SCALPED! - BICYCLIST INJURES HEAD AFTER CRASHING THROUGH VAN WINDOW

  • Published
  • By Tim Barela
  • Torch Magazine
Fort Collins, Colo. --  A minivan partially scalped a 21-year-old college student when he ran his bicycle into the back of the parked vehicle and was thrown headfirst into its rear window.

Brad Sturch, a junior at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., had been on his way to work at a local Mexican restaurant when the mishap occurred.

"I was adjusting the speedometer on my bike and kept my head down a little too long," said Sturch, who is the son of James Sturch, director of Headquarters Air Education and Training Command event planning at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. "I didn't even see it coming. I couldn't even tell you what color the van was."

Sturch, an avid bicyclist who had just finished a 40-mile bike ride the day before, said he forgot to reset his computerized speedometer before he left the house.

"So I tried to do it on the fly, which wasn't a good idea," he said.

Also, not at the top of his "good idea" list was riding without a helmet.

"I do a lot of long bike rides and usually wear a helmet," he said. "But I only live a half mile from where I work, so I neglected to put one on ... big mistake."

When his Giant Defy Advanced Road Bike slammed into the minivan, Sturch flew off the bike, and the top of his head shattered the rear window of the vehicle. Amazingly, he bounced back onto his bicycle seat, and then fell over onto the street.

"I had a lot of blood pouring out of my head," Sturch said. "But I also had a lot of adrenaline running through me, so I wasn't feeling any pain."

Some people across the street heard the crash and ran over to help. But they quickly turned into spectators, Sturch said, when they saw the young man drenched in blood and with a sizable part of his scalp peeled back from his head.

"I guess they panicked," he said. "Blood doesn't really make me squeamish. Don't get me wrong; I didn't like that the blood pooling on the asphalt was mine, but I didn't freak out."

Instead, he used one hand to apply direct pressure to his biggest wound in an attempt to stem the flow. He then used his free hand to dial 911. Next, he calmly called his work to tell his boss he wouldn't be coming in that day. And then he phoned his sister, who also lives in Fort Collins, to let her know he was going to the emergency room.

"When the paramedics arrived, they assessed my head injuries and started putting gauze on all the cuts to stop the bleeding," Sturch said. "Then the ambulance arrived, and they put me on a backboard."

His sister, 25-year-old Megan Bower, works in an orthopedic surgeon's office, which is right next to the hospital. So she actually beat Sturch to the ER.

"When she saw me on the gurney, she took one look at my injuries and said, 'Holy cow!' She hadn't expected it to be so bad," Sturch said.

He had three major lacerations, and it took 50 stitches to sew his scalp back on and close up a cut on his forehead and cheek close to his left eye.

Doctors told him he was fortunate that he did not suffer severe neck or eye injuries, a major concussion or other more serious head trauma.

"I guess I've got a thick skull," he said with a chuckle. "But, yeah, I was lucky."