Another road rage with cyclists incident

[BTaylor]

The driver who struck the two cyclists in Evergreen was captured today and is now in the Jefferson County jail.

Twitter from Jeffco Sheriff

 

[crgildart]

Closest I've come to being taken out recently was cruising at about 25-30 mph on a 4 lane road with a milit of 40 mph.. A car came up on me seemingly aggressively. I moved over to the bike lane. We were about 1000 feet from the next intersection. They blew past me then slammed on the brakes to turn right at that intersection.. totally cutting me off.. Hard on the brakes and almost had to lay it down to avoid broadsiding them.

 

[doc]

The latest. I have zero sympathy for the driver and find its excuses pathetic. "48 hours sober from opoids"? "Documented history of seizures." And you're driving? Holy crap.

JEFFERSON COUNTY

Driver accused of running down cyclists claims she had a seizure

By Ryan Biller

The Denver Post

The driver accused of intentionally running down two bicyclists in a hit-and-run in Jefferson County last month says it wasn’t a deliberate act and believes she had a seizure while behind the wheel.

Hayley Mill, 38, was arrested four days after the June 19 crash on U.S. 40 near Evergreen. She’s being held on $1 million bail and is charged with 11 criminal counts, including two counts each of first-degree assault, vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident.

Lisa Ludwig, 61, and Michael James Will, 60, suffered severe injuries after being struck, with Ludwig spending more than two weeks in a coma before regaining consciousness last week. Both were members of the Team Evergreen cycling club.

Witnesses told Jefferson County sheriff’s investigators that they saw the driver of a Ford Escape, later identified as Mill, drive toward the two cyclists at a high rate of speed in what they felt was a deliberate act, according to an arrest affidavit.

One witness “described the vehicle’s movement as similar to road rage” and said he could not be “more sure” that what happened was intentional, according to the affidavit. Another witness told sheriff’s officials the driver seemed to accelerate toward the cyclists.

But Mill, in a phone interview with The Denver Post from the Jefferson County jail, said she is not a “bicyclist-hating person” and did not deliberately drive into the cyclists.

“I would like the biking community — and, more so, the two victims — to know that this was an accident and that I’m so sorry,” she said.

“It’s crazy to me that people would think I have a grudge against bicyclists or anything like that.”

Mill said she believes she had a seizure while driving that day.

Having struggled with drugs since she was 10 years old, Mill said she was about 48 hours sober from opioids on the day of the crash. She said she has a “documented history” of seizures when trying to get sober, and in the two-day period leading up to the crash, she had at least two.

She was returning from Black Hawk, Mill said, and although she knew she’d had seizures recently, kept telling herself, “I just need to make it down the mountain. I just need to make it down the mountain.”

“I wish I could rewind the clocks and never get in my car,” she said.

Recounting the crash itself, Mill said she remembers coming to a stop at a stop sign, becoming unconscious after suffering what she believes was a seizure, and then waking to the sound of someone banging on her window.

Startled by the people knocking, Mill said she sped off, reminded of the aggression she has suffered throughout her life for being a transgender woman. “I came out as trans when I was a teenager. I’ve been randomly attacked for this throughout my past,” she said.

Mill said she pulled into a parking lot about a quarter mile up the road, where three men came running to her car, filming her with their phones. Startled a second time, Mill said she sped off again and called her ex-boyfriend, Josh Nursall, to come and pick her up when her vehicle overheated.

In a separate interview, Nursall said he advised Mill to turn herself in to police. He said she “wants to take accountability, but doesn’t want to be charged with something she didn’t do.”

Karlyn Tilley, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office, said investigators are aware of Mill’s claim she suffered a seizure before the crash.

“But she still fled the scene and as far as I understand didn’t seek out any sort of medical attention for it or anything like that,” Tilley said.

Ludwig was taken to the intensive care unit in a coma after the crash. According to Tilley, Ludwig’s husband reported his wife is no longer in a coma and is out of the ICU, although she has “very little movement or speech capabilities.”

