PREVIOUSLY: Bicycle/Car Collision in Eureka This Morning

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Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

This morning at about 8am EPD Officers were dispatched to the 1600 block of “J” street on the report of a vehicle vs a bicyclist injury traffic collision. Upon arriving at the scene Officers located 41 year old bicyclist, Joel Kerlin of Eureka down in the roadway. Kerlin sustained moderate injuries and was soon transported to the hospital. He was not wearing a bike helmet. Kerlin later told Officers that he tried to “cut across the street” from the west sidewalk of the street to the east side. Kerlin said that he didn’t see the 1996 Toyota T-100 truck as he rode off of the sidewalk between two parked cars and onto “J” street, directly into the path of the truck.

The driver of the truck, 22 year old Bao Vang of Eureka, was driving her three juvenile sisters to school. She was driving southbound on “J” street when Kerlin rode out from between the parked cars directly in front of her and they collided. Vang and her three sisters were uninjured.

Kerlin admitted that he had smoked methamphetamine about three hours before the collision. Kerlin was found to be on felony probation. One of the terms of his probation stated, “not use drugs”.

Drugs appeared to be a contributing factor in this collision. Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to contact Senior Traffic Officer Gary Whitmer at 707 441-4232.