Nine-year-old Hailey cyclist killed in truck collision
Law enforcement authorities can’t find driver or truck
"I find it hard to believe, with all the people around, no
one’s seen anything."
Gene Ramsey, Blaine County Sheriff’s chief deputy.
By PETER BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer
Cody Boyd, a 9-year-old Hailey boy, lost his life
last Wednesday morning after colliding with a flatbed truck hauling a utility trailer at
the corner of Bullion Street and Second Avenue.
Law enforcement agencies still are searching for the truck driver and the
vehicle.
Hailey Police Chief John Stoneback said he pieced together from an
investigation of the scene and an eyewitness report the following chain of events:
Young Boyd was riding his bicycle south on Second Avenue between 8 a.m.
and 8:15 a.m. As he approached the intersection with Bullion, the truck and trailer was
westbound on Bullion, crossing Second Avenue.
According to Stoneback, Boyd peddled into the intersection without
stopping, perhaps not realizing the truck was hauling a trailer. It was the trailer Boyd
collided with, and he fell underneath its wheels, Stoneback said.
The eyewitness told police he didn’t think the truck driver was aware
of what happened and continued west on Bullion.
Stoneback declined to identify the witness.
Stoneback said the eyewitness, who was in his car at the Second Street
stop sign that Boyd went through, blew his horn trying to get the truck driver’s
attention and the attention of those nearby.
While he was honking, he made a 911 call on his cell phone, the police
chief said.
The 911 response appears to have been a swift one.
A 911 dispatcher, located at the Blaine County Sheriff’s Department,
got the call at 8:15 a.m. The sheriff’s blotter shows that at this time, police and
emergency personnel were "responding to the north side of Atkinson’s next to the
loading dock for a child who was hit by a flatbed truck hauling a utility trailer. The
vehicle did not know that he hit the child on the bicycle."
One of the first emergency vehicles to arrive at the scene after the 911
call was Ambulance 95 of Wood River Fire and Rescue manned by Assistant Chief Jeff Nevins;
the EMT in charge of the shift, Shane Quarles; and a firefighter and EMT, Max Bailey.
According to Nevins, they got the call at 8:16 a.m.
"We responded immediately and got there within minutes since the
accident happened two blocks from the station, Nevins said."
He said that when Ambulance 95 reached the scene at about 8:18 a.m.,
"there were about four or five people around the boy frantically waving us on to the
scene."
The still-alive youth was lying approximately 30 feet west of the stop
sign, according to investigators.
Along with Ambulance 95, a Hailey Fire Department unit arrived at about
the same time. Nevins said both units worked as one, but it was Quarles’ job to do
the assessment of the boy’s injuries which included head, neck and pelvis trauma and
the loss of a large amount of blood.
Nevins said Quarles quickly concluded that this was a "load and
go."
What this meant, Nevins said, is that the boy’s best chance was in
the back of the ambulance, and then at the hospital. According to his records, Nevins said
the ambulance was en route to the hospital at 8:21 a.m., arriving at 8:24 a.m.
"It is believed that the driver of the vehicle may not be aware that
they were involved in this accident," Stoneback said in a news release on Wednesday.
But no one can say with certainty that is the case.
If the fatality develops into a hit-and-run case, a conviction can trigger
several years in prison, according to Idaho’s criminal statutes.
If convicted of a charge of vehicular manslaughter, a felony, a driver
faces a prison term of up to 10 years and/or a fine of $10,000.
Additionally, if the driver is convicted of knowingly leaving the scene of
an accident that resulted in the death of an individual, a felony, the maximum prison term
is five years and/or a $5,000 fine.
No more details have been released by the Hailey Police Department, which
is in charge of the investigation.
The youth’s bicycle, which Stoneback said was unscathed, is being
held by the police as evidence, along with his helmet and backpack, in case there are
charges and a trial.
Despite an eyewitness account of the accident and a rapid "attempt to
locate" (ATL) call by Stoneback, all efforts to find the driver and the truck have
been unsuccessful.
Blaine County Sheriff’s chief deputy, Gene Ramsey, said the ATL his
department got was a general description of a white or tan flatbed truck, possibly pulling
a trailer. This, he said, could have been any landscaping, construction or lawn care
truck.
Trying to describe the difficulty of locating the driver and the truck,
Ramsey gave a hypothetical example of trying to find someone driving a blue American
sedan. "Give me a 10 minute start and try to find me," he said.
Nevertheless, Ramsey said in an interview, it appeared unusual that more
witnesses hadn’t come forward, given the the busy time of day when the tragedy
occurred.
"I find it hard to believe, with all the people around, no one’s
seen anything," he said.
Meanwhile, since the fatality, some local businesses which use trucks have
been tracking their vehicle inventory to see where they were at the time of the accident,
he said.
Ketchum Police Chief Cal Nevland said his department, was looking for the
truck by 8:50 a.m.
He said the Ketchum police blotter recorded five stops between 8:50 a.m.
and 12:52 p.m.
The driver of the last truck fitting the description told the Ketchum
officer that he had been stopped twice already that day outside of Ketchum’s city
limits.
Stoneback said he had three officers at the south end of Hailey at 5p.m.
the day of the accident. These officers were stopping everything southbound that might fit
the description of the flatbed truck, he said.
In addition to these efforts, Hailey police made inquiries at building
sites and construction companies in Hailey, he said.
Asked about the apparent vague description of the truck by the one
eyewitness, Stoneback said that in cases like this, a witness is "not prepared"
to see and remember what will later be important facts. He added that the trauma of
witnessing such an accident can also impair a witness’s memory.
Hailey resident Tom Hickey, who lives on the corner of Bullion and Third
Avenue, said he was arriving home from work at around 8 a.m. when he heard someone honking
a car horn long and repeatedly.
This agrees with what Stoneback told the Mountain Express the next
day. He said the eyewitness was hitting his horn, trying to get the attention of the
flatbed truck or others nearby, while making a 911 call on his cell phone.
Hickey and Stoneback also agree that the boy’s mother, Rhea Bluechel,
was at the scene shortly after the accident happened, before police and emergency teams
arrived.
Hailey police request that any witnesses in the vicinity of east Hailey
last Wednesday, between 8 a.m. and 8:15 a.m., should contact them at (208) 788-3531.
