The Seattle Times has a story about a West Seattle cyclist who suffered multiple injuries and went into a severe coma last August after colliding with a … what?
Apparently no one knows. The cyclist awoke, eventually, from her accident with no memory of the incident. She’s now recovering, and police continue to “investigate,” if that’s the right term. It has been four months, after all.
If the police are investigating, it’s a safe bet she didn’t just hit a pothole. OTOH what kind of “investigation” takes four months without even being able to say a second party was involved? This is an odd one, and we can only hope that police reticence derives from some legal bind rather than recalcitrance or laziness. After all, once they declare another party is involved, it is a lot of additional paperwork.
Cases like this cry out for a Bicycle Advocacy Division within city administration. It will be another Obama-like challenge for the new mayor, but turning the police department’s head around re bicycle investigations hopefully will be a top priority.