Man sues city over bike accident

Vancouver resident Daniel Short was riding his mountain bike on Northeast Arnold Road the evening of Nov. 8, 2012, when his front tire struck something in the dim light, catapulting him over his handlebars.

The 59-year old retired fire captain from Anchorage, Alaska, landed on his head, 20 feet away. Staggering to his feet, he saw a gray cable was strung across the road about 6 inches above the pavement.

Last week, Short filed a lawsuit against the city of Vancouver, alleging city employees negligently installed the cable without any warning flags, markers or signs. He is seeking $80,500 in damages: about $31,000 for medical bills and $50,000 for the pain, suffering and disability resulting from the accident, said his attorney, Robert M. Gregg of Vancouver.

Assistant City Attorney Daniel Lloyd said Friday that the city didn’t learn of the incident until very recently.

“We are investigating Mr. Short’s claims to determine whether, and if so, to what extent, city employees did anything that might have contributed to Mr. Short’s accident, or whether the accident occurred as a result of other causes. Beyond this, the city will not comment further on this litigation,” Lloyd said in an email.

Short, who was not wearing a helmet, suffered a traumatic brain injury and developed a severe stutter after the wreck, his attorney said. Doctors also diagnosed Short with a closed head injury, a concussion and injuries to his neck and back. He had cognitive impairment, short-term memory loss, and vision problems, couldn’t drive or ride a bike and needed a companion to accompany him everywhere, Gregg said.

The accident compounded a previous head trauma that had prompted Short to retire from his fire captain job. The wreck also caused his Lyme disease, which had been in remission, to come “roaring back,” Gregg said.

“This was the perfect storm for Mr. Short,” he said Thursday.

Gregg said that on the evening of the wreck, Short had been pedaling southbound on Northeast St. James Road around 6 p.m. when he saw orange pylons at the entrance to the Burnt Bridge Creek trail. Assuming the bike path was closed, Short turned right onto Northeast Arnold Road, which had been the alternate route to access the bike path during construction near the trailhead. He’d just passed a house when he suddenly flipped over the handlebars. His headlight had failed to pick out the gray cable stretched across Arnold Road.

Disoriented and confused, Short knocked on the door of the nearby house and asked who had installed the cable. The residents said it was the city. Short told them to notify the city to put flags on the cable, Gregg said.

Now 63 and living in California, Short waited so long to take legal action because there was a three-year statute of limitations, and “we wanted to make sure that we had a clear handle on what his condition was and what the prognosis was for the future,” Gregg said. Short sent a tort claim form to the city in November but never heard back, which is why he’s suing, the attorney said.

“He’s not out trying to win the lottery on this,” Gregg said. “Mr. Short is not a greedy person. He believes that he was seriously injured in a manner that just shouldn’t have happened.”

Despite asking the city for $80,500, “the sky’s the limit” for the amount a jury could decide to award Short if the case goes to trial, he said.

Short’s recovery has been slow. He’s made great strides and his stutter is mostly gone, but he’s still not functioning 100 percent, Gregg said.

“It was a horrible period of time for him, but with good therapy and following his doctor’s instructions, he seems like a different person now,” he said. “It’s amazing what the body can do.”