Police: Didn't see a bike? That's "reasonable and prudent."

[Also Posted to BayStateCycling a.k.a. massbike]

http://www.wickedlocal.com/watertown...ed-in-accident

Bystanders lift car off Watertown cyclist,
Newton driver not charged in accident
By Dan Atkinson / Newton TAB staff writer
Wicked Local Newton | Posted 01-Jun-2010 @ 04:31 PM
Last update 01-Jun-2010 @ 04:37 PM

NEWTON -- A driver ran over a cyclist and attempted to back up
with the cyclist still under the car last week, and the cyclist
was only freed after bystanders lifted the car off him. But the
driver was not at fault in the accident, according to police.

According to police reports, a 40-year-old Watertown man was
cycling east on Commonwealth Avenue in the 2300 block at about
5:20 p.m. on May 27. The cyclist told police he was traveling
in the far right of the lane at about 15 mph, passing cars that
were stuck or moving slowly in traffic.

Off-duty Wayland Police Officer Tyler Castagno was in his truck
on Commonwealth Avenue near the Mobil station when he saw the
cyclist go by. Suddenly, Castagno said, a red Toyota Corolla
swerved to the right to enter a driveway, knocking the cyclist
over and pulling him under the car.

"All I could see of [the cyclist] was his knees to his feet,"
Castagno said. "Everything else, the car was on top."

Castagno's fiancée dialed 911 as he tried to lift the car up
off the cyclist. Three youths from another car came to help,
and they and Castagno banged on the car when the driver, a
38-year-old Newton woman, "gunned it in reverse" with the man
still underneath. The group then lifted the car off the stricken
cyclist.

"We started moving it as high as we could so we wouldn't scrape
his body," Castagno said.

Castagno did not think the man was breathing as they moved the
car past his torso and head. But other drivers had stopped and
provided first aid, and Newton firefighters and EMTs quickly
arrived and got him breathing again. The man was taken to Beth
Israel Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Castagno, a Wayland resident who's been a police officer for
two years, had been on his way to his aunt's house in Waltham
to help her move some things, but when he got there his back
went "spazzy" because of lifting the car. He had no complaints,
though.

"It was pure adrenaline, I didn't think about it," Castagno
said. "I knew if the car stayed on him, he was going to die."

Lt. Bruce Apotheker said the actions of Castagno and other
bystanders helped save the cyclist's life. And according to
the investigating officer, Apotheker said, the driver was not
at fault for the crash.

"The cyclist's actions, which were confirmed by his own
statements, contributed to the crash," Apotheker said.

The driver told police she never saw the cyclist, and because
he had not previously passed her, she had no reason to expect
he would be there, Apotheker said. She was not cited for
improper operation.

"The officer felt a reasonable and prudent person would not
be expecting someone on their right," he said.