Baltimore cyclists angry over TV report faulting French bicyclist injured in May 4th crash
Aerial shot of May 4 crash involving cyclist and truck on Belair Road.
by FERN SHEN
A French bicyclist struck by a pick-up truck on Belair Road on May 4 is still hospitailzed and in stable-but-critical condition and the Baltimore cycling community remains angry over a WJZ-TV news report that implied that police are faulting the cyclist when in fact they are preparing to file criminal charges against the driver.
It was an ironic bit of news on an otherwise happy day for area cyclists, celebrating record-setting participation in today’s Bike to Work Day.
Marc Phillippe Arnaud, who has been living in the Baltimore area in the 5200 block of Plainfield Road, was not at fault, according to Baltimore County Police spokesman Lt. Rob McCullough, reading today from the report on the May 4 crash completed by the department’s accident investigators.
McCullough refused to name the motorist who struck Arnaud, but said the man is a 60-year-old Jarrettsvillle resident who was driving a 1997 Ford 150.
“We are waiting to determine what charges will be filed, based on what happens with the victim’s medical condition,” McCullough said.
A nurse at the University of Maryland R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center said Arnaud remains in the trauma ward in “stable but critical condition” more than two weeks after the crash.
The 5/4/10 crash occurred at about 5:30 p.m. on Belair Road, north of the I-695 off-ramp, McCullough said.
The accident was reported two days later by WJZ-TV Channel 13, in a piece by Suzanne Collins headlined on the station’s website “Pedestrian & Bike Accidents Rise in Baltimore County.” The article (and television report) doesn’t name the cyclist or driver but says:
“The police report shows the truck driver in Tuesday’s crash may not be at fault” Collins said, in the report. ”
“Police say the bicyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet, and they believe he was riding in the middle of the car lane.” Collins continued. “They also say the driver probably had a blind spot when he came over the hill.”
After a complaint from Baltimore Spokes, this apologetic reposnse ensued from Baltimore County Chief of Police James Johnson, suggesting that that the WJZ report was in error. The full statement by Johnson is here and we include a key excerpt below, with the most important sentence boldfaced by us:
The police report of public record for this crash indicates, by numeric code, that the bicyclist was not wearing any safety equipment. There is no statement of fault attached to this observation. The report indicates that the bicyclist was traveling north in lane #2 (the center lane) of three northbound lanes (2 northbound lanes and 1 transitional lane for exiting and entering Interstate 695). There is no statement of fault attributed to this finding. The report includes a statement from a witness that heard the truck driver state that the bicyclist must have come up on his blind side. Again, the cyclist was not indicated as being at fault because of this finding. In fact, the police investigative report concludes the truck driver, not the bicyclist, to be at fault for the crash.
WJZ-TV news director Gail Bending did not return a call from Baltimore Brew seeking comment.
Much of Collins’ report dwells on the increase in fatal “pedestrian” crashes in Baltimore County, pooling together crashes involving walkers, runners and bicyclists. These fatalities are on the rise, in Baltimore County: Collins said and McCullough confirmed that there were 19 of them in 2009 and in the first four months of 2010, there have been 8.
Johnson was quoted saying that in most of these cases, “pedestrians” are at fault.
But though the story was confusing, he must have meant true “pedestrians.” The April 8 fatality involving cyclist Lawrence Bensky was the only bike fatality in the county that McCullough knew of, among those eight.