I Got Hit While Crossing The Street

It’s just my luck. I was in downtown Seattle on Saturday evening for the first Seahawks preseason game. I was with my roommate Jay, my long time childhood friend Brian, an old co-worker Megan, and one of Megan’s friends. We were all having a wonderful time. After the game, we all went to Sluggers Tavern which is across the street from the stadium. After that, we all walked the girls (Megan and her friend) back to their cars. After all, it was dark outside and we just wanted to make sure everyone was okay. When we approached the intersection of Pyramid Brewery and Safeco Field, everything changed in an instant.

When we approached the intersection of 1st St, near Pyramid, the crosswalk sign was white allowing us to cross the street. About halfway through the intersection, the crosswalk sign started to flash signaling that the traffic lights were about the change. Once I noticed that the crosswalk was about the change, I started to jog across the street. I was only about 10 feet away from the curb when….SMASH! I was hit in the side by a moped/motorcycle. The bike was doing about 20 – 30 mph when he struck me on the right side. I went airborne and slammed on the concrete face first.

I didn’t loose consciousness, but my face was all scraped up and had asphalt in all my cuts. My arm and the top of my hands were also scrapped up pretty bad too. The cops and paramedics where on the scene within a couple of minutes of the accident. They checked me out and could see I was okay, but just cut up pretty bad. They wanted to take me to the hospital, but truth be told, I didn’t want to go to Harborview, I just wanted to go home. The officers placed the driver of the moped/motorcycle in under arrest while they were taking statements from all of us. The officers handed me a case number, but would not let me talk to the guy that hit me. I tried to walk over to him just to make sure he was okay. I don’t know all the details as to what happened. I am not sure if he was drunk, but considering how fast they arrested the guy, I would assume he had been drinking.

The next morning my mom took me to the ER at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. Once we arrived at the ER, they immediately took me back and within 10 minutes, I was being seen by the doctor. They ordered me to have a CT Scan of my head and also do a chest x-ray. The results of the CT Scan were no cracked skull or trauma to my brain, but they did find a massive Hematoma on my forehead. The x-rays could not give a definitive answer if I cracked my ribs, but the doctor is pretty sure I did crack a couple of ribs. The moment he pressed on my chest, it felt like my right side was being stabbed by a knife. After the diagnostic tests, the nurses had to scrap/scrub all the asphalt out of all my wounds. I was on a IV and they had me pretty doped up, so I didn’t feel much. Once all that crap was out my skin I honestly felt a lot better. They weren’t constantly stinging like they had been.

The doctors said it’s probably going to take a year for me to heal completely. I am most likely going to be scared on my face and arms from all the road rash I received from the crash. Right now I am doing okay. My right eye is about swollen shut and I am pretty soar. My ribs are still pretty dang tender, so taking big breaths, laughing, or even coughing can be pretty painful.

Below are a couple of pictures that Jay and I took when I got back from the ER on Sunday afternoon.

The photo below was taken this morning. In 24 hours, my eye is just about swollen shut.