A crash involving a van took down a tree in Raleigh early Sunday morning.
The incident happened on Southall Road near Buffaloe Road, just north of Hedingham, just before 2:30 a.m. The road was closed for several hours as crews worked to clear the crash and cut up the tree.
Footage from the WRAL Breaking News Tracker showed a white van that seemingly crashed bumper-first into a tree that fell and blocked a majority of Southall Road. It is unclear how the crash happened.
AURORA Colo. — A 19-year-old suspected drunk driver crashed in Aurora early Saturday morning during an illegal street race, killing a passenger and injuring another, according to the Aurora Police Department.
The single-vehicle crash occurred around 12:47 a.m. at E. Alameda Parkway and S. Chambers Road.
Police say a BMW sedan was racing east on Alameda Parkway when the driver lost control near S. Chambers Road, crashed into a grocery store sign, and flipped.
The 19-year-old driver, Edwin Rosales-Sandoval of Denver, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, as was a 17-year-old passenger, who reportedly suffered minor injuries.
A third occupant, an adult male, died at the scene. Officials have not released his name, pending notification to his next of kin.
Police said Rosales-Sandoval drove while allegedly intoxicated and on a revoked license from a prior DUI.
Police say he now faces multiple charges, including vehicular homicide.
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Multi-vehicle crash on I-95 near Miami Gardens Drive involved five cars and sent three people to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital with serious injuries.
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A multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 95 in Miami-Dade sent three people to the hospital with serious injuries Saturday morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
At around 5:10 a.m. five cars were involved in a crash in the southbound lanes near Miami Gardens Drive, said Lt. Alejandro Camacho of FHP. Two cars collided into the concrete center median barrier wall. Three lanes were blocked after the crash, but have since reopened.
Three people were taken to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital. FHP did not say what their condition is.
A person was hit by a car on Friday in Southern Pines.
According to the Southern Pines Police Department, the accident happened around U.S. Highway 1 and Council Way. Police said they found a pedestrian with serious injuries when they arrived, and the driver remained on the scene.
Police said the victim was airlifted to the hospital and has serious injuries, adding that their investigation is ongoing.
Two people were killed early Friday morning after a motorist driving in the wrong direction in the northbound lanes of Interstate 25 collided with another vehicle just south of 6th Avenue in Denver.
Both motorists were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which was reported to police just before 3 a.m., the Denver Police Department said on social media. There were no passengers in either vehicle.
“We’re still trying to determine where the wrong-way driver got on the highway,” said Denver police spokesperson Doug Schepman.
Schepman said it was too early to determine if alcohol or drugs were involved in the incident.
The crash prompted the closure of the northbound lanes of I-25 near 6th Avenue, which were reopened just after 6:30 a.m.
LEBANON, Ore. – A small pickup truck crashed into a home in Lebanon early Friday morning, causing significant damage and sending one person to the hospital with minor injuries.
The Lebanon Fire District says crews were dispatched around 7:30 a.m. to a report of a vehicle that had left the roadway near East Joy Street and South Main Street. When firefighters arrived, they found the truck had struck the back of a house, damaging the structure, a fence and an attached patio.
One person inside the home was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The driver of the pickup refused medical attention at the scene.
Firefighters secured the home’s gas and electrical lines to prevent further hazards.
A 39-year-old man died after being hit by a car while riding an electric scooter in Thornton last week, police said.
The scooter rider, whose identity has not been released publicly, was headed west on West 88th Avenue when he was hit by an eastbound Dodge Caravan turning north onto Lipan Street, according to Thornton police.
The crash happened about 7:45 p.m. Thursday, police said. The intersection lies between Bell Roth Park and Sky Park in southwest Thornton.
Paramedics took the scooter rider to the hospital, where he died from his injuries, according to the department. He will be identified by the Adams County coroner’s office.
The 22-year-old man driving the Dodge Caravan was not injured and remained on scene after the crash, police said.
