Cyclist lodged in windshield could not get driver’s attention

Cyclist lodged in windshield could not get driver’s attention

January 21, 2014 2:29 PM By Cora Van Olson


A driver in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, was distracted enough that he not only hit a bicycle rider and kept going, but he failed to notice the man, whose torso was mostly through the broken passenger-side windshield, until after he parked the car.

According to newspaper carrier, Steven Gove, 56, who was riding his three-wheel bike delivering papers on January 18, 2014, “I was wearing my blue overcoat with my neon reflective vest.” and “I had my front and rear flashers on.” He was hit by a passing car, went half-way through the windshield, where he became stuck, and started talking to the distracted young driver.

“Hello, how do you do? I’m the guy you hit on the bicycle,” Gove reportedly said. No answer. The driver didn’t even notice Gove upside-down in the car, or the stop sign he next blew through, or the car he hit while Gove was lodged in the windshield.

When the unnamed driver, 20, finally got home and parked his car, he noticed Gove, ”He looked at me and said ‘Who are you? What are you doing in the car?’”

Then reality set in, ”He started freaking out: ‘I’m going to jail, I’m going to jail.’”

So the man did the only thing that makes sense: He locked up the car, and went into the house without another word.

So Gove pulled himself the rest of the way through the broken windshield, and got out of the car, “I righted myself and got out. I unlocked the passenger’s side door and started walking down the street.”

Luckily a witness to the accident had called police, who were already combing the area looking for Gove. They found him and took him to the hospital where he was treated for cuts to his head and leg, and glass in his eyes.

Police also tracked down the driver, who was found in his home with a reportedly serious cut to the right hand that has to be treated at the hospital.

At this point it is not at all clear why the driver failed to notice the havoc he was causing on the road. The driver has not been formally charged, but preliminary charges include suspicion of drunk driving, suspicion of hit-and-run causing injury and suspicion of failing to render aid.

Gove isn’t holding any grudges, concluding, “I’m just happy to be alive.“