Will suffered a broken bone and, according to the affidavit, told a deputy that “he was cycling up the hill and then, all of a sudden, he was in the air.”

Mill is scheduled for a preliminary hearing July 20, at which prosecutors will present evidence against her and a judge will rule whether there is probable cause for the case to proceed to trial, according to Brionna Boatright of the 1st Judicial District.

Ryan Biller: [email protected]

 

[fatbob]

I dunno the story might be plausible if you assume that there are more people who are general fuck-ups out there than those actively wanting to harm cyclists. She is clearly trying for a lesser charge of some sort of negligence ( for driving while at high risk of seizure) than an attempted homicide etc.

If it was truly a hit and run, the behaviour of stopping twice immediately post hitting the cyclists seems odd although may also be consistent with being under the influence of substances.

 

[tball]

She had 24 hours to concoct that story before she was arrested. Maybe it's true, or perhaps she took that time to sit down with a defense attorney to create reasonable doubt. The story sounds perfectly crafted.

Also plausible, she took those 24 hours to get the opioids and alcohol out of her system. She was coming down from Black Hawk and was likely at a casino. I hope the investigation seeks surveillance footage from the casinos, as they could potentially prove DUI if she were drinking.

I hope they give her the maximum sentence for the charges that are not in doubt.

 

[Jwrags]

I am trying to figure out, medically, how a person has a seizure, runs into cyclists, and then is able to drive on down the road. It would seem she would be post-ictal and her car would have run off the road or crashed More likely, if it was not intentional, she passed out/fell asleep and awoke when she hit the cyclists and drove off.

 

[scott43]

My mother had three seizures while driving, twice she went off the road and ended up in the ditch/bush, and once she ended up under a bus. You don't drive away from a seizure I don't think... I enjoyed the ditch crash...I was four..

 

[oldschoolskier]

Not condoning cars hitting cyclists, but you also need to share the road. Same goes for giving pedestrians space when you are a cycle (see a lot if that too, were the cyclist behave exactly like the car drivers they complain about).

As to seizures, those types are all absent seizures, the person functions sort of but isn't there so to speak. Hard to catch and detect. If they happen while driving depend on circumstances the outcome could actually be extremely bad.

I've seen enough of them to know, so far though no bad outcomes. BTW this individual doesn't drive.

 

[scott43]

In the old days seizures were not taken as seriously I don't think. If you record a seizure now here you automatically lose your license until you can prove the condition and course to mitigate with doctor supervision. As it should be..

 

[oldschoolskier]

More than aware, our son can't get his lic for that reason (nor are we encouraging it even if he meets the requirements at this point.

 

[Bozzenhagen]

Not condoning cars hitting cyclists, but you also need to share the road. Same goes for giving pedestrians space when you are a cycle (see a lot if that too, were the cyclist behave exactly like the car drivers they complain about).

As to seizures, those types are all absent seizures, the person functions sort of but isn't there so to speak. Hard to catch and detect. If they happen while driving depend on circumstances the outcome could actually be extremely bad.

I've seen enough of them to know, so far though no bad outcomes. BTW this individual doesn't drive.

I bike most days on the real nice bike paths around here. Most cyclists I see lack so much in the way of bike handling, reaction time, and setting expectations; that they are guaranteed death if they ever rode on the road in the front range (like Jefferson County; especially descending Lookout Mountain).

 

[skibob]

Not condoning cars hitting cyclists, but you also need to share the road. Same goes for giving pedestrians space when you are a cycle (see a lot if that too, were the cyclist behave exactly like the car drivers they complain about).

As to seizures, those types are all absent seizures, the person functions sort of but isn't there so to speak. Hard to catch and detect. If they happen while driving depend on circumstances the outcome could actually be extremely bad.

I've seen enough of them to know, so far though no bad outcomes. BTW this individual doesn't drive.

What does your first sentence have to do with this incident? Do you know something about it that isn't in the posted article?

 

[oldschoolskier]

What does your first sentence have to do with this incident? Do you know something about it that isn't in the posted article?

