Cyclist injured in Barrington auto collision

BARRINGTON - A 14-year-old boy was injured, though apparently not seriously, after being struck by a car at the intersection of County Road and Fairway Drive, at the entrance to Country Club Plat last Wednesday, Aug. 25.

According to an eyewitness, an elderly woman was turning her car left onto County Road from Fairway Drive when the car struck the boy's bicycle. Linda Faxon, who works in an office near the intersection, watched it happen.

"The lady in the Toyota was stopped, waiting to make a right turn onto County Road," Ms. Faxon said. "She was looking to the left when a boy on a bicycle tried to pass her car. She saw a clearing in traffic and started to go forward and clipped him with the right front bumper."

According to another man who saw the scene unfold, the boy was sent careening over the hood of the car after the impact.

Ms. Faxon said she was walking across the parking lot across County Road from the intersection when the accident occurred. "I was facing the other side of County, so I saw everything as it happened," Ms. Faxon said.

Ms. Faxon decided to cross the street when she saw the young man struggling to walk.

"I saw him try to get up and walk. He was taking these contortionist-type movements," she said. "He told me later the leg was painful."

According to Ms. Faxon, the driver who struck the bicyclist called 911. Rescuers arrived a few minutes later.

While Ms. Faxon waited for emergency workers to arrive, the victim told her that he and his family had just recently moved to Barrington.

"He's a new kid in town," Ms. Faxon said. "He said he'd just moved to Barrington with his mom and step-dad. He'll be a freshman in high school. He had to have been so scared."

The boy's bicycle survived the collision unscathed, and apart from a painful leg, the boy appeared to be in stable condition.

"He told me he has three bicycles," Ms. Faxon said. "Yeah,' I said, 'but you've only got two legs.'"

BY LUCY BUTLER

lbutler@eastbaynewspapers.com

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