LISBON, Maine — A $10,000 reward is being offered for the conviction of a hit-and-run driver who hit cyclist Reney Henry in Lisbon last September, leaving him hurt on the highway.
The reward money is coming from family, friends and supporters of Henry, 52, of Lisbon, an electrician at Bath Iron Works.
On Sept. 12, 2011, Henry was riding his bicycle on Route 136 near Snow Road, training for the Dempsey Challenge, when he was hit from behind. He was thrown from his bicycle and landed on his head.
Henry was wearing a helmet and bright colors, and “there’s a huge breakdown lane” where he was riding, said his wife, Janet Henry.
Jasmin Turgeon, a Lisbon postal carrier, saw what happened and stopped to help.
“The car sideswiped him and kept going,” Turgeon said. “I was following a few car lengths behind. Mr. Henry was in the air doing flips. He was hit severely hard. The traffic was over 50 mph on that road.”
When she stopped, Henry’s head was lying across the white line that divides the highway and the breakdown lane, Turgeon said. Eye and head injuries were obvious, she said. “He was conscious but he wasn’t responsive. He couldn’t hear me. I was on the phone with 911.”
Turgeon stopped oncoming traffic. Several drivers stopped to help, including one who was a first responder. Turgeon described the hit-and-run car as a dark gray or silver sedan. “The windows were tinted,” she said.
Efforts to get the license plate number were not successful. The driver who hit Henry “hit him pretty hard,” Turgeon said. “It ripped off the passenger mirror. That person had to have known he [or she] hit someone. It’s hard to believe someone would do that. It was a pretty nasty thing.”
Henry suffered bleeding in his brain, a concussion and damage to his eye socket. He was hospitalized for a week, and later underwent eye-socket reconstruction.
He was out of work for three or four weeks. “The guy’s incredible,” said his wife. A month later, he rode in the Dempsey Challenge, met Patrick Dempsey and posed with him for pictures. “Patrick nicknamed Reney ‘Crash,’” his wife said with a laugh.
He rides his bicycle more than 47 miles every other day, training for the Dempsey Challenge, scheduled for October. He rides with a group called “Team Mini.” The challenge is a fundraiser for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing in Lewiston.
State police lead investigator Tyler Stevenson said the force of the impact not only broke the passenger side mirror but likely damaged the side of the car. Evidence at the scene indicated the offending vehicle was a dark-gray metallic color and was a 2006 or 2007 model, possibly a Ford Fusion, a Mercury Milan, a Lincoln MKZ or a Zephyr.
Family and friends hope a reward will prompt someone with information to come forward, Janet Henry said. Maine State Police last year asked the public for assistance in finding the driver, but no driver has been found.
The person who hit her husband has committed the crime once and may do it again, she said. They want to bring that driver to justice and prevent him or her from doing it again, Janet Henry said.
The crash has brought “a curse and a blessing,” Janet Henry said. Her husband suffers headaches and has some double vision. She worries more when he goes out for rides. “I stay by the phone and make sure I’m there.”
But the family has been touched by how many people have offered support.
Reney Henry’s participation in the Dempsey Challenge will raise money for cancer to help others, she said. “We’re paying something back.”
Information about the reward is available at www.whohitme.weebly.com or by calling 713-9717.
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one more proud mother’s moment…..this person should have their drivers license taken away for life.
I do hope they catch the operator of this vehicle , this kind of behavior is inexcusable. The driver should be taken off of the road for life !
Lowest driving crime of all. Leaving someone beside the road either injured or dead.
While I agree that it was reprehensible for the driver of this car to continue on without stopping to help the bike rider I am also compelled to say the obvious; bicycles and motor vehicles, some weighing many tons and going very fast, simply do not mix.
Not only is this an inappropriate comment in this context, it isn’t even true. Bicycles don’t use the Interstate Highway System, designed only for motor vehicles. But surface streets serve a variety of users, including bicyclists and pedestrians. Drivers who aren’t willing to share the road should not be driving.
I am not trying in any way to defend what sounds in the story to be an act of deliberate assault upon a bike rider. That said, I stand by my statement that bikes and motorized vehicles do not mix. In my opinion slow moving pedestrians on the whole seem to be more aware of vehicular traffic and thus more prone to acting safely around them. Also in my opinion, bike riders are much less aware and, going faster, more prone to undesired interaction with motorized vehicles.
Hank I believe my comment was very appropriate and true also. The almost endless stories of bike/car accidents through the summer make it clear that now is time to re-evalute the relationship between motorized vehicles and bicycles on our highways. There needs to be new regulation, enforcement of current and new laws for both modes of transportation, licensing, registration, minimum age requirements (for using public roads), and proof of ability (to pass the license exam) for bicycle riders.
