Cyclist 'Lucky to Be Alive' After Getting Run Over by Driver in Viral Clip
A Texas cyclist says he's "lucky to be alive" after an allegedly intoxicated driver hit him and a fellow cyclist, before running him over while he lay on the ground. But he has no plans to stop cycling even after the terrifying ordeal.
Retired physician Tom Geppert, 69, was part of a group of cyclists who were looping around the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on Monday evening, which is apparently a popular circuit for group bike rides. In harrowing video that captured the incident, a white Subaru Forested SUV can be seen speeding up on Geppart and one of the other members of the group, 65-year-old Deborah Eads.
The vehicle first rammed Eads, knocking her off to the side of the road and then clipping Geppert, who lost control of his cycle and fell towards the middle of the road. The driver momentarily slowed down and then veered, running over Geppert's legs.
????????????????????: A Texas driver has been arrested after hitting a cyclist near Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) June 19, 2024
Other people reportedly chased down the driver, and he was arrested.
Roughly 130,000 bicyclists are injured each year in crashes on the roadways and roughly… pic.twitter.com/ZfPDoe5yDy
The driver, 31-year-old Benjamin Hylander, an American Airlines cargo team member, continued driving away. He was followed by other cyclists in the group to a nearby Shell gas station, where they convinced him to return to the scene. Police later found six empty cans of Voodoo Ranger beer while searching the vehicle, and breathalyzer test determined that his blood alcohol level was 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 in the state of Texas.
According to CBS News, Geppert was transported to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine, TX with a severe laceration and a CT scan found that he also suffered a concussion. Eads was likewise treated at the scene with a severe laceration.
Geppert later recalled the terrifying incident to Fox 4 KDFW, and realized just how fortunate he is to have survived the incident in one piece.
"All of a sudden, something pushes me from behind. Then I could feel myself falling from the right, and then that's pretty much the last thing I remember," he explained. "I was unconscious for a number of minute. I guess some people thought I wasn't breathing."
Because of how he fell and the angle in which the car ran over him, Geppert credits his bike with saving his legs. He also plans to continue cycling once he's recovered from the accident.
"Just so lucky it happened to be my thigh, and I think the bike kind of elevated the car a little bit," he continued. "I don't feel like 100 percent. Injury to this hamstring, fractured rib on the backside here. Just overall amazingly lucky that I'm still alive."
As for the driver, Hylander was charged with two counts of intoxication assault with a vehicle and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He's being held at a corrections center on a $36,000 bond. As of Wednesday, American Airlines said that Hylander is being withheld from service.