WINTER PARK, Fla. -- An 18-year-old bicyclist killed Monday night under the wheels of a fire engine was riding illegally on a bicycle with no brakes, the Florida Highway Patrol said today.
Cullen Detamore was riding a baby-blue racing bicycle designed for indoor tracks, said Sgt. Kim Montes, a highway-patrol spokeswoman.
The only way to stop on such bicycles is to "put your feet down or fall over" -- which is why the law requires bicycles ridden on roadways to have working brakes, Montes said.
Charges are unlikely against the driver of the firetruck, Winter Park Fire Rescue engineer/paramedic Ronald Ryan, a 25-year department veteran, she said. The traffic-homicide investigation is continuing, however.
Detamore and Engine 62 were southbound on Lakemont Avenue in front of Winter Park Memorial Hospital about 5:45 p.m. when the truck signaled to turn right, troopers said. Witnesses told investigators that Detamore apparently couldn't stop and also turned right on Greenwich Avenue to avoid colliding with the truck.
Detamore, the father of a toddler son, lost control and fell off the bicycle and under the rear wheels of the 48,000-pound engine. The bike wasn't damaged.
The truck was stopping to pick up three firefighters who were on an ambulance delivering a patient to the hospital, Fire Chief Jim White said today. The Florida Highway Patrol originally said the firetruck was picking up a patient.
Two of the firefighters saw the accident and ran to help along with hospital workers. A debriefing team that includes a chaplain, a psychologist and others to help manage stress and trauma was made available to employees.
"It's affected everybody," White said.
No one in the 111-year-old department can recall another fatal crash involving a Winter Park firetruck, the chief said.
The crew involved in the accident intends to return to work Thursday as scheduled, he said.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