Additional information about the crash was not available Wednesday.
Anyone who witnessed or has information about the crash is asked to call investigators at 720-977-5069.
A man is dead after a motorcycle accident Wednesday afternoon in Fayetteville.
According to the Fayetteville Police Department, officers responded to a crash around 5:51 p.m. on Gillespie Street at Southern Avenue. When officers arrived, they found a motorcycle and an SUV involved in a crash.
Police said their preliminary investigation determined a 2014 Yamaha motorcycle, operated by Trenton Wayne Thompson, 22, was driving down Gillespie Street when an SUV operated by 43-year-old Hector Elias Burgos turned left onto Southern Avenue and collided with Thompson.
The force of the crash then spun Elias-Burgos’ vehicle into another SUV, driven by Larry Wayne Barber, 65.
Thompson was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. Elias-Burgos and a passenger in his vehicle. Barber was unharmed.
A crash left a driver critically injured and shut down a roadway in south Sacramento for several hours on Tuesday, according to the police department. Officers responded to the report of a crash in which a vehicle hit a pole around 4:30 p.m. near the intersection of Fruitridge and 57th Street. Footage from LiveCopter 3 showed a vehicle damaged and a street sign knocked over. Surveillance video shared with KCRA 3 showed the car smashing through a utility pole before it continued to roll, coming to a stop across the street.Sacramento police said the driver of the vehicle involved was taken to an area hospital in critical but stable condition. Fruitridge Road was shut down as officers worked to clear the scene. It’s not clear what led up to the crash. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
A crash left a driver critically injured and shut down a roadway in south Sacramento for several hours on Tuesday, according to the police department.
Officers responded to the report of a crash in which a vehicle hit a pole around 4:30 p.m. near the intersection of Fruitridge and 57th Street.
Footage from LiveCopter 3 showed a vehicle damaged and a street sign knocked over.
Surveillance video shared with KCRA 3 showed the car smashing through a utility pole before it continued to roll, coming to a stop across the street.
Sacramento police said the driver of the vehicle involved was taken to an area hospital in critical but stable condition.
Fruitridge Road was shut down as officers worked to clear the scene. It’s not clear what led up to the crash.
Two lanes of northbound Interstate 25 were closed Tuesday morning in Lone Tree for a fatal crash, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
As of 7:30 a.m., the lanes were closed at exit 192 for RidgeGate Parkway, causing roughly six miles of standstill traffic on the highway, according to CDOT. Cameras in the area showed traffic stretching back more than two exits, past Castle Pines and Happy Canyon Road.
The single-car crash killed one person, Lone Tree spokesperson Melissa Gallegos said. The RidgeGate off-ramp is also closed for the police investigation.
Additional information about the crash, including the cause, was not immediately available on Tuesday.
Police chases increased tenfold in the six months after Chief Todd Chamberlain broadened the Aurora Police Department’s policy to allow officers to pursue stolen vehicles and suspected drunk drivers, a move that made Aurora one of the most permissive large police agencies along the Front Range.
Aurora officers carried out more chases in the six months after the policy change than in the last five years combined, according to data provided by the police department in response to open records requests from The Denver Post.
The city’s officers conducted 148 pursuits between March 6 — the day after the policy change — and Sept. 2, the data shows. That’s up from just 14 police chases in that same timeframe in 2024, and well above Aurora officers’ 126 chases across five years between 2020 and 2024.
The number of people injured in pursuits more than quintupled, with about one in five chases resulting in injury after the policy change, the data shows. That 20% injury rate is lower than the rate over the last five years, when the agency saw 25% of pursuits end with injury.
Chamberlain, who declined to speak with The Post for this story, has heralded the department’s new approach to pursuits as an important tool for curbing crime. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman believes the change has already had a “dramatic impact” on crime in the city.
However, the effect of the increased pursuits on overall crime trends is difficult to gauge, with crime generally declining across the state, including in Denver, which has a more restrictive policy and many fewer police pursuits.
