[nagdu] Guide dog user run down

[Susan Jones]

PITIFUL!
WHAT A SHAME!
Does anybody know this fellow?
Wonder if there's something we can do?
Looks like Willmar, Minnesota.
Susan & Rhoda
 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tracy Carcione
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 9:38 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Guide dog user run down

Someone mentioned this the other day, and I looked up the article.  A man is
going about his business, and gets run down by some fool, who's probably
drunk, or texting, or just plain never considered that there might be an
actual pedestrian in the crosswalk.  Imagine that.
Anyway, I've pasted the article below.  I hope Tom survives.  And I hope the
driver doesn't just get off.  White cane laws or not, people still sometimes
figure a blind guy was in the wrong, just by being out walking around.

Update: Blind man run over at busy intersection, in critical condition
Update 4:50 P.M.

Update 4:50 P.M.
By:
Gretchen Schlosser,
West Central Tribune

WILLMAR - A 58-year-old Willmar man, who is blind, is in critical condition
after he was run over by a vehicle and sustained chest injuries around 6
p.m.
Monday at the intersection of First Street and 19th Avenue.

According to police reports, Thomas Dennis Sykora was walking south,
crossing 19th Avenue in the crosswalk. He was using white cane and a guide
dog while wearing a bright yellow jacket with reflective tape, when he was
struck and run over by a 2002 Ford pickup driven by Gary Lee Mattson, 55, of
Willmar.
Mattson allegedly left the scene, but was located later by law enforcement
officers.

Sykora was taken by Willmar Ambulance to Rice Memorial Hospital and was
later airlifted to St. Cloud Hospital, where he was listed in critical
condition as of 4:45 p.m. Tuesday. A witness reported seeing the vehicle
stop, pull out to turn and then running over the pedestrian.

A Kandiyohi County Sheriff's deputy was immediately on the scene and
provided medical assistance to Sykora.

The incident remains under investigation by the Willmar Police Department.

Sykora's guide dog, Nectar, did not appear to be injured in the incident.



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