By Cathy Wang | Staff Writer

Former Irvington student Juan Carlos Pulido ran his bike into a suddenly stopped car near Blacow Road on Tuesday, September 9, sustaining a concussion, hurt spine, and dislocated knee. Pulido was riding his bike and dropping off his fiancée, senior Chelsea Kreitner, for school when a vehicle stopped halfway in the bike lane and a side door opened. According to his fiancée, he flipped over the open door and hit his head and back first on the other side.

“With absolutely no time to react, I slammed straight into it,” Pulido said.

His fiancée, who was riding her bike ahead of him, narrowly missed the vehicle and was uninjured. His younger sister Olivia, a junior at Irvington, said Pulido returned from the hospital a day later and is currently at home, taking a two-week leave from Ohlone College.

“I just couldn’t believe my luck that I lived through it.” Pulido admitted. “According to doctors, it was quite surprising that I lived.”

Pulido advised drivers and students to “always, always, check your surroundings,” he said. “Bikers have their own lane for a reason. [To] students, it is always important to wear a helmet. I didn’t have one at the time of the accident but I just got lucky that nothing worse happened to me.”