“You throw a big net out there, occasionally you do catch a few big fish,” said Justin Nix, a criminology professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha. “But you also end up with the pursuit policy causing more accidents and injuries.”
Of those 87 arrestees, 67 had a criminal history, 25 were wanted on active warrants, 18 were on probation and seven were on parole, the monitor found.
“What we find is that people who steal cars, it’s not a joyriding thing, it’s not a one-off, they tend to be career criminals who use these vehicles to commit other crimes,” Coffman said. “There seems to be a pattern that when we do apprehend a car thief, they tend to have warrants out for their arrest, and we do see the pattern of stealing vehicles to commit other crimes. So we are really catching repeat offenders when we apprehend the driver and/or passengers.”
The soaring number of pursuits was largely driven by stolen vehicle chases, which accounted for 103 of the 148 pursuits since the policy change, the data shows.
Auto theft in Aurora dropped 42% year-over-year between January and September, continuing a downward trend that began in 2023. In Denver, where officers do not chase stolen vehicles, auto theft has declined 36% so far in 2025 compared to 2024.
Denver police officers conducted just nine pursuits between March 6 and Sept. 2, and just 16 so far in 2025, data from the department shows. Four suspects and one officer were injured across those 16 chases.
“I think there are broader societal factors at work,” Nix said of the decline in crime, which has been seen across the nation and follows a dramatic pandemic-era spike. “When something goes up, it is bound to come down pretty drastically.”
Aurora officers apprehended fleeing drivers in 53% of all pursuits, and in 51% of pursuits for stolen vehicles between March and September, the police data shows.
Coffman said that shows officers and their supervisors are judiciously calling off pursuits that become too dangerous. He also noted that every pursuit is carefully reviewed by the police chain of command and called the new policy a “work in progress.”
“I get that it is not without controversy,” Coffman said. “There wouldn’t be the collateral accidents if not for the policy. So it is a tradeoff. It is not an easy decision and it is going to always be in flux.”
Thirty-three people were injured in Aurora police chases between March 6 and Sept. 2, up from six injured in that time frame last year. Those hurt included 24 suspects, five officers and four drivers in other vehicles.
One bystander and one suspect were seriously injured, according to the police data.
The independent monitor noted in its October report that it was “generally pleased” with officers’ judgments during pursuits, supervisors’ actions and the post-pursuit administrative review process, with “two notable exceptions” that have been “elevated for additional review and potential disciplinary action.”
The monitor also flagged an increase in failed Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT, maneuvers during pursuits, which it attributed to officer inexperience. The group recommended more training on the maneuvers, which are designed to end pursuits, and renewed its call for the department to install dash cameras in its patrol cars, which the agency has not done.
“It sounds reasonable,” Coffman said of the dash camera recommendation. “They are not cheap and we need to budget for it.”
‘No magic number’
It’s up to city leadership to determine if the benefits of police chases outweigh the predictable harms, and there is no “magic number,” Nix said.
“When you chase that much, bad outcomes are going to happen,” he said. “People are going to get hurt, sometimes innocent third parties that have nothing to do with the chase. You know that is going to be a collateral consequence of doing that many chases. So knowing that, you should really be able to point to the community safety benefit that doing this many chases bring.”
The majority of large Front Range law enforcement agencies limit pursuits to situations in which the driver is suspected of a violent felony or poses an immediate risk of injury or death to others if not quickly apprehended.
Among 18 law enforcement agencies reviewed by The Post this spring, only Aurora and the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office explicitly allow pursuits of suspected drunk drivers. The sheriff’s office allows such pursuits only if the driver stays under the posted speed limit.
Aurora officers pursued suspected impaired drivers 13 times between March and September, the data shows, with five chases ending in injury.
Omar Montgomery, president of the Aurora NAACP, said he is a “cautious neutral” about the policy change, but would like Aurora police to meet with community members to explain the impact in more detail.
