Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Breaks Elbow In Bicycle Accident
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday was recovering following surgery to mend a broken elbow sustained when a taxicab apparently stopped in front of him and caused him to take a spill as he rode a bicycle near Culver City's restaurant row.
The accident outside 8627 Venice Blvd. in Los Angeles was reported at 6:17 p.m. Saturday, said LAPD Sgt. Murrel Pettway of the Los Angeles Police Department's West Traffic Division. Late on Sunday Villaraigosa tweeted, "Got out of surgery a couple hours ago, and I'm going to be fine. Thanks again everyone for the great support! I really appreciate it."
The collision appears to represent a car-versus-bike hit-and-run of the type two-wheeled activists have been complaining to LAPD leadership about for more than a year. Villaraigosa was reportedly in the bike lane when the cab allegedly cut him off.
The chorus of discontent among bicycle activists over hit-and-runs got so loud that the department announced that it would give a higher priority to such cases by putting them in the hands of traffic investigators instead of letting beat cops handle them.
Villaraigosa's case is a strange one: He's supposed to be tailed by a security detail that includes, by our own eyeballing, two fairly large LAPD officers wearing suits. It's not clear if they were with him, following on bikes, or cruising behind him in a city vehicle.
They did take him to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to police. So one of these guys didn't stop the cabbie? They didn't catch his plate number?
West Traffic is taking over the investigation.
-With reporting from City News Service. Got news? Email us.
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