Redlands doctor seriously injured after apparent hit-and-run crash
The force of the crash cracked his bicycle frame in half. It did the same thing to his jaw.
"Running on adrenaline," said cyclist Kyle Cooper. "I saw a chunk of my mandibular bone and a tooth on the ground. I picked them up and put them in my pocket. I thought maybe the surgeons could use it."
It took three surgeons to piece Cooper's face back together. The semi-professional cyclist knows how hard that was because he's also a doctor from Redlands.
"I had finished a shift at Redlands Community Hospital and I was riding what's known as the sunset loop," he said. "I woke up in a pile of my own blood right past the turn-off to Panorama Point."
The collision knocked Cooper unconscious and with no witnesses, investigators have struggled to determine who or what caused him to crash.
Cooper said his bicycle computer clocked him riding at 15 mph, suddenly accelerating in the last second and then coming to a dead stop. His doctors told him that his facial injuries were more consistent with a 40 mph impact.
As an accomplished cyclist, his gut instinct tells him a passing car hit and launched him into the trailer face first.
"I think whoever hit me just drove off," said Cooper. "Maybe they didn't know."
However, police who took Cooper's report initially didn't believe that he was the victim of a hit-and-run.
"Police were initially reluctant to believe this was anything other than me being stupid and running into a trailer," Cooper said.
Now, he's turning to the public for help. He's asking any potential witnesses, neighbors with video or people who know someone with recent body damage, and blue paint on the front of their car, to call the police.
Cooper said that the crash happened on Aug. 26 at about 5 p.m. on Sunset Drive, just south of Panorama Point Drive in Redlands.
Even if he never finds out what happened, he still knows he's a very lucky man.
"You know, I was on the brink of death," Cooper said. "I'm awake. I'm alert. I've been taking care of patients for the past two days."
After several attempts were made by CBSLA to reach out the Redlands Police Department, they issued a statement that said:
"RPD is investigating the incident and we have asked that anyone with residential surveillance video please contact us. The incident was originally reported only as a medical aid with Redlands Fire Department and ambulance company responding. There was no suggestion or report of a hit and run at the time and RPD was not notified about the incident until much later after the scene had been cleared."
