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Published on 10/27/1999 All articles from this issue

Helmet saves boy, 12, in bike crash

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By Leslie K. Martin / Town Crier Staff Writer

Twelve-year-old Christopher McArthur never made it to Egan Intermediate School on Oct. 12. He was hit by a car. But because he wore a bicycle helmet that morning he is alive and back at school already.

Riding their bicycles, Chris left home after his twin, Kevin. When the light changed at Portola Avenue and San Antonio Road, Chris began to ride through the intersection. According to Los Altos Police Officer Brent Butler, a woman driving at 35 mph, weaving through morning traffic, didn't see a red light and hit Chris.

"I can't think what a horrible experience it was for the witnesses. Most were parents with children at Egan," said Chris' mother, Donna McArthur. One woman watched Chris flip up over the car's hood onto the windshield and then flop to the ground. Days later she called McArthur to say, "I can't get this image out of my mind."

Luck, in many forms, was with Chris that Tuesday. McArthur said that witnesses had cell phones, so 911 calls went out within seconds. Two Egan physical education instructors hopped the schoolyard fence to help. A passing intensive-care nurse parked her car and ran over to make certain no one moved Chris. Paramedics and then police arrived within minutes.

Paramedics at the scene were not hopeful, Butler said. Chris was unconscious and bleeding from the head and leg. His helmet was still on, split in three places.

An Egan staff member called McArthur at home with scant information. "When I was headed to the hospital, I didn't know which twin it was or whether he was alive."

First at Stanford Hospital and then transported to the intensive care unit at Lucile Salter Packard's Children's Hospital, Chris drifted in and out of consciousness. But, incredibly, Butler said, there were no broken bones, nor even significant bruising, just "a little road rash." Chris, who remembers nothing of the accident, was discharged two days later.

"He's pretty much the luckiest kid alive," Butler said. He saved Chris' shattered helmet. "I've got it to show other kids what saved his life."

Butler, a school resource officer with the Los Altos Police Department, feels a personal responsibility. He knows the twins. Last year when Chris refused to go to class, their mother called Butler for help.

In talking to Chris, Butler discovered that McArthur had breast cancer. "Chris and Kevin took it hard. They wanted to be at home with mom and dad instead of in class. They're neat, neat kids," Butler said.

Butler asked for, and received money from, the police association to buy Chris a new bike. The Bicycle Outfitters at Loyola Corners offered the bike at 10 percent above cost. Bell Helmet gave Chris a new helmet.

"My kids say they see children riding to Egan school with their helmets on their handlebars. I can't drive home the point enough that the helmet is what saved his life," Donna said. "To me, you always hear the cliché, how they save lives, but we spent $30 on a helmet, and we've still got a child."