“People in the community do not want people on the streets who are causing harm to other individuals and who are committing crimes that makes our city unsafe,” he said. “We want them off the streets just as bad as anyone else. We also want to make sure that innocent people who are not part of the situation are not getting harmed.”
Topazz McBride, a community activist in Aurora, said she has been disappointed by what she sees as Chamberlain’s unwillingness to engage with community members who disagree with him.
“Do I trust them to use the process effectively and responsibly with all fairness and equity to everyone they pursue? No. I do not trust that,” she said. “And I don’t understand why he wouldn’t be willing to talk about it. Why not?”
Montgomery also wants police to track crashes that happen immediately after a police officer ends a pursuit, when an escaping suspect might still be speeding and driving recklessly.
“They are still going 80 or 90 mph and they end up hitting someone or running into a building,” he said. “And now you have this person who that has caused harm, believing that they are still being chased.”
The police department did not include the case of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, who was shot and killed Aug. 30 by an officer after he sped away from an attempted traffic stop, among its pursuits this year. Video of the incident shows the officer followed Belt-Stubblefield’s vehicle with his lights and sirens on for just under a minute over about 7/10ths of a mile before Belt-Stubblefield crashed.
Police spokesman Matthew Longshore said the incident was not a pursuit.
“The officer was stationary, running radar when the vehicle sped past, and the officer was accelerating (with both lights and siren eventually) to catch up to the vehicle,” Longshore said. “The officer did not determine nor declare that he was in pursuit of the suspect’s vehicle before the suspect crashed into the two other vehicles.”
The officer, who has not been publicly identified, killed Belt-Stubblefield in an ensuing confrontation. Belt-Stubblefield, who was under the influence of alcohol, tossed a gun to the ground and was unarmed when he was shot.
Whether or not a pursuit preceded his death was one of several questions raised in the independent monitor’s Oct. 15 report, which characterized the shooting and the department’s response to the killing as a setback in otherwise improving community relations.
A person is dead after crashing into a ditch and being thrown from their car on Brogden Road in Granville County Monday morning, according to State Highway Patrol officers at the scene.
Authorities told WRAL News the person was driving down Brogden Road near Hester Road, which is near Interstate 85 in Creedmoor. The driver crashed into a ditch and was thrown about 200 feet away from the vehicle. The crash happened around 1 a.m. Monday.
Part of the road was shut down for about two hours. The road has since reopened.
The WRAL Breaking News Tracker captured video of tire marks and debris off Brogden Road.
WRAL is working to find out the cause of the crash and the identity of the person who died.
A Sacramento family is grappling with the aftermath of a police chase that ended when a stolen vehicle crashed into their home, critically injuring the father and two sons and leaving the house severely damaged.Marissa Fulcher, daughter and sister of the victims, described the scene as “heartbreaking.”“My dad’s fighting for his life,” she said.Eric Adversalo and his sons, Nicolas and Xavier, were inside their home near the 7300 block of Circle Parkway when the stolen car slammed into the front of the residence during a Sacramento Police Department pursuit. Fulcher said her father was pinned under the vehicle, while her brothers were trapped against a wall and under a refrigerator.“He’s not able to breathe on his own. He wasn’t able to hold his own breathing,” Fulcher said of her father’s condition.Photos of the home show a gaping hole in the front, leaving the family unable to return.“They had to put 2x4s up in the house to keep it from collapsing. And the disaster inside, there’s not much left,” Fulcher said.Fulcher said the crash will be a major personal and financial setback for the family.“Not only are there medical bills, but it keeps them from working. It keeps my stepmom, who would normally support my dad while he’s here, from working to care for my brothers and dad. The future is unknown for our family,” she said.Sacramento police identified the suspect as 19-year-old Tashawn Dorrough of Sacramento County. It was the second crash this week in Sacramento involving a suspected stolen vehicle during a police pursuit that affected bystanders.Sacramento Police Department shared with KCRA 3 their pursuit protocol, saying, “Our officers constantly reevaluate the conditions of a pursuit and the district sergeant is responsible for monitoring a pursuit. We need to refocus our thoughts to the fact that this suspect stole a vehicle from a mother, he then decided to flee from officers when they lawfully attempted to stop him. That suspect put everyone around him’s safety in danger by HIS actions.”The family has started a GoFundMe to cover medical expenses and home repairs and is asking for community support.“I’m trying to keep it together for them. I’m trying to be strong, but we can only do the best we can,” Fulcher said.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
A Sacramento family is grappling with the aftermath of a police chase that ended when a stolen vehicle crashed into their home, critically injuring the father and two sons and leaving the house severely damaged.
