Posted by Hoggryder on August 08, 2002 at 11:32:23:
As I write this, it's almost 3:00 AM and I just got back from the hospital. One of my best friends is lying in a hospital bed right now instead of partying at the Sturgis rally because of a drunk driver.
After riding from Atlanta Georgia to Rapid City in two days (over 1500 miles), he pulled off the interstate highway to call me and get directions to my house. He stopped behind a fuel truck at a red light, heard a crash, and the next thing he knew he was being loaded into an ambulance. A drunk in a car hit him from behind, smashed him into the fuel truck, then left the scene of the accident. Witnesses, including the truck driver, gave the drunk's license number to the police so they were able to catch him quickly. The drunk's name is Jeffrey J. Vickerman and it isn't his first drunk driving arrest. Luckily for him he is now residing comfortably in the Rapid City jail on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and vehicular battery (a felony).
Dave, on the other hand, is sleeping only due to the morphine dripping into his arm. Through sheer dumb luck he has only one small fracture just below his right eye (which is swollen shut), bruised (maybe cracked) ribs, a banged up face, a few scratches, and lots of bruises. One of the "unbreakable" lenses in his industrial safety glasses is broken, probably by a pipe on the back of the fuel truck. I've seen this type of lens hit with a sledge hammer and they don't break. The EMT's cut his helmet off but the face plate had been ripped off by whatever broke his glasses. He was unconscious for about an hour and they are still looking for internal injuries. He may be released tomorrow or may spend a few days in the hospital.
Dave was going to spend a couple of days here then ride up for his little sister's wedding in Bozeman, Montana on Saturday. I don't think he will make it. In a few hours I have to go down to the junk yard where they put the remains of his 1998 HD Road King and try to find his address book so I can call his family and tell them what happened. Thank God the news isn't worse. I can start with, "Dave is alive and not badly hurt".
I doubt if I will be sleeping tonight. My wife has to get up in two hours and get ready for work. I guess I'll fix her some breakfast, tell her I love her, kiss her goodbye, and send her off to work. Then I have to prepare to make an offering to the motorcycle gods to speed Dave's recovery. Does anyone know where I can find a virgin to sacrifice?
Watch out for the Jeffrey Vickerman's of the world. There are too many of them out there.