RUMFORD — The father of a 9-year-old Rumford boy who suffered a fractured skull June 10 when the bicycle he was riding across Falmouth Street was struck by a pickup truck, disputes the police report.
Reading from Sgt. Tracey Higley’s report, Sgt. James Bernard said Tuesday that a contributing factor in the 5:34 p.m. accident was that 9-year-old Hiram Dean, Jeremy Byron’s son, failed to yield to oncoming traffic. Bernard also responded to the accident.
Higley said early Wednesday evening that per his investigation, Dean and another youth on a bicycle entered Falmouth Street traveling east from a parking lot in between buildings.
The other child (Harley James Dean, 11) made it safely across, but Hiram, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, was struck by a 2013 Toyota Tacoma pickup driven by Daryl Simard, 66, of Rumford, officer Brad Gallant said June 10.
Simard was following Falmouth Street and driving south, Higley said, coming from the direction of Aubuchon’s Hardware. He said the truck narrowly missed hitting the older child.
Byron, who wasn’t at the scene, said his son wasn’t at fault. The family lives a few streets away from Falmouth Street on Byron Street.
Byron said June 12 that his 17-year-old son told him that before his younger sons, Hiram and Harley Dean, tried to ride across the street on bicycles, they stopped and looked both ways.
“Hiram wasn’t at fault,” he said. “They looked both ways. This guy come out of nowhere. Hiram did exactly what he was supposed to do.”
Higley said there were few witnesses to interview when he arrived. He also said that in preserving and investigating the scene he didn’t see any evidence that the pickup truck was speeding. He said he also didn’t get to see Hiram because the boy was taken from the area.
Higley said there was minimal impact to the bicycle and to Simard’s bumper, and it appeared that Hiram was struck near the centerline but more to the right side of the road.
Simard said Wednesday afternoon that he wasn’t speeding and didn’t think his truck even hit the youngster.
“It all happened so fast,” Simard said. “I’m sorry it happened, but I was not going fast.”
He said he was driving along Falmouth Street and saw two ambulances go by and stopped at the stop sign at the intersection with Essex Avenue before proceeding. Simard said he saw three or four people on the side of the road by the last house on the left and a couple of little kids on the right side of the road.
“I went a little ways more and came up to that empty lot between the houses and, all of a sudden, that kid come through the bushes (into the road),” Simard said. “There are two or three trees there and I put my foot on the brake.”
He said he was told by someone at the scene that Hiram Dean was trying to catch up to his older brother when the accident happened.
Simard said he parked his truck and got out to see the boy on the ground in front of the passenger side, and watched a woman come out, pick up the boy, put him on her shoulder and leave the area.
“She went off and I didn’t even know if he was injured,” Simard said.
He said he tried unsuccessfully to flag down the two ambulances and asked someone there to call 911, but was told someone had already done so.
“Then the police officer came and I told him the kid just darted out of nowhere, and I seen him coming and put my brakes on, and I know the kid was still standing there on his bike when I stopped in front of him,” Simard said.
He said Hiram Dean wasn’t wearing a helmet.
“I don’t think the kid was watching (when he rode into the street),” Simard said. “He came right out on the road and parents there admitted he was trying to catch up to his brother … The police officer came back and told me the kid just had a few scratches and bruises.
“It’s so hard to see anyone coming out of that lot, because those houses are right on the sidewalk,” he said.
Med-Care Ambulance took Hiram to Rumford Hospital, then to the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland for observation, Byron said.
Byron said his fiancee and the family moved to Byron Street a month ago. On June 10, they were headed to a school talent show. Byron and his fiancee were taking a cab, while Hiram and Harley said they wanted to ride their bikes there.
Byron said the two brothers were being supervised by their older brother, a junior in high school.
He said Hiram also suffered bumps and bruises and was doing well at the hospital.
“He’s going to pull out of it, but his summer’s gone,” Byron said. “He wants to run around and hang with his friends,” but he has to take it easy.
He said he’s been pushing Hiram to wear his bicycle helmet, but the boy hasn’t wanted to. It was a hard lesson to learn.
“I know this is a miracle that I made it through this,” Hiram told his father while at the Portland hospital.
“Yes, it is,” Byron said.
He said he was going to try to get safety changes made in the area.
“People speeding is a huge problem there,” Byron said. “The speed limit is too fast.”
There are no speed limit signs on Falmouth Street or on Rumford Avenue, which connects to Falmouth Street at a 90-degree angle.
Higley said that according to state law, if a residential zone isn’t posted with a speed limit, the speed is 25 mph.
Additionally, Byron said he wants “Slow, Children at Play” signs to be erected. The only two such signs are on Falmouth Street by Aubuchon’s parking lot across from the Rumford DARE and Hosmer Field parks, and on the other end on Rumford Avenue near the Waldo Street intersection.
Visibility is also an issue at night and in fog because there are few streetlights, and the river side of Falmouth Street on the sharp corner is lined with tall shade trees.
“My 9-year-old knew where he was going and knew what he was doing, so why is it not the town’s fault?” Byron asked.
“That whole stretch of the street needs to be lit. When Hiram got hit, he was on the yellow line. Everything happened in the middle of the road. He got carried away, but his bike was still in the middle of the road.”
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