Marissa Fulcher, daughter and sister of the victims, described the scene as “heartbreaking.”
“My dad’s fighting for his life,” she said.
Eric Adversalo and his sons, Nicolas and Xavier, were inside their home near the 7300 block of Circle Parkway when the stolen car slammed into the front of the residence during a Sacramento Police Department pursuit. Fulcher said her father was pinned under the vehicle, while her brothers were trapped against a wall and under a refrigerator.
“He’s not able to breathe on his own. He wasn’t able to hold his own breathing,” Fulcher said of her father’s condition.
Photos of the home show a gaping hole in the front, leaving the family unable to return.
“They had to put 2x4s up in the house to keep it from collapsing. And the disaster inside, there’s not much left,” Fulcher said.
Fulcher said the crash will be a major personal and financial setback for the family.
“Not only are there medical bills, but it keeps them from working. It keeps my stepmom, who would normally support my dad while he’s here, from working to care for my brothers and dad. The future is unknown for our family,” she said.
Sacramento police identified the suspect as 19-year-old Tashawn Dorrough of Sacramento County. It was the second crash this week in Sacramento involving a suspected stolen vehicle during a police pursuit that affected bystanders.
Sacramento Police Department shared with KCRA 3 their pursuit protocol, saying, “Our officers constantly reevaluate the conditions of a pursuit and the district sergeant is responsible for monitoring a pursuit. We need to refocus our thoughts to the fact that this suspect stole a vehicle from a mother, he then decided to flee from officers when they lawfully attempted to stop him. That suspect put everyone around him’s safety in danger by HIS actions.”
The family has started a GoFundMe to cover medical expenses and home repairs and is asking for community support.
“I’m trying to keep it together for them. I’m trying to be strong, but we can only do the best we can,” Fulcher said.
Théoden Janes pedals along the Ironman California bike course on Oct. 19.
Justin Luau
Well now THAT’S gonna leave a mark.
This is what instantly flashed through my mind as I peeked over my left forearm to discover that it looked like a wild animal had gone and chomped a big chunk out of my elbow.
Just a handful of seconds earlier, I’d been chugging along on my trusty old bike — a 2014 Trek Speed Concept once owned and raced by my former-pro-triathlete coach — in one of the most ambitious endurance races I’ve ever attempted: Ironman California, consisting of a 2.4-mile swim in the American River, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run through Sacramento.
I made it 101.1 miles into the bike course.
Then, on a shady (both literally and figuratively) chipsealed country road long overdue for a repaving, I felt a violent jolt and was suddenly launched over the top of my handlebars at about 17 miles per hour. Never saw it coming.
It didn’t happen in slow-motion. It was definitely regular-motion.
There still was time for me to think, however, as I was flying: How the heck is this happening? Perhaps using an alternate word for heck.
Then my elbow (along with several other body parts) was slamming into and sliding across the sharp pieces of gravel embedded in the asphalt. Then a paramedic was pulling up in a truck with flashing lights and looking at me and telling me, officially, that he could not let me continue to race. Then I was getting hauled back downtown in another truck, jammed into the rear seat with two other triathletes who had to drop out.
Then an urgent-care doctor was walking into the exam room, taking one look at my elbow, and letting slip the words, “Oh, s—!”
Eight stitches later … uhh, yeah, that’s gonna leave a mark.
