5 days ago
A Cyclist's Throat Cut and Another's Head Sliced By Kite String on N.Y.C. Bridge
A man and a woman were cycling on the Marine Parkway Bridge in New York City on Sunday, June 1, when they were struck by a kite string
The woman suffered injuries to her hands and head, but the man sustained serious injuries to his neck
Though stable, he remains in the care of the Kings County Hospital's ICUTwo cyclists were injured by a kite string in New York City on Sunday, June 1, according to the New York Police Department.
A 36-year-old woman, Jennifer Noble, and her friend, a 40-year-old man, were cycling northbound on the Marine Parkway Bridge around 5:20 p.m., when a kite string struck them.
Noble told the Gothamist that they had spent a beach day at Jacob Riis Park in Queens, N.Y. But as they were riding home in the bicycle lane, Noble and her friend rode into the string.
' I caught it with my hand. I tried to prevent it from moving, but it cut through my fingers and then my forehead and then hit me on the helmet, and I went backwards and it went over me and hit him,' she told the outlet.
Moments before the incident, Noble noticed a kite flying erratically near the bridge. However, its string was nearly invisible to track its path, until it was too late, she said.
' I'm a birder, so I'm always looking at the sky and I'd noticed this very, interesting-looking black-and-white kite in the sky as we were coming up the bike path,' she said. 'That was my first thought when I ran into the skirt string — I could feel the tension of the wind on it. I just knew it was a kite string.'
Upon colliding with the string, the pair was tended to by their group of friends and other cyclists, who also called first responders.
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Noble sustained injuries to her head and hands, while the man she was with sustained serious injuries to his neck. EMS transported both victims to NYC Health and Hospitals/Coney Island. Noble was discharged that night.
The man is currently recovering and in stable condition at Kings County Hospital's intensive care unit, according to a GoFundMe page created to help him with his unforeseen medical expenses.
According to the fundraiser, the man, who was not identified by police, had his throat "slit" when he struck the line.
"He suffered profound blood loss and damage to his windpipe, and has a very long road ahead of him in terms of recovery,' the fundraiser read. 'He will be in the ICU for an unknown amount of time at this point, though is stable and getting better by the day.'
Noble said she didn't witness what happened after the collision. However, she told the Gothamist that the kite string looked similar to those used in kite fighting. A glass-coated string is typically used in the spar, where people aim to cut their opponent's kite string.
' If part of kite fighting is that one of the kites gets cut off and flies away, I don't see how there's a way to do that safely,' Noble said. 'It's such a danger, it just feels like a matter of time before someone else gets hurt in this way. So as a public safety concern, I would like to see that addressed.'
Read the original article on People