But George, you are putting the onus squarely on bicyclists, when A) the bicyclist is at significantly more risk of injury or death in a bike/car collision, and B) most car-bike accidents are caused by inattention or recklessness on the part of driver, not the bicyclist. How long does it take to slow down for a bicycle or wait for a safe place to pass? Thirty seconds? A minute? A small price to pay for safety. Many drivers seem annoyed that bicycles are on the road at all. If there were more of us, drivers would have to be aware of the presence of bicycles all the time, and would regard them as a constant instead of an inconvenience. Everyone would slow down, and the roads would be safer. And before you start talking about new laws for bicycles, how about enforcing speed limits and the three-foot buffer distance?
Ok how about enforcing those speed limits, a 50mph zone and a bike using the road at say 15-20 mph. Lets enforce the dangerously slow causing a traffic hazard laws. 25mph zone, no problem really, the difference in speed is not likely to be dangerous. The higher the speed limit, the greater the speed differences the greater the hazard. Think about coming into Bangor where 95 drops to 55 mph. Some people go 55mph, many more ignore it. This causes all kinds of dangerous situations because the 55mph people can’t get over to allow traffic on or off because they are constantly getting passed by those who ignore the limit.
Perhaps we should require everyone to complete their in-town commutes via walking or bicycling until people can learn to pay attention while driving? Many accidents could be avoided if full attention was devoted to the task at hand. The topic has been discussed at length many times, but I will say I am disturbed by the behavior I see behind the wheel. It seems as if being surrounded by those many tons, maybe with the music loud, the AC on, and thick glass blocking the road noise, isolates some drivers from the reality of their actions.
Thank God I have never come close to hitting a cyclist and have almost never been significantly inconvenienced by them. There have been times when I have had to wait a few moments before it was safe to pass a cyclist. I have no problem with that. Far more often, I have to wait for car waiting to turn against heavy traffic as well. In either case, I am usually only held up a few seconds, or at most a minute or two. I can live with that.
This isn’t to say all accidents can be prevented. Sometimes things come together in the worst way. And of course, some cyclist behave recklessly, putting themselves in danger. However, if all parties acknowledge that their actions can have life or death consequences and thus approaching driving or riding with respect and diligence, many lives could be saved.
I am very glad that Mr. Henry survived and is back to cycling. Lets all do our part to help prevent these tragedies!
There will be many more pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds, scooters and motorcycles on the road as energy costs rise and more people want to enjoy the physical exercise of walking or cycling. Drivers must learn that roads are to be shared and that speed limits, especially in towns and cities are there for a purpose. The worst aspect of automobile traffic these days are the drivers who are supposed to operate their cars safely allow themselves to be distracted by all sorts of other activities while driving. There is a reason Maine’s highway fatalities are up significantly.
This was a response to Sam G below but somehow ended in this location.
I am also glad to hear that Mr. Henry survived this ordeal. If you read my most recent comment above you will see that I hold drivers responsible as well as bike riders so we seem to be in agreement. Look, I would never suggest that car drivers are without fault and that problem needs to be aggressively addressed by law enforcement. However, and this may be where we disagree, bike riders are also at fault and when the two modes of transportation mix in the violent confrontation of an accident everybody loses. In fact, the bike rider probably will lose more than the motorized vehicle driver. So at a minimum we need to guarantee that ALL who drive vehicles on our roads, regardless of how they are powered, are qualified to be there. This should include aggressive enforcement of law for bike riders and drivers alike as well as proof of competency (a license), insurance for the inevitable accidents, registration of any vehicle that uses our roads, a minimum age requirement, new laws that deal with the use of our highways today in 2012, and enforcement of laws meant to protect all who use our roads even if that means ticketing, or repealing the license, of bike riders who do not follow the law.
When two vehicles are in an accident, there is usually one party at fault and the other considered a victim of circumstance. Most vehicular accidents are settled by police reports and insurance companies and they don’t make the newspapers. While there have been a larger number of vehicle-bicycle accidents in the newspapers in the recent past, the same circumstances generally apply – there is usually one party at fault and the other is a victim of circumstance.
Cyclists are generally concentrating on the road, their pace, and their body’s responsiveness to the workout. Automobile drivers across the US are widely known for distracted driving; cell phones, texting, playing with the radio, turning to handle a child or pet in the back seat. Who do you think is more likely to be the party at fault in the larger percentage of vehicle-bicycle accidents?
If people in the US weren’t so selfish, spoiled and used to instant gratification, perhaps they could share the roads more patiently and graciously with pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles. They seem to manage that in other countries, and licensed individuals driving motorized vehicles are willing to politely bear the responsibility of operating a potentially lethal weapon rather than shifting blame onto their potential victims.
Sorry its been too long the driver wont be found..maybe look for finger prints off the mirror if the driver had adjusted it at some point?
I hope they catch the person who hit this cyclist and put that individual away for a long time. I don’t understand how someone can leave someone else on the side of the road injured after they hit the cyclist. Unbelievable!!!!