But this is the part where I tell you that the very-gnarly scar that eventually forms on my elbow will always be a reminder of the value of having good friends.
Bonding over Boston Marathons and beer
In my 20s, I struggled with friendships. I moved around the country a lot, and as a result I found it difficult to form and maintain significant ones.
I wasn’t quite Paul Rudd’s Peter Klaven in “I Love You, Man,” the brilliant 2009 rom-com about a groom-to-be who starts actively recruiting male friends after realizing he doesn’t have any — or, at least, not one well-suited to be his best man. But let’s just say my speed-dial list didn’t go much beyond my wife and my immediate family.
Everything started to change, gradually, after we moved to Charlotte in 2006. I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version:
2008-2010: Started running, after years of sitting on the couch playing Zelda and Tetris. Joined a running group, and made some casual friends whose affinity for marathons and triathlons rubbed off on me.
2011-2012: Became friends with a Charlotte-based pro triathlete who left a running/triathlon coaching business she was working for to start her own. Formed casual friendships with some of her clients.
2013-2014: Qualified for my first Boston Marathon and completed my first Ironman with her help, alongside a small but growing group of still-mostly-casual friends.
2015-2020: Took an increasingly active role in creating social events for the athletes on our team, which very slowly was evolving — from something that felt like it was held together by Scotch tape into something that felt like it was held together by at least a little glue.
Then the pandemic hit, and for many months we couldn’t hang out indoors. But we could still run together. So we did. Frequently. Since we were all working from home and more flexible. Since there was nothing else to do on the weekends. We’d run on Sunday mornings, then go get breakfast on whatever patio was open, and talk for hours. We’d run on Tuesday evenings, then stand around until long after our sweat dried, cracking jokes and (responsibly) drinking beer.
I know Covid caused a lot of despair and a lot of death. I know it also caused a lot of people to feel pretty isolated. For that, I’m genuinely sorry.
From my perspective, however, that period of time was a gift. Before the pandemic, we’d had a strong foundation for a solid friend group. Afterward, we owned a big, beautiful house.
Théoden Janes, center, with friends at the finish line area of the Charlotte Marathon in November of 2022. Courtesy of Théoden Janes
Then one day near the end of last summer, a unique opportunity came knocking on our door.
‘How much money would we have to raise?’
My friend Chuck was adamantly opposed to the sport of triathlon.
Whenever someone in our group brought up the idea of him trying a tri, his response was always the same: “Absolutely never.” So, like good friends are apt to do, we brought up the idea as often as we could.
On this particular day, we were at a big team pool party. Seven or eight of his primary antagonists, including me, were all standing around when the idea came up, again. Chuck said “Absolutely never,” again.
I decided to go after a weak spot. Chuck’s late father suffered from Parkinson’s disease, and he’s long been a big supporter of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Without really thinking about it, I asked, “How much money would we have to raise to get you to do an Ironman?” He replied, without really thinking about it, “Uhh … $15,000.”
I was stunned. I felt like that’d be easy. He obviously felt raising $15K would be very hard, and thought tossing out that amount would shut us all up.
It didn’t. After we all shook on it, I went home and created a fundraising page in his name.
You can probably guess where this all goes from here. Two and a half months later, Chuck grudgingly registered for the 2025 edition of Ironman California. And since we were never going to make him do something he really did not want to do alone, those seven or eight of his primary antagonists, including me, signed up, too.
Théoden Janes, upper right, after signing up for Ironman California with friends — including Chuck, lower right, who is smiling but not happy about it. Courtesy of Théoden Janes
What we didn’t anticipate was how viral this would go on our team — in large part to support Chuck on his journey but also just because it was becoming a numbers game.
To explain: It takes months if not close to a year to properly prepare for an Ironman. It involves workouts that can see you leaving the house before 6 a.m. on a Saturday and not returning until mid-afternoon. Training alone can break the strongest athletes, mentally. But if you have others to train with, who are doing the same Ironman race, on the same schedule, the idea becomes easier to stomach.
