San Francisco Injury Lawyer Blog
According to the Press Democrat, the CHP is looking for a maroon-colored SUV in connection with a hit-and-run collision that seriously injured a cyclist in Saturday’s GranFondo ride, a 103 mile ride through northern California. Witnesses told officers it could have been a ford Explorer or something similar. As of yet, officers don’t have a description of the driver or a license plate. The cyclist, Anoush Zebarjadian, a 57 year old veteran bike rider of San Francisco, was on Graton Road at around 4pm when he was hit. He was knocked unconscious and suffered serious head injuries, and he remained in the hospital Wednesday in serious condition in ICU at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. A CHP officer, as of yesterday, was continuing to try to learn the driver’s identity and find the vehicle. A witness to the collision said the driver drove aggressively as he passed riders on a downhill slope just prior to hitting the cyclist. The witness also said that as driver passed the cyclist, he pulled the large vehicle to the right and hit the cyclist and his bike. At that moment Zebarjadian hit the ground and the driver did not stop.
These rides are often on windy roads with skimpy or no bike lanes at all that make it nearly impossible for drivers and cyclist to share the road safely, but that is no excuse for drivers to become impatient and angry, and then drive aggressively. Here at the Brod Law Firm, we think perhaps the planners of these rides need to provide better info to the public by alerting drivers– days before as well as the day of the ride–of possible delays and perhaps provide detours during the rides so that cyclists are not put at such a risk. The most seasoned rider, as we have seen here with Zebarjadian, can become a victim of hit and run in an instant. Zebarjadian will obviously need the public’s help finding the hit-and run driver, because there may not be enough of an effort on the part of the police put into solving this crime, and also because, even though there several witnesses, no one was able to provide a thorough description of the car or license plate. Sometimes other witnesses and people who have information don’t bother to speak up because they assume that others will provide the information.
If you are loved one were the victim of a hit-and-run accident, please contact our office. We have over 10 years experience fighting for victims of hit-and-run accidents, and we are happy to answer any questions you may have regarding these kinds of cases.