Not about this incident, just a general observation after encountering cyclists of late. This unfortunately puts everyone at risk, drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

 

[skibob]

Not about this incident, just a general observation after encountering cyclists of late. This unfortunately puts everyone at risk, drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

I find it to be a peculiar perspective that seems to not understand the dynamic. It is kind of like telling the smallest person in a tug of war that it is unfair if they pull as hard as they can. Bicycles have every right to be on the road that cars do. Expecting bikes to "share the road" seems to ignore the fact that cars are powerful, large and deadly and bikes are not. A lot of the aggression and road rage cyclists deal with stems from exactly this mistaken perspective. You have to throw in a healthy amount of entitlement, poor judgment, and being an asshole too to come up with these events. And I am most definitely not accusing you of that. But that perspective is where it all starts.

 

[oldschoolskier]

I find it to be a peculiar perspective that seems to not understand the dynamic. It is kind of like telling the smallest person in a tug of war that it is unfair if they pull as hard as they can. Bicycles have every right to be on the road that cars do. Expecting bikes to "share the road" seems to ignore the fact that cars are powerful, large and deadly and bikes are not. A lot of the aggression and road rage cyclists deal with stems from exactly this mistaken perspective. You have to throw in a healthy amount of entitlement, poor judgment, and being an asshole too to come up with these events. And I am most definitely not accusing you of that. But that perspective is where it all starts.

Ah yes the same goes for the bike pedestrian relationship, in which case the the cyclist are the aggressors (oh wait some poor guy on foot got in my way).

This is nothing to do about mistaken perspective.

Mcomment was that I see a lot of cyclists playing both sides of the game, putting both pedestrians and themselves at risk just to prove they are right. This no matter whos at fault is a lose lose situation.

I agree some car/truck drivers are a&@$ and some are poor drivers, but forcing the point well thats just stupid.

DON'T be one of those, hate to lose you from the site just to prove your point.

 

[doc]

I stand by my comment. "[d]ocumented history of seizures" disqualifies you from getting a drivers license in Colorado.

Here's an update on the more badly injured of the two cyclists (Lisa Ludwig) that it ran over:

ONG ROAD TO RECOVERY

“Lisa will never be Lisa again”

Two hit-and-runs, just a day apart, show the devastating injuries drivers can cause bicyclists sharing the road with them

By John Meyer

The Denver Post

Greg Johnson emerged from anesthesia after the first of three lengthy surgeries the avid bicyclist would need because of injuries sustained when he was struck by a hit-and-run motorist on Father’s Day weekend. He overheard nurses discussing the case of another cyclist struck by a hit-and-run driver that same weekend.

“They were talking about me, and then the guy was talking about the other woman,” Johnson recalled in his room at St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood. “The guy was pulling up something on his phone about the accident, showing the nurse who was taking care of me. I was in and out of consciousness, and the drugs were making me see spiders run across the ceiling. But that’s what they were talking about.”

Both cyclists were brought to St. Anthony Hospital because it’s a Level 1 trauma center — and neither will ever be the same.

Johnson, 64, suffered 21 broken bones including three broken vertebrae and a broken pelvis. His right femur was shattered into 40 pieces when he was struck on West 32nd Avenue, a few blocks west of Wheat Ridge, early June 18. There’s a good chance he will never be able to ride again.

Lisa Ludwig, 61, of Evergreen, a member of the Team Evergreen cycling club, was struck shortly before 10 a.m. the next day while riding with a group of cyclists near Evergreen. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures, including three ribs, a shoulder blade and two vertebrae. She was unconscious for 19 days before she awoke and was transferred to Craig Hospital for rehabilitation.

“She can say a few words,” Ludwig’s husband, Dave, said. “She’s not always coherent. She can move her right arm and her left leg right now and a little bit of her

left arm and right leg. I’m hopeful that she’ll continue to recover.”

The two crashes, 27 hours apart, came as Colorado cycling advocates try to raise awareness about the increase in cycling deaths in recent years.

