Bike helmet saved Largo boy's life, police say

Johnathon Ferland, 11, was riding his bike home from school when he was hit in the head by a falling pole. His mom Tara Bickler, seen in the background, always insists her son wear his helmet. [Jim Damaske | Times]

LARGO -- A Largo Middle School sixth-grader is probably alive today because he was wearing his bicycle helmet Tuesday afternoon.

And 11-year-old Johnathon Ferland wasn't even riding his bike when the helmet saved his life.

Instead, police say, he was standing with his bike on the side of the road at Eighth Avenue SW and Ridge Road when a freak accident took place.

A 1979 Chevrolet truck was trying to back into a parking space at the neighboring Fifth Third Bank when its brakes failed. The truck jumped the curb, went across some grass and hit two poles. One of those poles -- a pedestrian crossing sign post about 10 feet tall and four inches thick -- fell on the 93-pound boy's head, knocking him into the pavement.

Johnathon said he remembers the truck rolling backwards toward him and some classmates, and the truck driver, who was later cited for not having proper brakes, yelling for the kids to move.

"I was trying to move out of the way, but I wasn't fast enough," Johnathon said in an interview today.

A crossing guard and a Largo police sergeant who was working an off-duty job at the bank helped treat the boy until fire rescue arrived.

Johnathon's mother, 36-year-old nurse Tara Bickler, also rushed to the scene after a school resource officer called her at home.

"It was a parent's worst nightmare," she said today.

The impact of the pole cracked Johnathon's bike helmet in several places, and a metal sign attached to the post sliced into his neck near a major artery. He also suffered minor injuries to his face and a concussion, according to Largo police Lt. Mike Loux. He was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, then transferred to All Children's Hospital.

Johnathon said he's afraid of heights, so the idea of flying in the helicopter ambulance scared him. But his mother told him he would be strapped down and wouldn't see how high he was.

Johnathon was released from the hospital today and plans to return to school Monday, wearing a new bicycle helmet. His mother said she would like to wrap him in bubble wrap.

Jonathan Abel, Times staff writer

Photo: The impact of the pole cracked Johnathon's bike helmet in several places. Click to enlarge.  [Jim Damaske  |  Times]

Comments

[David]

3 Cheers for bike helmets

[R]

Bravo! Smart family!

[Bob]

Fifth paragraph down...the truck driver was "later cited for not having improper brakes"...?? Yikes, the brakes in my car are just fine, I hope I don't get a ticket.

[maria]

wow! the boy got lucky
thank god hes alive & nothing serious happened

[joru]

The maetal signs. How many injuries have they caused, not only in traffic accidents, but flying through the air during Florida storms? There must be some sort of durable synthetic material to replace them, or at least round off the sharp edges.

[BOB]

Wow good thing he didnt get
decapitated by the Metal sign.
Should contact the helmets
maker maybe they would be glad to replace the helemet and put him in
an advertisement as to how the helmet saved his life .... Could be a profitable idea for the comapny and the young boy I see college tution
in his future any way law suit against the driver will be a nice Chunk of changed for him also ... Maybe the state legislature should reinstate the helmet law for motor cyclists they die daily because skull against pavement
Deadly results

[BOB THE SAINT]

He was knocked into the pavement.
Hopefully he was just knocked onto the pavement . if he was any thing he would have been drove into pavemnet had the truck run him over lmao

[BOB]

Bob. Re -read the article he was ticketed for NOT having Proper brakes ,
Could be they were worn and not functioning properly. Low on fliud many things could be at fault but drivers ability to at least worn them by screaming means he didnt even have horn working bring back the inspection stations ... these would be good deterent to bad vehicles on the road

OMG! I have never seen so many people on one SMALL blog who CANNOT spell or make proper use of the english language! Um.... have any of you heard of "SPELL CHECK???"

BOB-you are TOTALLY illiterate!! Did you go to school in Florida?

It's VERY embarrassing to read your comments! What's worse is, they're everywhere on this St. Pete Times site..ON EVERY SINGLE COMMENT AREA!

Pleeeease STOP! You're embarrassing all of the people who work hard to at least appear as if we have attained an education of some sort.

The story is good, it has a good point. The kid could have been hurt alot worse if he had not been wearing a helmet.

I'll bet this kid can SPELL better than BOB too! What does everyone else think?

[Kevin]

@joru - While it may sound like a good idea at first to switch from metal signs to a synthetic material such as a rugged stiff plastic, in reality, just about any rigid material with the thickness of a metal sign moving at any decent velocity is going to be capable of grevious injury identical to metal signs. A better way to approach it would be to use very thick beveled edges, making it a blunt object instead of a sharp one.

[matt]

and you wonder why kids today dont wear helmets

[John]

I wonder what the drivers age was. AND yes it does matter, a lot cars driven by wrinkle monsters seem to take off and jump over curbs for no apparent reason. I am just saying....there's a connection between wrinkles and erratic driving.

[Hey Perfect Speller]

"alot" You moron, crabbing about others spelling and you use that. I bet you pee in the wind a lot.

[Angela H.]

Thank the Lord for protecting his little angel!!!