A retired doctor is “lucky to be alive” and says he’s grateful his bike saved his life after he and another cyclist were run over in a daring hit-and-run crash near a Texas airport on Monday.
Benjamin Hylander, 31, a cargo team member for American Airlines, is accused of hitting Tom Geppert, 69, and Deborah Eads, 65, who were part of a group of cyclists riding in the area of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport around 6 p.m.
The Highlander was rapidly approaching the riders in a white Subaru Forest, first striking Eads and then striking Geppert’s rear wheel, sending him flying into the left lane and onto the road.
“All of a sudden, something pushed me from behind,” Geppert said. He told KDFW. “Then I felt myself falling off my right side. That’s the last thing I remember.”
Geppert said the horrific accident left him unconscious for several minutes.
Doctors performed a CT scan of Geppert’s brain and diagnosed him with a concussion.
“Mentally I feel I’m not at 100 percent. I’ve injured my (left) hamstring and I’ve broken a rib in my back,” he told media.
“I was unconscious for a few minutes,” he said. “I think some people thought I wasn’t breathing.”
The footage shows the Highlander driving over Geppert’s motionless legs.
“I was really lucky it happened to hit me in the thigh and I think the bike lifted the car a bit,” he added.
Geppert was rushed to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine, five miles west of the crash scene, where he was treated for severe lacerations. CBS News Texas.
Geppert, who has already been released from the hospital, said he is “really lucky to be still alive” and plans to continue riding.
Eads was treated at the scene for severe lacerations.
Several cyclists followed Highlander to a Shell gas station and directed him to return to the scene of the accident.
Highlander tried to speak to one of the injured cyclists, shouting “I’m sorry”, but was held back by officers at the scene.
Investigators found six empty cans of Voodoo Ranger Juice Force IPA in a backpack in Highlander’s vehicle and two empty cans of Coors Light in grass near the parked SUV.
Highlander failed field sobriety and breath tests, Fox 4 reported, citing police.
During conversations with officers, Highlander allegedly stated he had had a beer an hour before the Grapevine incident, but his alcohol intake changed during questioning.
Highlander was charged with two counts of drunk driving causing serious injury, crash involving injury and driving while intoxicated with a blood alcohol content above 0.15, according to jail records reviewed by The Washington Post.
He is being held at the Tarrant County Correctional Center on $36,000 bail.
American Airlines told KTVT it would cease flying the Highlander.
