A teenage boy from Bury died after being thrown from a non-road legal, modified, electric bike last year, a court has heard. He had been warned not to use the 'sports mode' of his friend's bike but was found unconscious and bleeding a short time later.
Owen David Jones from Bury, was walking with friends in Rossendale on May 11 last year when he asked to borrow one of their electric bikes. His friend, Marley, warned the 17-year-old not to use a 'sports mode' but after he set off they became concerned after not seeing him for 10 minutes, LancsLive reports.
When Marley and another friend Jack reached the end of the hill, they saw Owen lying unconscious and bleeding. They rang the emergency services and he was airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital where it was found he had suffered a catastrophic brain injury.
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Lisa and Richard, Owen's mum and dad, were immediately told that his outlook was 'very poor' with Owen placed on sedation. Dr Sudhi Kulkarni, an emergency medicine consultant, told the family that it could take between 48 and 72 hours for the sedation to wear off but, just over half an hour later, Owen's heart went into cardiac arrest and he died.
Dr Kulkarni told an inquest at Preston Coroners' Court today (September 15): "The pressure in Owen's brain was 80mm whereas normally it should be between 15mm and 20mm. [Surgery] wasn't [immediately] an option for Owen because his brain pressure was so high that it would have caused him to die on the table and bleed out. He would have died instantly."
PC Martin Ward, a collision investigator with Lancashire Constabulary, examined the scene and the electric bike after the crash. He discovered the bike, which was not road legal, had been modified and had no rear brake pads.
PC Ward said: "Because it wasn't road legal there were no requirements for [the manufacturer] to conform to because [the bike] shouldn't have been on the road. The bike was found in sport mode... sensors had also been removed which would have shut off power to the bike when the brakes were applied."
The modifications had not contributed to the death, PC Ward added, saying that Owen had applied the front brakes in an effort to stop, but this threw him from the front of it. Police estimated Owen had been travelling at between 20mph and 30mph when he was thrown from the bike.
Although Owen did have cannabis in his system, at approximately twice the legal driving limit, the coroner, who had viewed CCTV footage recorded shortly before the crash, found that it had not impaired his ability to ride the bike. "When the bike could no longer maintain forward motion, as it was rotating, Owen was ejected from it at the speed, probably about 30mph," PC Ward added. "I know it doesn't sound a lot but it it's fast enough."
A family statement read out during the inquest described Owen, an apprentice joiner and carpenter who lived with his family in Crawshawbooth, Lancashire, as a 'caring, playful, kind and ambitious young man'. "He became successful in everything that he did," his family said.
"He enjoyed playing and watching football, especially Manchester United, and enjoyed riding his scooter and bike and socialising. On the day of the collision we had discussed his upcoming 18th birthday."
The medical cause of death was given as traumatic diffuse axonal brain injury. Area Coroner Chris Long returned a conclusion of road traffic collision.
"What is plain and consistent is that Owen had tragically suffered a severe traumatic brain injury," the coroner said. "Having considered the nature of the injury it was non-survivable."
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