The suspect remains at large and no tips have been received to help Batavia police solve the hit-and-run case.
Sue's daugther, Corfu resident Kimberly Reed, is hoping that changes because as things stand, she is disgusted.
Disgusted that the driver well knew he hit somebody on a bike, bothered to get out of his truck and walk over and see the blood and injuries, yet he got back into his pickup and continued on his way.
"What happened was an accident," Kimberly said. "What happened afterward was not an accident. It's disgusting. He stopped, got out of his truck and went over to her and looked at her, and looked horrified when he saw the blood. He said something to her, which she couldn't understand because she had a concussion. Then he got back in his truck and continued down Vine."
The accident occurred between 8 and 8:30 a.m. Sue, who had recently taken up bicycling for exercise, was riding her small black 10-speed on the sidewalk and when she got to Vine, Kimberly says her mother told her she stopped at the light and waited for it to turn green to proceed.
When she was in the middle of the crosswalk, the mystery pickup truck, also eastbound, made a left turn onto Vine Street heading north and struck the bicyclist.
Sue, who lived most of her life in Oakfield before moving to Batavia, says doesn't recall the color of the truck, just that it was big and had bigger than average wheels and a chrome grill.
The driver is described as very tall, very skinny, smooth-shaven and blond, under age 40. Sue cannot recall any details about his clothing.
The driver left his truck, approached her, and she heard him say something to her. He headed immediately back to his vehicle, and she assumed he was going to call 9-1-1. Instead, incredulously, she watched him drive off and leave her there.
The bicycle was relatively undamaged. But Sue was hurt and can't recall how she managed to get the bike and herself out of the roadway.
She called her boyfriend, who was at a diner in Elba, and sat waiting for him on the side of the road, bleeding and moving to three different spots as she waited for help to arrive.
No one stopped to ask about her or offer aid.
"You could have wrung the blood out of her clothes, that's how badly she was injured," Kimberly said.
After about 20 minutes or so her boyfriend arrived from Elba and took her to the emergency room at UMMC.
In addition to the concussion, Sue's right arm was broken by the impact of the truck's chrome grill. Her left arm was slashed from elbow to wrist and "could not be stitched; she'll have to go to a plastic surgeon." The left side of Sue's face is badly bruised and her teeth pierced through her mouth and her bottom lip had to be stitched together.
Two days later she had to return to the ER after an air pocket was found in her lungs from the impact. Results from a CAT* scan are pending and are expected to reveal the severity of the air pocket and whether it has grown or moved.
"This has really tore her up," Kimberly said of her mother, and the mental anguish only adds to the pain. "We've had like five hit-and-runs in Genesee County recently. It's getting worse; I guess people think they can get away with it.
"It's sickening. ... to get out and look at her, then get back in the truck and leave?! It's just not right."
Her mother would never think of doing that to someone. Not a woman who has spent the last seven years volunteering for Crossroads House, the local nonprofit hospice for the dying. Sue Reed would just do the right thing -- no explanation given, no excuses offered.
If you have information about this case, please contact Batavia Police Officer Peter Post at (585) 345-6350, the confidential tip line at (585) 345-6370, or online here.
*CAT: computerized axial tomography
Photo courtesy of Kimberly Reed.
Previously: BPD looking for anyone with info on pickup truck that struck bicyclist this morning
