Sophomore Nathan Krasnopoler was hit by a car while bicycling near the intersection of W. University Parkway and 39th Street last Saturday. He was sent to Hopkins Hospital, where he has been listed in critical condition.
Police describe the incident as an accident, and according to Detective Donny Moses, spokesman for the North District Baltimore Police, the driver is not under criminal investigation.
“At around 11:50 a.m., officers responded to W. University Parkway,” Moses said. “When officers got there, there were no witnesses. [They] interviewed the driver. Injuries [to the bicyclist] were critical. And an accident investigation team examined the scene.”
According to the police report, Krasnopoler was riding his bicycle in the bicycle lane when a 2005 Honda Civic, driven by an 83-year-old woman, was trying to make a right onto West 39th from West University. Krasnopoler ran into the vehicle and was thrown in front of the car. The driver could not stop the vehicle and Krasnopoler was trapped underneath it. The fire department extracted Krasnopoler and he was transported to Hopkins Hospital.
Junior Henry Ma was near the scene of the accident.
“All I saw was a car on the side of the road and people standing around it,” Ma said. “I walked past the car and then I turned around and saw the bike under the car. I asked how long he had been under there and if EMS and the fire department has been called — they would need a jack to get the car off Nathan.”
Ma tried to check to see if Krasnopoler was breathing and if he could get a pulse.
“I got down on the ground by the car,” Ma said. “He was basically spread-eagled by the car and the only access was to his left arm. I checked to see if he was breathing, bodily movement, and I checked for a pulse. I couldn’t tell if he was breathing. His face and upper torso were pinned under the engine block. After I examined that I noticed there was a little hand movement. I got down and checked his pulse. I didn’t get a pulse. Two of my friends from HERO [Hopkins Emergency Response Organization] arrived. As soon as they got there they asked about who had been called, etc. and they checked his pulse — they also got no pulse.”
Juniors Hannah Joo and Justin Porter were also on the scene of the accident. Joo went down on the ground to look at Krasnopoler.
“I got down and looked under the front of the car and it was kind of upsetting because I thought maybe he was just lying under the car and we could move it or something,” Joo said. “But he was trapped by his head. His helmet was against the pavement. It was really good that he was wearing a helmet.”
Joo and Porter also told the driver to turn the engine off.
“The car was actually still on when we first got there,” Joo said. “And this guy who I think was maybe the son of the man who was calling 911, he said ‘maybe we should turn the car off’ and nobody heard him. We went over and got the keys from the woman, and told her to turn her car off.”
Moses said that the police report does not indicate whether the driver had her turn signal on. And nothing more can be known about the driver, beyond her age, because the case, so far, is not a criminal case.
“Preliminarily, it did not look as if the driver was at fault,” Moses said. “No citations have been issued. The investigation is still ongoing.”
The family is keeping maintenance of a Facebook page that is periodically updated with information on Krasnopoler. The description section of the page states that: “This page is for Nathan’s family and friends. Nathan was in a bad bike accident on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011. He is in critical condition, in a coma at Johns Hopkins Hospital.”
Sophomore Sophie Solomon, a close friend of Krasnopoler, said that the family is trying to keep the matter as private as possible.
“The family is very thankful for all the support from Hopkins, from the student body, the faculty, the community, the cyclists, but they’re not necessarily ready for a lot of visitors yet,” Solomon said.
Solomon added that the week has been difficult for her, as she and Nathan are very close.
“He was my best friend in high school — since freshman year of high school,” Solomon said. “Dean Boswell has been very helpful with accommodations and talking with professors via email. It’s been tough. I’m still at school. A lot of friends are being really supportive. And we’re all hoping for the best.”
Tracey Reeves, director of the Office of News and Information at Hopkins, said that the Hopkins community is providing support for Krasnopoler and his family in any way they can.
“Johns Hopkins is providing whatever support they can as the family needs to speak with anyone; we are there for them,” Reeves said.
“Susan Boswell has been in contact with the family that is providing support. Also the University’s counseling services are available to anyone who knows Nathan and may need to talk to someone.”
Krasnopoler’s accident comes on the coattails of the sentencing of Thomas Meighan this past February.
Meighan was the serial drunk driver who, in the fall of 2009, struck and killed Hopkins student Miriam Frankl. Krasnopoler’s accident happened only a few blocks away from Frankl’s.
Despite these two incidents, Reeves said there has been no dialogue that she knows of between the University and the city to improve crossings and crossing safety.
After hearing of Krasnopler’s cycling accident, Hopkins Cycling Club president Adam Zeldin sent an email out to the Cycling Club to alert them of Krasnopoler’s accident. Though Zeldin neither knows Krasnopoler nor the details of his accident, he said he himself has found that intersection to be unsafe.
“Firstly, I would say that that intersection is a very dangerous spot to ride,” he said. “I personally have had several close to very close encounters. It’s poorly designed and drivers don’t treat it with the respect it needs, meaning people just kind of cruise through the turn arrow as it’s turning off, posing a risk to oncoming traffic and cyclists. Additionally, people take those right turns onto 39th very dangerously.
“My personal take is that it’s another haunting reminder that you’ve got to be really careful out there. You’ve got to be careful and cars need to be better at looking out for cyclists.” At this time, Zeldin says the cycling club has no plans to do anything in light of the situation. “We have had general plans to have a cycling skills clinic for the general Hopkins community for a while,” Zeldin said.
“We haven’t planned it out. There’s nothing immediate on the horizon. I’d really like to see a protected bike lane on University, though. It would help cyclists — a bike lane that is protected from both parked cars and travel lanes.”
Zeldin said that he in no way blames Kransopoler for the accident, and is not implying he is irresponsible. In light of the incident, however, Zeldin offered some safety reminders for cyclists.
“If you’re going to ride at night, it’s imperative that you ride with a light that’s visible in the front and the back. Keep your reflectors on the bike if you’re going to be riding at night, [and] ride with a helmet.
And I ride with this rule [where] I assume the car doesn’t see me. And that’s saved my life probably three times at that intersection.”
— Additional reporting done by Wang Jae Rhee
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