Teen bicyclist collides with car

Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004 | 10:48 a.m.

A 14-year-old boy on his way to school apparently failed to stop his bicycle at a stop sign and was hit by a car, Metro Police said.

He was in serious condition this morning at University Medical Center, police said.

The boy, a ninth grader at Eldorado High School, was riding on Meikle Lane near Nellis and Lake Mead boulevards when he collided with a Honda Civic driven by a woman in her mid-30s, police said.

The teen was thrown up onto the hood, hit his head on the windshield and was thrown back to the pavement about 40 feet away when the driver slammed on her brakes.

Neither the driver of the Civic nor her 4-year-old daughter, who was in a car seat, was injured, police said.

The boy was taken to University Medical Center with critical injuries, but police said he had been upgraded to serious condition a couple of hours later.

Police said their initial investigation indicates the collision was caused by the teen running the stop sign, but they were continuing to examine whether the Honda was speeding.

Metro Sgt. Frank Weigand said the teen was not wearing a helmet and he was lucky his head did not hit the car's frame, causing more serious injuries.

He said bicyclists need to wear their helmets.

"If your head hits the pavement, the pavement and concrete win and you lose when you don't have a helmet on," Weigand said.