Update on Newman Lake bike vs. car accident

A bike helmet may have saved the life of a 6-year-old Newman Lake boy who was hit by a pickup truck at the intersection of Malvern Road and Morris Road on July 28. The boy was riding north on Malvern in the southbound lane while the truck towing a jet ski was going east on Morris. The boy apparently did not stop at the stop sign and a large natural berm at the intersection prevented the truck driver from seeing him until the last instant, said Detective Dave Thornburg of the Spokane County Sheriff's Office in a press release.

The driver of the truck was not speeding and alcohol does not appear to be a factor, Thornburg wrote. He simply didn't have enough time to stop. It was intially feared that the young boy was seriously injured and he was taken to the hospital by helicopter, but he is now home and recovering “nicely,” he wrote.

The boy was knocked to the ground and “tumbled many times against the ground and the undecarriage of the pickup. In this incident, it is very clear that wearing a bicycle helmet saved this boy's life,” Thornburg wrote.