An average of 15 cyclists have been killed on Colorado roads annually over the past decade, according to Colorado Department of Transportation figures, as compared to nine per year the previous decade. The record of 22 was set in 2018, and there were 20 in 2019.

Cyclists feel threatened by distracted driving, ignorance of the state law that requires motorists to maintain 3 feet of separation between their vehicles and cyclists, and road rage on increasingly crowded Front Range roads.

In Ludwig’s case, witnesses told Jefferson County investigators that the person who hit her — and another rider, Mike Will — appeared to do so intentionally. Police issued an arrest warrant and took Haley Mill, 38, into custody four days later.

Mill, who has said the crash was unintentional and may have occurred after she had a seizure, has been charged with 11 counts, including first-degree assault, vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident. She is being held on $1 million bail.

“It was not an accident,” Dave Ludwig stressed. “It was hit-andrun. It’s really important not to call it an accident.”

Ludwig’s brain injury has been diagnosed as a diffuse axonal injury, which involves a shearing tear of nerve fibers (axons) in the brain.

“Lisa will never be Lisa again with severe DAI,” her husband said. The hit-and-run “took Lisa as we knew her from her loving husband, two children, family members and lots of great friends.”

The motorist who hit Johnson also left the scene — at a high rate of speed, according to Bob Shaver, a cyclist who was nearby and went to Johnson’s aid. So far, no arrests have been made in that case.

“While we did locate the vehicle the day of the crash and we do have a party as a person of interest, no charges have been filed or arrest made based on this case,” said Josh Lewis, a spokesman for the State Patrol, which is handling the investigation.

Johnson, an aerospace engineer for the Federal Aviation Administration, is an extremely dedicated cyclist. He has entered the grueling Mount Evans Hill Climb multiple times.

For 16 years in fair weather and foul, he routinely rode his bike to work from Wheat Ridge to Denver International Airport, which is 61 miles round-trip.

“I’ve probably driven out there a dozen times or less. I’ve always ridden my bike. It was kind of my mental challenge to do that yearround. I had 10-below (zero) as my cut-off for riding out there.”

Recovery, Johnson said, probably will require 12 to 24 months of physical therapy — and that’s before he’ll know whether he’ll ever be able to ride again.

“I’ll still consider myself a cyclist for that time period,” John-son said. “It could have been much worse. I could have been dead. It took me a while to figure that out. I’m physically broken from the waist down. I’m not feeling normal, but I’m feeling the realization of what could have been. Very grateful to be here, lucky it didn’t have a worse outcome. I could have been paralyzed, in a wheelchair, pushing myself around.”

Johnson’s wife, Deb, said word of the crash first came in the form of a voice message informing her that Greg had a broken leg. She got an inkling things were much worse when she arrived at the hospital and was met by a nurse chaplain.

“I thought, ‘Oh, this doesn’t seem very good,’ ” she said. “My nieces came and tried to comfort me, but it’s been very, very hard to watch the suffering Greg has gone through.”

Johnson said there were times early in his hospital stay, while getting shifted to tables for MRIs, CAT scans and X-rays, when he screamed in pain.

“I was apologizing, but I was yelling,” Johnson said. “It was the most pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”

Johnson said there is no way the person who hit him can ever comprehend the pain and suffering he caused the couple, nor could he fathom what it would mean for Johnson to be prevented from cycling.

“All I can hope is for due process,” Johnson said. “Whatever happens to that individual isn’t going to put me back to the way I was. I’m never going to be back to the way I was.”

If the situation had simply been an accident, a good person wouldn’t have left the scene, Johnson pointed out.

“You stop and do whatever you can to render aid. You’ve made it wrong when you left and didn’t do what you should have done morally.”

Johnson hasn’t lost his sense of humor, though, which came out when he related what happened when he asked doctors if he will be able to return someday to fly fishing, his other passion.

