A 37-year-old Saanich cyclist narrowly avoided being crushed by the wheels of a semi-trailer by clutching the truck’s brake lines on Thursday morning.
Ladislav Cumpelik suffered minor injuries after being dragged 400 metres, thanks in part to a passing motorist who alerted the driver there was someone under the truck.
Cumpelik was cycling southbound down a hill on West Saanich Road about 6:40 a.m. when a semi-trailer in front of him stopped quickly to make a turn near Markham Street. Cumpelik couldn’t stop in time and lost control of his bicycle.
“I started skidding on my back. I didn’t have enough speed to go underneath the truck and right through to the other side, so instead … I grabbed onto his brake line and held on tight and started screaming,” Cumpelik said from his hospital bed at Victoria General Hospital.
The driver couldn’t hear Cumpelik’s screams and the truck picked up speed.
Cumpelik thought about letting go, but worried he would be crushed by the truck’s wheels. He tried to position himself to get the least amount of road rash and held on with “a death grip.”
A passing motorist saw Cumpelik go under and motioned for the truck driver to stop.
The truck stopped and someone called 911. Cumpelik’s head was pinned to the axle and his arm still wrapped around the brake lines when Saanich police, firefighters and B.C. Ambulance arrived on scene to pull him out.
While Cumpelik has a broken shoulder, cracked ribs and serious roadburn, he said his backpack and helmet prevented more serious injuries. Cumpelik’s shorts have a big hole in the bottom and his backpack is scraped up.
Cumpelik, who works in the parks department of the District of Saanich, remembers thinking “Is this going to be my last day?”
His wife, Diane Caetano, and parents Ferdinand and Markyta Cumpelik, were by his side in hospital on Thursday.
“I’m so grateful that he made it,” Markyta Cumpelik said.
Cumpelik and his family are especially thankful to the driver who motioned for the truck to stop.
This is not Cumpelik’s first brush with death. Two years ago while riding his bike he was hit by a vehicle that fled the scene. And when he was two, he nearly drowned in Prospect Lake near the family’s home but his father was able to save him.
Despite his Indiana Jones-like experience, Cumpelik said it’s not something he’d like to try again.
“It was an interesting journey, I don’t wish it on anyone.”
