LEWISTON — An 11-year-old bicyclist remained in critical condition at a Portland hospital Tuesday night with injuries suffered when he was run over by an SUV on Tall Pines Drive on Saturday, officials said.
Jordan Norwood of Strawberry Avenue has undergone several surgeries and is being kept sedated, according to family friend and neighbor Jenny Mayberry who visited him Tuesday.
Norwood’s parents, Wendy Carney and Norman Norwood, were at Maine Medical Center in Portland with their son Tuesday, Mayberry said.
Reading from Norman Norwood’s Facebook page, Mayberry said the boy suffered two skull fractures, two jaw fractures, two leg fractures, five rib fractures, a punctured lung, a liver tear and a carotid artery leak.
According to Lewiston police Lt. Michael McGonagle, Norwood was riding his bike north in the middle of the left lane of Tall Pines Drive when he suddenly turned into the path of an SUV headed north in the right lane.
“He got run over,” McGonagle said.
The SUV driver was identified as 17-year-old Matthew Moran of Tall Pines Drive.
Moran, reluctant to speak with the media, said, “I can’t see a little boy without thinking about him.”
The accident remains under investigation.
At least one resident on Strawberry Avenue, which intersects with Tall Pines Drive, say cars go too fast in that area.
“They need to post signs. The speed limit should go down to 15 (mph from 25 mph), said Cindy Caron, who lives a few doors down from Norwood at 87 Strawberry Ave. “People don’t watch their kids.”
Caron said she was told that 429 children reside at River Valley Apartments on Tall Pines Drive.
“These kids dart out,” she said. “Jordan’s done that to me and I’ve had to stop and ask him to move,” she said.
On the stretch where Norwood was hit, children like to ride their bikes down the hill, and because it’s straight, cars tend to go faster in that area, she said.
“You just don’t know, you must go slow,” Caron said.
It should be posted “Children at Play” and there should be speed bumps, she said.
Jordan “just learned to ride his bike (this spring)” Caron said. He never wore a helmet, but none of the kids wear helmets, she said.
“They were both new drivers,” she said. “I feel bad for the 17-year-old.”
Jenny Mayberry’s father, Henry, said Norwood is friendly to people.
“He grows on people,” he said.
Mayberry’s boyfriend, Dillon Corson, said, “A couple days ago (before the accident) he told me he loves me.”
Tall Pines Drive is relatively quiet, said Pierrette Polley and her sister, Gertrude Angelides, of 53 Tall Pines Drive. Sitting on the front steps of their side-by-side apartments, the sisters said there wasn’t a problem with cars going too fast at their end.
“It’s not a place they go fast; too many kids in the neighborhood. They know they have to be careful,” Polley said.
Mayberry’s brother, Josiah Mayberry, said he hopes to have a donation box set up at the apartment complex’s office after Jordan heals, to raise money for a new bike.
A GoFundMe campaign, http://www.gofundme.com/cb2235g8, has raised $1,852 of $5,000 requested. The fund will help pay medical costs and gas for the family traveling to-and-from Portland.
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