By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Douglas Blankenship was carrying seven pounds of hamburger with him as he bicycled back home to Chehalis after a trip to Reicherts Meats in Centralia.
It happened really fast, he said.
He was headed down Cascade Avenue near the post office, when the door of a parked car opened, he said. He pulled his hand away so it wouldn’t get crushed.
“I was in the air, I went over the handle bars,” he said. “I just tucked my head.”
Blankenship said he hit the ground and when he opened his eyes, three women were sitting next to him, telling him not to move.
The accident about 3:45 p.m. last Monday sent him to the emergency room at Providence Centralia Hospital.
No bones were broken, just a lot of scraped skin and bruised body parts, he said after getting released.
Now, the 40-year-old is wondering if anyone else saw what happened. The police report didn’t make note of any witnesses, he said.
Blankenship said he’s not working, he doesn’t have insurance and he’s got medical bills.
“The doctor said the lady’s insurance should cover it, but when I mentioned about the lady’s insurance, the officer wasn’t really going that route,” he said.
After the incident, the Chehalis Police Department said the driver was getting ready to go into the post office and said she checked but didn’t see him, before opening her door. The bicyclist told police he was traveling close to the sidewalk, although not on it, and went to go around the car when its door opened, police said.
Blankenship said the hospital finished with him around 7:30 p.m. or 8 o’clock that night, and nurses – or someone – paid for a taxi to get him over to the fire department, where his bike and hamburger were.
He was appreciative of all of them for helping him out, he said. But now he’s uncertain what to do next.
“I’m just taking it step by step, this has never happened to me before” he said. “I’m trying to find out if anyone saw it.”
He didn’t think to gather names of witnesses himself before the ambulance took him away, he said.
He said he vaguely recalls a woman in a vehicle across the street, and is hoping she saw what took place, and will contact him. He can be reached at 360-388-388-0114.