SEATTLE - The family of a Seattle cyclist reached a settlement for 19-year-old Bryce Lewis who was killed instantly when his body was dragged under the front tire of a fully loaded Kenworth dump truck in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle.   The family reached the settlement with Nelson & Sons Construction Company and David McClane, the driver they claim was responsible for their son’s death.

 

John R. Christensen of the Messina Bulzomi Christensen Law Firm in Tacoma represented Lewis’s family. The amount of the settlement is confidential.  This is the second major bicycle injury case the MBC firm has settled this year, having just resolved a bicycle injury case with King County for $3.5 million.

 

The collision between the Nelson & Sons truck and Lewis occurred on Sept. 7, 2007 at the intersection of Eastlake Avenue East and Fuhrman Avenue East, just south of the University Bridge. Lewis and his friend, Caleb Hall, were riding in the bike lane on Eastlake when the truck driver made a sudden right turn, hitting both cyclists while they were in marked bike lane. 

 

“Unfortunately, neither rider had a chance to avoid this fatal collision, the dump truck turned into the bike lane and the cross walk leaving Bryce and Caleb nowhere to go,” said Christensen.       
 
Hall pounded on the side of the truck and screamed at the driver to stop while his best friend was being pulled underneath the truck. The driver testified that he was unaware that he had hit either cyclist.  McClane continued to drive down Fuhrman until he finally stopped his truck to get out and look. Hall was taken to Harborview and treated for his injuries. Accident reconstruction proved that both cyclists were visible in the bike lane for at least 300 feet before the collision.

 

“Had the driver just looked in his mirrors before turning right, this tragedy could have been avoided," Christensen explained. 
 
Lewis’s parents, who live in the Denver area, were devastated by the news.  Lewis and Hall had just moved to Seattle and were planning on attending college.  At 19, Lewis was already an accomplished graphic artist and musician who played multiple instruments and composed soundtracks for his brother’s short films.  Lewis was survived by a large extended family including his mother, father, stepfather, sister and two younger brothers. 
 
Through investigation and the help of the Seattle cycling community, MBC discovered that the intersection at Fuhrman Avenue East and Eastlake Avenue East is notoriously dangerous for bicyclists. In the past four years alone, there have been six accidents at the intersection, four of them where cars have hit bicycles. All of the accidents have involved vehicles turning into the path of the bicycles.  
 
“Sharing the road with bicyclists is part of living in the Northwest. The more cyclists and vehicles can look out for each other, the safer we’ll all be,” Christensen said. “Although the intersection has been historically dangerous, it was clearly the truck driver’s responsibility to yield the right of way to Bryce and Caleb who were both in the bike lane when they were hit by the truck.” 
 
The cycling community grieved the death of a fellow cyclist and held a memorial bike ride in Bryce’s honor on November 3, 2007. More than 70 cyclists gathered at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill. The ride celebrated the life of a fellow cyclist and drew attention to the need for improved bicycle safety measures in a city where the bicycle commuter population has grown tremendously.