Young man hit by a car and Insurance is not wanting to pay.

Back in June a young man Jeremy New Jr. was hit by a car riding his bike heading west bound into Sumner. Mind you he was riding his bike, and it goes slower than a car driving on the highway. Dala Billingsly was also driving west bound heading into town. To make a long story short, Dala hit Jeremy (JJ) on his bike and cracked his skull, destroyed his bike, and hard telling what else it did to his body for being so young. Let's hope nothing. He was ambulanced to Vincennes, IN and then airlifted to Indianapolis via helicopter to make sure there was no brain bleeding, swelling, and so forth. There were no witnesses and the driver (Dala)"said" she did not see JJ at all. The police report has ONE sentence on it that reads, and I quote, "Bike was traveling west on IL 250 in the roadway, unit two started around the bike and and when the bike turned into unit #2 causing accident".
My first thought is when I am driving in front of someone and I get rear ended, it is there fault. 99% of the time the person following behind is at fault. But yet Dala said she did not see JJ at all and they wrote on the police report that the bike ran into the car. HMMMM!
Secondly, don't pedstrian have the right-a-way?
Thirdly, the insurance is not wanting to pick the cost of the medical bills. All the family wants is the medical bills paid and in my opinion could be asking for a lot more. There is $50,000 plus in medical bills from this accident.
The insurance carrier that is not willing to pay is Pekin Insurance out of Mt. Vernon. I called the insurance company and spoke to Jill Gannon. She said they denied the claim because of the police report. I ask her how they could deny a claim based on one sentence (listed above in quotes). She then changed her story and said they denied the claim based on what their insuree told them. So which is it Jill (pekin), the police report or the words from the Dala. OH! WAIT! I thought Dala did not see JJ and she said she did not see what happen. WAIT! So how did officer put that statment on the police report , "Bike was traveling west on IL 250 in the roadway, unit two started around the bike and and when the bike turned into unit #2 causing accident". Did he see the accident no? And how did tell her insurance company a story to get the claim denied.
Something is fishy!

Thoughts?

is this the kid that got struck by the truck mirror?
i think he was upset about his grandpappy.

or is there more people getting hit on bikes in sumner?

king, i read your story for a second time. if you know the family, get word to them to find an attorney (not one from southern illinois.) and start litigation.

people that strike cyclists with cars should be punished, both financially and jail time.

Tubal Cane wrote:

king, i read your story for a second time. if you know the family, get word to them to find an attorney (not one from southern illinois.) and start litigation.
people that strike cyclists with cars should be punished, both financially and jail time.

I know the family, the thing is they do not want to punish the lady but the insurance company may make it come to that.

Insurance companies suck and so do most drivers with cell phones.

if you know any cyclists over that way, i recommend the DiNotte lights.

I had an encounter with a bike in vincennes a couple weeks ago. the sun was just above the visor and beneath it was someone using these lights. They could be seen easily, made me stop a couple extra seconds just to figure out what was coming at me.

this video doesn't do it justice, that strobe is eye catching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch...

Be safe.

Actually if the "family" has auto insurance, JJ would be considered an insured also. I say this because your insurance company is usually required to help you with legal issues by providing a lawyer that will fight the denial. Since this was technically an auto accident it might work.It shouldn't matter that he was on a bike- either your homeowners or auto should kick in. I'm not positive which one. I know that if you hit a car with a shopping cart it falls under homeowners insurance... I'm unfamiliar with biking accidents.

If you look on line you will probably find a wealth of information from others in the same type of situation and that could point you in the right direction.

Poor baby boy! I hope it gets better.