Colin N.
10-12-07, 10:48 AM
Michael Brooker’s hard, short life included some time living on the streets and that’s where he died Thursday, the victim in a bicycle-truck collision.
The 19-year-old died around 9 a.m. after he apparently fell into the path of a Midland Transport truck heading into the downtown core on Barrington Street.
Scott Baltjes witnessed the accident as he was walking downtown to work.
“It didn’t look like it was that serious,” he said afterwards.
“He was riding his bike on the sidewalk coming up behind me. … He swerved to avoid me and then the telephone pole.”
At that point, the biker – who was wearing a helmet – drove off the curb and lost control. “He did a somersault between the curb and the truck,” Mr. Baltjes said.
“He hit the side of the box of the truck. The rear tire ran over his leg. It got him just above the ankle.”
The driver couldn’t have done anything to avoid running over the man, he said.
Mr. Baltjes ran to the injured man, who didn’t scream but appeared to be in shock.
“He didn’t say anything, I just told him that everything would be OK, the ambulance was on its way.”
Mr. Baltjes said the man appeared to improve somewhat when paramedics arrived shortly afterwards, but then just passed away.
Halifax Regional Police spokesman Const. Jeff Carr said investigators are still looking into the case. Police blocked Barrington from Cornwallis Street to the Cogswell Interchange for about two hours after the collision.
The body lay under a white tarp at the scene for about an hour. Officers took measurements and snapped pictures while a teal-coloured mountain bike sat propped up against a nearby building. One high-top running shoe, a bicycle helmet and a grey sweater sat in the near vicinity of the tarp.
Const. Carr did not know the cause of death and did not identify the victim.
Some residents of the Salvation Army’s Booth Centre said, however, that he was Michael Brooker, a former north Dartmouth resident whose diminutive stature was a result of pituitary dwarfism.
They said Mr. Brooker had a very tough childhood and had been living on the streets or in different homeless shelters for the last few years.
“He had a hard, hard shell … because of all he had endured,” said one man who didn’t want his name published.
He said Mr. Brooker was very street-smart and often panhandled on the Dartmouth side of the Macdonald Bridge and on Spring Garden Road. He could be funny or annoying, but was very honest and deserved more justice than fate handed him.
“He could be infuriating and then a minute later he’d be telling you a story that would be breaking your heart,” the man said. “He would back down from nothing.”
Another Booth Centre resident said Mr. Brooker recently finished a dishwashing job at a downtown restaurant and completed a cooking course and his high-school equivalency.
Woodside’s Chris Jeffrey, a mechanic at Ideal Bikes on Barrington Street, said he rides that same stretch of sidewalk along Barrington Street daily because the few available bike lanes are too dangerous.
“I feel safer on the sidewalk than the road,” he said. “They (drivers) don’t care at all.”
He had to jump off his bike once when a driver cut him off by turning in front of him.
“I’d like to see more bike lanes and I’d like to see people have more respect for bicyclists,” he said.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9004313.html
This is right on my way to school, I know many people who bike it every morning and I was getting in shape to run this route.
The 19-year-old died around 9 a.m. after he apparently fell into the path of a Midland Transport truck heading into the downtown core on Barrington Street.
Scott Baltjes witnessed the accident as he was walking downtown to work.
“It didn’t look like it was that serious,” he said afterwards.
“He was riding his bike on the sidewalk coming up behind me. … He swerved to avoid me and then the telephone pole.”
At that point, the biker – who was wearing a helmet – drove off the curb and lost control. “He did a somersault between the curb and the truck,” Mr. Baltjes said.
“He hit the side of the box of the truck. The rear tire ran over his leg. It got him just above the ankle.”
The driver couldn’t have done anything to avoid running over the man, he said.
Mr. Baltjes ran to the injured man, who didn’t scream but appeared to be in shock.
“He didn’t say anything, I just told him that everything would be OK, the ambulance was on its way.”
Mr. Baltjes said the man appeared to improve somewhat when paramedics arrived shortly afterwards, but then just passed away.
Halifax Regional Police spokesman Const. Jeff Carr said investigators are still looking into the case. Police blocked Barrington from Cornwallis Street to the Cogswell Interchange for about two hours after the collision.
The body lay under a white tarp at the scene for about an hour. Officers took measurements and snapped pictures while a teal-coloured mountain bike sat propped up against a nearby building. One high-top running shoe, a bicycle helmet and a grey sweater sat in the near vicinity of the tarp.
Const. Carr did not know the cause of death and did not identify the victim.
Some residents of the Salvation Army’s Booth Centre said, however, that he was Michael Brooker, a former north Dartmouth resident whose diminutive stature was a result of pituitary dwarfism.
They said Mr. Brooker had a very tough childhood and had been living on the streets or in different homeless shelters for the last few years.
“He had a hard, hard shell … because of all he had endured,” said one man who didn’t want his name published.
He said Mr. Brooker was very street-smart and often panhandled on the Dartmouth side of the Macdonald Bridge and on Spring Garden Road. He could be funny or annoying, but was very honest and deserved more justice than fate handed him.
“He could be infuriating and then a minute later he’d be telling you a story that would be breaking your heart,” the man said. “He would back down from nothing.”
Another Booth Centre resident said Mr. Brooker recently finished a dishwashing job at a downtown restaurant and completed a cooking course and his high-school equivalency.
Woodside’s Chris Jeffrey, a mechanic at Ideal Bikes on Barrington Street, said he rides that same stretch of sidewalk along Barrington Street daily because the few available bike lanes are too dangerous.
“I feel safer on the sidewalk than the road,” he said. “They (drivers) don’t care at all.”
He had to jump off his bike once when a driver cut him off by turning in front of him.
“I’d like to see more bike lanes and I’d like to see people have more respect for bicyclists,” he said.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9004313.html
This is right on my way to school, I know many people who bike it every morning and I was getting in shape to run this route.