By the time all was said and done, 33 of us were signed up, including about a dozen first-timers.
(Quick aside: I wish I could help you appreciate how stupefyingly unusual this is, to get that many people who know each other to register for the same Ironman. It’s maybe sort of like convincing 30 people you know to all go skydiving with you on the same day at the same time. The previous two Ironmans I’d done, I knew about five other people racing.)
We became like a fraternity, bonding over our shared suffering, over teasing Chuck about his burning hatred of cycling, or over teasing me about my burning hatred of swimming, or over the journey’s simplest of pleasures: oatmeal-creme pies at the end of long runs. We found excuses to get together for a beer as often as we found ourselves meeting at Huntersville Business Park for our regular Saturday-morning rides.
And although the law of averages says that with so many people riding their bikes on so many public roads for so many miles in this bike-unfriendly city will eventually result in an accident, no one among our group had a crash.
Until mine, on race day.
It could have been much worse
I’m not gonna lie, my elbow HURT.
Also, yeah, I won’t sit here and tell you that I’m happy I didn’t get to finish something I’d spent six months training for.
I had just 11 miles left to ride, a sore butt and an aching neck. I was looking forward to getting off of my bike and running around the city, looking forward to spotting all of my friends in our matching pink-and-blue tri suits, giving them high-fives, cheering them on, maybe even ultimately crossing the finish line with one of my favorite friends, like I did at the finish line of my first Ironman, 11 years ago.
But I promise you — even as I was sailing through the air, even when I was sitting there in the middle of the road bleeding as other cyclists zoomed past, even as I was in the truck with those two other athletes who’d also had to drop out, even as I was getting stitched up at the urgent care — I didn’t spend a second feeling sorry for myself.
I was too busy thinking of my friends.
I’m serious. This isn’t me trying to say something that sounds noble. This is me saying that, once I had my bearings and a temporary bandage on my arm and an idea of what treatment I needed, I was mainly focused on making it back to the finish line in time to see my friends cross.
Unfortunately, it’s pretty hard to get around cities that are hosting an Ironman, and, well, it takes some time to get into and out of an urgent care center.
By the time I got into the exam room, though, I had my phone on me, and I had my wife with me, and we were closely following the app that was tracking all of my friends while also trying to politely listen to the doctor. And when my iPhone wasn’t buzzing with notifications about someone’s progress in the race, it was vibrating as it delivered a parade of texts from friends checking in to make sure I was OK, or to say how sorry they were about my wreck.
I’m fine, I assured them. It could have been much worse, I wrote.
But as the texts kept coming in, alongside all the race updates — which were starting to reflect not just progress but finishes — I was finding my way to putting a finger on the feeling that was giving the pain in my elbow a run for its money.
Théoden Janes waits to be stitched up at the Sutter Home Urgent Care center in Sacramento, Calif., on Oct. 19. Courtesy of Théoden Janes
Finally making it to the finish line
I was more than simply “fine.” I was grateful. And not just that my injuries weren’t worse.
I’m grateful for this journey I’ve been on. This whole journey, which started with an interest in getting healthy, was enhanced by my intentionality about building and growing a sense of interconnectedness within my social circle, then found surprising new ways to enrich my life.
I’m grateful for the physical ability and mental fortitude to even attempt something like an Ironman in the first place.
I’m grateful for a partner, in my wife, who supported me in training for it even when she had to spend half the weekend alone (and who has since my accident been a pro at nursing my wounds).
I’m grateful for a wonderful friend group, those who were racing and without even knowing it helped distract me from my own misfortune, but also those who weren’t and took the time to show concern for my well-being — to in almost every case express more sadness that I couldn’t finish the race than I felt myself(!).
And I’m grateful that although I missed seeing many of those friends I trained with actually complete the race, I was there in time to see Chuck make the final turns toward the finish line.
So that he could blame me, in person, for making him do this stupid race.
