By Gus Saltonstall
A woman remains in a coma for more than a week after being struck by an electric bike in Central Park, her family tells West Side Rag.
Jean, whom the family is choosing to identify by that single name for her privacy, was jogging on July 7 around 4:30 p.m. along West Drive near West 64th Street, when she was struck by an electric bike, police previously told West Side Rag.
“My aunt is an avid jogger. It’s not unusual for her to be jogging through Central Park,” Brandi Wiltse, Jean’s niece, told West Side Rag over the phone. “And, what I have been told by police and eyewitnesses, is that there was a man who was riding an e-bicycle, which can go 20-plus miles per hour, and he was in a bike lane, but he slid or swerved and hit her in the back; she didn’t see him coming.”
“It was very clear immediately that she had suffered major injuries,” she added, disputing the police’s original statement to West Side Rag that Jean “was alert, conscious, and stable” when she was taken to the hospital.
Jean was initially checked into a hospital as “Jane Doe” because she wasn’t conscious and was unable to provide her name, according to Wiltse.
“Still today, a week from the incident, she is in a medically induced coma,” Wiltse told the Rag on Tuesday. “She is not awake; we have no idea about her brain functioning. She suffered a traumatic brain injury, among numerous other injuries.”
The rest of Jean’s family lives in Georgia, which has only added to the difficulty of the situation. The day after the collision, Jean’s sister [Wiltse’s mother] flew to New York. She came back to Georgia for the first time on Tuesday to pack for a longer stay in the city.
“The last thing we would want is for her to wake up by herself and have no idea what’s going on. We have no idea what her state will be,” Wiltse said. “The doctors have said she may be aware of what’s going on, that she may be able to hear, and she just can’t convey that. My mom has been trying to be there and talk to her, to read to her, and it’s just very hard because she doesn’t have that immediate support system.”
Jean and the rest of her immediate family are originally from Long Island. Jean has been in New York City for the last 10 years. While Wiltse wasn’t positive what neighborhood she lives in, she told WSR that her aunt always mentioned that she could see the blown-up balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from her window, the night before the parade, which would indicate the Upper West Side.
“It’s also a financial burden,” Wiltse told the Rag.
“My aunt’s apartment. How are we going to keep that?” she continued. “We don’t want her to wake up and find out that she lost her apartment, and that we had to pack up all her stuff and move her out. It’s going to be a long road. Doctors are saying optimistically it will be six months before she can be transferred and moved out of the hospital.”
To that end, Wiltse’s family has created a GoFundMe for Jean, which has raised $2,700 as of Wednesday afternoon. You can donate — HERE.
Police told West Side Rag on Wednesday morning that there is currently no investigation into the Central Park collision. NYPD confirmed that the 26-year-old driver of the bike remained on the scene and provided his information.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
All the talk about banning horse-drawn carriages, but why do the pols shut their traps when the subject turns to “e-bikes” (aka unlicensed motorcycles)?
Let’s fire the politicians who “make” laws, and hire more cops and prosecutors to “enforce” the law.
Politicians get money from DoorDash and other companies that stand behind TransAlt.