| | Tue, Jun 15, 5:42 AM
Jun. 15--A TriMet bus driver almost crushed a cyclist between the side of her bus and parked Mazda minvan near the corner of Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and Maple Street late this afternoon.
The accident sent the cyclist, Sebastian Case, of Southeast Portland, somersaulting through the air where he landed on his left shoulder, said witnesses and Case.
Case, 37, was not wearing a helmet. But he suffered only minor scrapes and bruises. After quick treatment by paramedics inside an ambulance, he rode away from the scene of the accident on his yellow Abici road bike.
"I was most bummed because I threw everyone's bus ride off," Case said, whose right arm had begun to swell. "I'm not trying to ruin people's days."
Case said he had passed the bus a few blocks earlier, as it made a stop to pick up passengers next to the Burgerville on the corner of Southeast 12th Avenue and Hawthorne. As he continued east along Hawthorne, Case said he could hear the bus approaching behind him.
"I knew the bus was close behind me," he said. "But not that close."
The next thing he knew Case was "sandwiched" between the bus and a green Mazda minivan parked in front of Really Good Stuff, a thrift store. Case was dragged along the side of the minivan by the bus. He then struck and shattered the van's sideview mirror. The impact sent him toppling head over heels.
"She obviously didn't see me," said Case, referring to the bus driver, Norma Weathersbee. "On her behalf, she was very kind."
Case said Weathersbee ran out of the bus and asked him if he was all right.
Weathersbee declined to comment. The accident shook other witnesses as well.
"All I could think was Broadway. Under the bus," said Mike Keating, owner of the minivan. In April, a bus ran over five pedestrians crossing Broadway, killing two and injuring the others.
Keating said he was sitting inside his vehicle when Case was dragged along the side of it by the bus.
"He's lucky he's not dead," he said.
--Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
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