Fairport, N.Y.—On Tuesday evening, someone hit 42-year-old Kevin Royston as he biked along Town Line Road between the Ontario and Yates County border in Rushville.
Instead of stopping and helping Royston, the driver fled the scene. Eventually, another driver stopped helped Royston and then called 911.
Royston is recovering at Strong Memorial Hospital, but the family tells 13WHAM News, Royston may lose his leg as a result of the accident.
News of the accident in Rushville reminded 75-year-old Fairport resident Milan Stolka of what he experienced a year ago.
Stolka was cycling along Murray Road in Victor on Memorial Day 2011. He was training for a 24-hour bike race when a car hit him. The next thing he knew, he was at the hospital with broken ribs, a collapse lung, a concussion and a dissected aorta.
“The police said the way I was laying on the ground, they concluded that it was a hit and run,” Stolka says. “There was just no way I could simply fall out of the bike and position myself on the road that way."
To this day, the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office has not been able to find the person responsible.
“They never found anybody,” Stolka says. “It's an empty road and there is no one around.”
At first, Stolka’s doctors didn’t know if he would survive the accident, but a year later, he is almost fully recovered. He’s even cycling again. It’s something doctors said he would never do. However, this time around he’s doing things differently.
“Still, there is a lingering fear there,” says Stolka. “After the accident, I decided to never ride alone.”
He wants someone else to be there just in case anything happens. He is extra cautious.
“All I can say myself is just to be on the look out. I religiously use the rearview mirror to see what's coming behind me and I just [have to] be careful.”
