Gas is dreadfully expensive where I live. So much so that many people like ourselves opt out of having a car, because the costs of running it are prohibitive. Some people decide that since it uses less gas, but still allows you a method of transporting yourself easily, that it’s a worthwhile thing to get a motorcycle. Mike, my husband, once broached the topic with me of getting a motorbike as a vehicle, to allow him to more easily get to work, etc… I told him that I would never support that idea- motorcycles are too dangerous, and I love him too much to let him get a motorcycle and put his life at risk like that.
He understood my point and that was that.
I never assumed, therefore, that he would be involved in a motorcycle accident.
But he was today.
He was hit by a motorcycle, and is currently recuperating at home. Fortunately, the injuries aren’t too bad.
Let me tell you what happened.
This weekend, we went to visit my husband’s brother and his family. We were taking a leisurely walk down a dirt path at the outskirts of the community, a nice relaxing Saturday afternoon activity. I was walking ahead with my kids and father in law, my husband was walking behind me with his 7 month pregnant sister in law and 4 year old niece.
We passed by a group of teenagers, one standing with is motorbike, and one with a horse. They acknowledged our presence.
Less than a minute later, the motorbike came barreling down the rocky, dirt path/road, directly at my sister in law and niece. At the last second, he swerved and hit my husband in the thigh, throwing my husband into the thorn bushes at the side of the road, with the biker landing on top of him, and the motorcycle landing on top of him.
My husband must have blacked out or otherwise his mind blocked it out, because he remembers the motorcycle aimed straight at him, and doesn’t remember anything until he was already standing again. But I saw him on the ground, guy on top of him, bike pinning down the two of them, and us needing to pick up the bike.
For a moment, my sister in law thought he was dead. At first, I didn’t realize it was Mike. I thought it was two crazy idiots riding a motorbike where we were walking, and they fell over. When it hit me that it wasn’t two riders, it was one rider on top of my husband, I started freaking out!
The guy with the motorcycle wanted to know if my husband was ok. My husband was covered in thorns, scratched up on his hands, his legs, and his back, with lots of deep splinters. His thigh, the place of impact, really hurt, as did his ankle on his other foot, which must have twisted when he was thrown by the bike. He was feeling dizzy too, and was acting very disoriented.
But my husband doesn’t like to make a big deal out of anything. He was pretending he wasn’t really hurt, that it wasn’t a big deal, and didn’t want us calling the ambulance. He was prepared to let this guy go. My husband doesn’t like to make trouble.
But my sister in law, the one who was nearly hit by the motorbike, was really upset, obviously, as was I, and she and her husband and all of us started asking this guy some questions. We took down the license number of the bike, and asked this guy his name, how old he was, if it was his bike or not, where he lived, etc…
He said his name was Leron Mamo, he was 17 years old, had a motorbike license, and he lived on Lee Avenue. (Names and locations obviously changed.) He said it wasn’t his motorbike, he borrowed it, but wouldn’t tell us from who. He also wouldn’t take off his helmet, despite us asking him to repeatedly, so we’d be able to identify him. But we assumed that it wouldn’t be too hard to identify him,even if we just saw the sliver of face by his eye peeking out of the helmet- the eyebrow piercing made it easy to identify him. And we had his name and where he lived anyhow, as well as the license plate. And a 10 year old kid who witnessed the whole thing confirmed that his name was Leron Mamo.
We should have called the police right there, but stupidly we didn’t.
When we got home, Mike hobbling home, my 10 year old niece, who witnessed the whole thing, was freaking out. For hours. She was really, really, traumatized. As was Mike, but he’s a little too macho for his own good to admit it.
We decided to go to the police. I was trying to convince Mike to go to the urgent care center, but he was saying it’s not a big deal, it’s just a sprained ankle and he’s felt worse before. But I was concerned that maybe something would develop, and if maybe he would have problems working because of it, we’d have nothing to prove this injury unless we went to the urgent care center, etc… We also convinced Mike to go to the police, which he was also reluctant to do, because we said its not just about Mike’s injury, or lack thereof. It is that this kid, riding wrecklessly where people often take strolls, is a menace to society, as is the guy who lent him the bike, which he should never have been allowed to do. And no, it was quite clear that he didn’t have a license and didn’t know how to ride, from the crazy way he was riding the bike.
But before we’d go to the police, I decided to do a little detective work on my own, find out where exactly this guy lived, and find out whose bike it likely was.
