Man riding Bird scooter survives being hit by truck
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — While riding on a Bird scooter, a man was hit by a truck on Meridian Street just north of Maryland downtown.
Scooters returned to Indianapolis on Sept. 4. That same day, Mac Brown was hit while riding one, by a truck pulling out of a parking garage.
Denison Parking is the company that owns the parking garage. It has surveillance cameras that were rolling. According to Brown, it captured him as he rode along the sidewalk without a helmet. A red truck pulls out of the garage, doesn’t appear to stop and slams into Brown. Brown is pushed out onto Meridian Street. Fortunately, a medic was driving nearby and was on the scene within seconds.
According to Brown’s attorneys, Ralph Staples and Jeff Mendes, he suffered a severe brain injury and was hospitalized for three days after the incident. They said, since then, he’s been under the care of doctors. They had a news conference Wednesday to announce they plan to seek damages from Denison Parking, the driver of the truck and whomever is responsible for the traffic officer. At this time, they say they have not contacted Bird Scooters.
Indianapolis banned scooters for a short time as it worked out how to regulate them. In late August, the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services gave its final approval for Bird and Lime to return once they received proper licenses. Those licenses went into effect on Sept. 4. In addition, the city passed an ordinance requiring users to ride on the road and not sidewalks and suggested they wear helmets. Brown was riding on the sidewalk and not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.
“Who is to say that that would have, a helmet would not have caused the impact or who is to say that the operation 6 feet to the right would allow the driver to avoid impact? We can’t speculate about those things,” said Staples.
Brown said during the news conference that he wanted to make sure this does not happen to anyone else. “Just want people to be aware and make sure. If you haven’t rode the scooter, it’s fun. It’s not fun when you ride downtown and get hit by a truck.”
News 8 reached out to Bird scooter for comment. They did not offer one.
Denison Parking also did not want to comment.