“They said, ‘Absolutely, but you’re going to have a lot of time to tie flies before you get there.’ ” Even if he can return to cycling, Johnson may never be able to ride a road bike because he now has two rods supporting his spine and that will prevent him from flexing his lower back.

“In a couple of years, I may be able to get back on a mountain bike, but it’s not 100% certain,” Johnson said, adding that he might take up kayaking some day for cardio fitness.

Things are even more uncertain for Lisa Ludwig.

“From my understanding, DAI is mild, moderate or severe,” Dave Ludwig said. “Lisa falls under the severe category. There was a very low chance of her even becoming conscious. Typically only around 10% of patients become conscious. The doctors really just don’t know, but with her becoming conscious, she already has beaten the odds. I don’t think it will ever be 100%, but I’m hoping she will be able to walk and talk.

“If you’re a cyclist, the only advice I can give you is, make sure you have the very best helmet you can buy,” he continued. “And also get a living will in place, so your wishes can be obvious to whoever is taking care of you, if you ever get into a similar type of accident.”

John Meyer: 303-954-1616, [email protected] or @johnmeyer

 

[skibob]

Ah yes the same goes for the bike pedestrian relationship, in which case the the cyclist are the aggressors (oh wait some poor guy on foot got in my way).

This is nothing to do about mistaken perspective.

Mcomment was that I see a lot of cyclists playing both sides of the game, putting both pedestrians and themselves at risk just to prove they are right. This no matter whos at fault is a lose lose situation.

I agree some car/truck drivers are a&@$ and some are poor drivers, but forcing the point well thats just stupid.

DON'T be one of those, hate to lose you from the site just to prove your point.

I wasn't getting that from your original comment at all. I can't recall any time I ever encountered a pedestrian on the road while on my bike. But I was definitely not threatening to quit skitalk over it lol.

 

[fatbob]

When you hear of these life-changing injuries in incidents like these or frequent other road collisions/deaths at what point do cyclists acknowledge there is a vulnerability game they can never win? Having a perp in life imprisonment or the satisfaction of knowing your bikecam evidence nailed someone is scant reward for a rest of life spent in a wheelchair or many years of tough surgeries/rehab.

I'm not saying that victims are in any way to blame nor that people should curtail activities out of fear but I suspect many of us have at least a 1 or 2 degree connection to someone who has been seriously hurt or killed in a vehicle/bike collision. It's not really an answerable question other than in a stand tall and hope for the best sense.

 

[wooglin]

When you hear of these life-changing injuries in incidents like these or frequent other road collisions/deaths at what point do cyclists acknowledge there is a vulnerability game they can never win?

For me, and I expect most roadies, as soon as you have your first "close" call. The vast majority of which actually aren't that close. The question of vulnerability has nothing to do with hearing about cars running into cyclists and everything to do with actually getting out there and riding with cars.

 

[Philpug]

When you hear of these life-changing injuries in incidents like these or frequent other road collisions/deaths at what point do cyclists acknowledge there is a vulnerability game they can never win? Having a perp in life imprisonment or the satisfaction of knowing your bikecam evidence nailed someone is scant reward for a rest of life spent in a wheelchair or many years of tough surgeries/rehab.

I'm not saying that victims are in any way to blame nor that people should curtail activities out of fear but I suspect many of us have at least a 1 or 2 degree connection to someone who has been seriously hurt or killed in a vehicle/bike collision. It's not really an answerable question other than in a stand tall and hope for the best sense.

At what point does the risk outweigh the reward? For me it already has. We had road bikes for like a week when we first moved to Reno. No way did either Tricia and I feel comfortable riding not only in traffic but longer rual roads where, one, many drives aren't expecting a bike and too many blind turns, and two, if something did happen either a hit and run or if it was truly an accident, what damage could happen to our bodies an can/we recover?

We might ride to the store on our MTB's or headed to the trails in a bit of road but it is very limited now. I would never tell anyone they shouldn't ride in the road, you have every right to, but as with these accidents... err... crimes, every one of these riders were in the right and look where they are now. There is a very good chance they will not recover to a normal life, let alone ride again.