It was a somewhat routine call when Battle Ground Police Officer Clint Fraser was dispatched to the city’s main intersection about 8 a.m. on Oct. 15.
A vehicle traveling north on 10th Avenue was taking a right turn onto West Main Street and crashed into a man riding a bicycle.
When Fraser arrived, he said the bicyclist, Kishan “Sam” Aylor, 32, was on the ground groaning in pain. He learned the driver, Bethany Larson, 46, had bright sun in her eyes when the crash occurred. No citations were issued.
While the crash involved low speeds, Aylor was injured and had to be taken to an area hospital for treatment.
“When (Aylor) got shipped off, we had to do something with his bike,” Fraser said. “I didn’t want to leave it there.”
Over the process of interviewing the driver and witnesses, Fraser said he learned that Aylor was developmentally delayed and rode his bike to work at Fred Meyer, just a block from the accident scene.
“This bike was his main mode of transportation,” Fraser said. “He lives on the other side of town and doesn’t have the ability to drive.”
He put the bike in a police SUV and took it back to the police station where Fraser said he intended to fix it up.
“We have a lot of bikes that are either stolen, found or recovered one way or another and they just sit in property (unit) for a while,” Fraser said. “I thought maybe I could replace a wheel.”
But the bike had more than a bent wheel — the fork was also damaged. Fraser spoke with his colleagues at the Battle Ground Police Officers Association, the officers’ union, who offered to donate about $150 to buy Aylor a new bike. Fred Meyer offered them a discount.
“It was something really simple I could do so that he could continue on what appeared to be a great life for himself,” Fraser said.
A few days after the crash, Fraser presented Aylor with his bike. Aylor smiled and quietly accepted the new bike, Fraser said.
“As a police officer, I deal with a lot of people who make excuses of why they can’t do this and why they can’t do that,” he said. “Here’s a guy, in the face of disability, and he does what he does … I saw an opportunity to help this young man and I thought it was the right thing to do.”
