out for both of us.
I have read the exchange and am ready to make my ruling.
Jason80134 is correct. Runningwithbees loses 200 ST points.
In a related ruling, I have opined that a pedestrian who enters a crosswalk (with no regard to auto traffic) because he has the right of way, is equally as idiotic as the cyclist who refuses to ride defensively.
These rulings have been entered into the ST records and, as such, are not open to appeal.
Keep in mind that the type of person who flees the scene after hitting a cyclist is also the type of person who is driving without insurance and with next to zero net financial assets.
An ounce of prevention is worth 100 million tons of cure. Same as it ever was.