I went to the street where he claimed to live, Lee Avenue, and asked the teenagers I saw there if they knew a guy, Leron Mamo, who lived on that street. They said they know Leron Mamo, but he doesn’t live on Lee Ave, he lives on Avenue Cee, a few blocks down, and directed me to his house.
When I got there, I asked people in the area for confirmation that this really was Leron Mamo’s house, and got confirmation. Some teenagers in the street said that first of all, Leron was not 17, and he didn’t have a license- he was only 15 years old, and had no license, and they’ve seen Leron ride motorbikes a few times, that he borrowed from this friend, 17 year old OJ Ray, who lives on Savoy Street.
I walked over to Savoy street, asking teenagers there if they knew OJ Ray, and they all started getting very, very defensive. “No, we don’t know who OJ Ray is, or where he lives. Oh wait, we actually know him, he doesn’t have a motorbike, absolutely not. And I’m his sister.” For example…
But no, they wouldn’t tell us where we could find him.
I kept onward, not giving up yet.
I asked more and more people. Finally, I asked a little boy, who looked familiar. He was the boy who said that the guy who hit us was Leron Mamo. He sheepishly looks at me and said the guy who hit your husband wasn’t Leron Mamo, and it wasn’t OJ Ray’s bike. I just didn’t want to tell you who he really was, because he was lying to you and I was afraid he’d hurt me if I told you the truth.
I pleaded with him to please tell me the truth about who it was that hit my husband, and he said only if I swore that it wouldn’t get back to them that he was the one who tattled. I said there is no way I’d let those guys know who tattled.
He told me that it was this guy Omar Rati, who was 15, and lived on Lee Ave (like the guy had originally said), and that the reason he said Leron Mamo and wouldn’t take off his helmet was because he knew Leron would be able to take the blame because he looks similar around the eyes, eyebrow piercing at all, and that we’d believe that it was him. In other words, he framed this other guy to take the blame, and thought we’d fall for it.
He also told us that he’s pretty sure that the guy who’s motorcycle it was was Damon Myers, a different 17 year old guy.
When I came home, and told Mike what I’d discovered in my sleuthing everyone was amazed, said I should join the police force. 😉 Mike was very thankful, and said that actually, he doesn’t need me to confirm that it was Omar Rati who actually was the one on the motorbike, because Omar Rati’s dad is Mike’s co-worker, and he was thinking that the guy looked familiar, and now realized why- because he knows him! So everything fell into place. My sleuthing discovering the guy lied to our face about his age, if he had his license, what his name was, etc…. and now we know the truth.
So we went to the police station with this information, told them that we’re pretty sure it was Omar Rati who ran into Mike, with license plate xyz, but he claimed to be Leron Mamo… They took us seriously, and told us though, that we should go to the urgent care center so we would have the necessary paperwork for a claim against these guys, also the bike rider, and also the bike owner.
When we told them who hit him, and whose bike we suspected it was, we saw the police men exchange a look… We’re pretty sure these names are familiar to them, they must be known trouble makers…
We went to the urgent care center, confirmed that nothing is broken, only sprained, and on the way home, his foot started hurting even more, as did his shoulders, etc… He was pretty much screaming in pain every time he took a step…. I felt so bad for him!
And after that, I had to go take out at least a dozen or more deep thorns from his back, and he took out another 10 deep ones from his hands…
And he keeps on having flashbacks of the motorbike zooming at him…
Tomorrow, we’re going back to the police station and lodging the complaint with the detective.
And we’re probably going to pursue this and sue the guys (mostly the motorbike owner/his insurance) in court (hopefully small claims court)- also for the injury, for the missed work, and also so they learn their lessons, also to never drive wrecklessly, and also to never lend out a motorbike to someone who doesn’t know how to ride/doesn’t have a license. We were told that we be able to get a few thousand from this, but personally, if we’d do this, it wouldn’t be about the money. It would be about making the street safer. We were very lucky that a) it was Mike that was hit and not someone more fragile and b) that he landed in thorn bushes and not on the rocks that were right nearby.
I’ve never been thankful for an injury before, and neither has Mike, but in this case, we can’t help but saying over and over again “I’m so glad it was him/me, and not the pregnant sister in law or the 4 year old kid- it was THIS close to possibly ending in tragedy!”
Anyhow, just wanted to let you know what is going on.
And if anyone has some natural remedies for these types of injuries, other than arnica (already using), I’m happy to hear them.
