A Columbus man reported being “fine” after hitting the back of a car on his bicycle Thursday afternoon downtown.
“I”m fine; nothing”s broken,” Louis Mutch said as a emergency responder worked to secure his neck, in preparation for transport to the hospital.
Mutch was traveling north on Fifth Street South on his bike when a light gold 2002 Nissan Altima — also traveling north — stopped to let a pickup truck back out from a parking space.
Mutch ran into the car on his bike and “bounced off,” breaking the drivers side tail light and falling to the ground, Columbus Police Officer Thomas Watkins reported.
Mutch”s bicycle came to rest on the sidewalk between Fugetaboutit and Looking Good.
Onlookers who went to check on Mutch after the accident said he”d been hit three times in recent months.
“He told us that. He said, ”It”s nothing new to me,”” recalled Victor Sherman, owner of Looking Good.
“He was very lucky,” added Sherman, who ran toward the scene of the accident when he heard the “bang” and Mutch “yelling.”
“I thought he was dead — the way he was yelling,” Sherman recalled.
A young woman driving a tan Jeep Liberty Sport southbound on Fifth Street had to stop abruptly to avoid hitting Mutch after he fell, Sherman said.
The woman still was on the scene when emergency responders arrived; she remained there until Mutch was loaded onto the ambulance.
“When he hit me, I thought it was a car behind me,” said Roy Jones, who was driving the Altima.
Jones, who also lives in Columbus, then saw Mutch lying in the road and realized Mutch had hit him, not another vehicle.
“I got out to see was he hurt,” said Jones.
Jones planned to call Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle to check on Mutch.
By 8 p.m. Thursday, Mutch already had been released from the hospital.
The accident happened at 4:35 p.m.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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