RUMFORD — An 11-year-old Rumford boy was injured Wednesday afternoon after the bicycle he was riding east onto Route 2 and a Jeep Cherokee driven by a Dixfield teen collided, police said.
Thomas Parlin was still being evaluated for injuries at Rumford hospital at 4:45 p.m., an hour after the accident, Sgt. Douglas Maifeld said.
“He has cuts and bruises and they were doing X-rays to make sure there were no broken bones,” Maifeld said.
The accident happened at 3:19 p.m. during light rain. Maifeld said Parlin was riding his bicycle on the wrong side of Hancock Street with two friends and coming from Mountain Valley High School.
He said Parlin saw a 1998 Jeep Cherokee, which was driven by Neriha K. Bautista, 16, of Dixfield, turning right onto Lincoln Avenue/Route 2 from Hancock Street/Route 2 at the same time Parlin turned left through the intersection near Mountain Valley Variety.
“He told me he thought she saw him and was stopping,” Maifeld said.
However, Bautista told Maifeld she didn’t see the youth turning in front of her and her vehicle struck the bicycle.
Maifeld said the impact sent the bicycle rolling over a few times down Lincoln Avenue with Parlin hanging on tight.
Parlin “told me that he was proud he was wearing his helmet,” Maifeld said.
He credited the helmet with preventing head injuries.
A Med-Care Ambulance crew and Rumford firefighters strapped the injured boy onto a backboard first, while police Chief Stacy Carter directed four-way traffic around the scene.
The youth was then placed on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance and taken to Rumford Hospital.
Maifeld said there was no damage to the Jeep, but he didn’t know about the bicycle.
No charges were filed against Bautista or Parlin, but Maifeld did issue a summons to Bautista’s mother, Louann Bautista, 36, of Dixfield, who owns the Jeep. He charged her with having no insurance, which he said she then got two hours after the accident.
“She said she didn’t know it had lapsed,” Maifeld said.
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- Sixteen-year-old Neriha K. Bautista, left, of Dixfield watches rescuers tend to Thomas Parlin, 11, of Rumford at the Route 2 and Lincoln Avenue intersection in Rumford on Wednesday afternoon. Bautista’s Jeep and the boy’s bike collided, injuring the bicyclist. The boy’s mother, top left center, talks with Rumford police Sgt. Douglas Maifeld and officer Dave Hodgson while a Med-Care Ambulance crew tends to her son.
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- A Med-Care Ambulance crew and Rumford firefighters secure Thomas Parlin, 11, of Rumford on a backboard while his mother, at left, talks with him. The boy was riding his bike Wednesday afternoon at the intersection of Route 2 and Lincoln Avenue where it and a Jeep Cherokee collided.
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- A Med-Care Ambulance crew and Rumford firefighters take Thomas Parlin, 11, of Rumford to the ambulance after the youngster’s bicycle and a Jeep Cherokee collided Wednesday afternoon in the intersection of Route 2 and Lincoln Avenue in Rumford.
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- Rumford police Chief Stacy Carter directs four-way traffic around a car-pedestrian accident Wednesday afternoon at the intersection of Route 2, Lincoln Avenue and Hancock Street.
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