I have a couple other notable scars on my body. A dozen years ago, I got four stitches in my thumb, when a flower vase broke in my hand. As a little kid, I got three stitches in my knee, cut with a Swiss army knife when I tried to throw it at a target on my bedroom door and, um, missed. Neither are fond memories.
I think, though, that this one on my elbow will always give me a good reason to smile.
Théoden Janes, at far right, photographed with teammates before a pre-race swim in the American River in Sacramento, Calif., on Oct. 17. Courtesy of Jacqueline Hellard
Théoden Janes has spent more than 18 years covering entertainment and pop culture for the Observer. He also thrives on telling emotive long-form stories about extraordinary Charlotteans and — as a veteran of three dozen marathons and two Ironman triathlons — occasionally writes about endurance and other sports. Support my work with a digital subscription
A young person is dead after being hit by a car in Holly Springs early Sunday morning.
According to the Holly Springs Police Department, around 1:40 a.m., officers responded to a multi-car crash involving two cars and a bicycle on Avent Ferry Road near Holly Meadow Drive. When they arrived, they found that a 2008 Honda Civic, 2021 Honda Passport and young bicyclist were involved.
They have not yet determined how the crash happened yet in their initial media release to WRAL News. They said that the driver of the Civic and the passenger of the Passport were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
However, the juvenile bicyclist was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities did not provide the exact age of the bicyclist.
As of 5:30 a.m., Avent Ferry Road is closed in both directions as investigators attempt to piece together what happened in this accident.
Nine people were taken to the hospital Friday night after a seven-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 225 in Aurora that closed the highway several hours, police officials said.
The crash happened on I-225 near Parker Road at 10:24 p.m., Aurora police said on social media. Police initially reported the crash involved nine vehicles, but later revised that to seven vehicles.
While nine people were taken to the hospital, only one had serious injuries, spokesperson Matthew Longshore said Saturday.
Investigators believe the crash happened when one driver, a 17-year-old boy, failed to yield to other vehicles that were slowing down for a separate crash.
The teen hit “numerous” vehicles and injured himself and a teen passenger, Longshore said. He was arrested on an outstanding felony warrant when he was released from the hospital and was also cited for the crash.
Southbound I-225 was closed at East Iliff Avenue until just after 2 a.m., according to Aurora police.
A man has been arrested in a four-vehicle crash that killed one person and injured two others, according to the Wheat Ridge Police Department. Police said the man was under the influence at the time of the crash.
Cesar Hernandez Sanchez, 32, was traveling westbound on Colorado 58 just after 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 when he crossed over the dirt median into eastbound traffic, striking three vehicles.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene, while two other victims were taken to the hospital with serious bodily injuries. Wheat Ridge police said both are expected to be okay at this time.
Sanchez was also hospitalized with serious injuries, but was discharged from the hospital on Thursday. Since then, he has been booked into the Jefferson County Jail.
Sanchez faces charges including two counts of vehicular homicide, four counts of vehicular assault, reckless driving and driving under the influence. He also faces seven traffic offenses, including failure to display lights with low visibility, failure to drive in single lane and driving the wrong way on a one-way roadway.
“Our focus continues to be supporting the victims in this crash and pursuing justice with our partners at the DA’s Office,” Wheat Ridge police said on social media.
An 85-year-old Arizona man died after his pickup truck hauling a trailer rolled into the center median at Interstate 25 and the CanAm Highway exit near Fountain on Friday morning.
Colorado State Patrol said the pickup truck was traveling northbound on I-25 when the man lost control and it rolled into the center median, ejecting him.
The pickup truck and the trailer came to rest in the center median. The far left travel lane is closed for the crash investigation.
The Colorado State Patrol is leading the investigation and responded to the crash at around 6:25 a.m.
The timeline for reopening all lanes is unknown. Drivers should expect delays in the area and visit COTrip.org for real-time traffic conditions.
A crash between two cars sent one person to the hospital in Garner Saturday morning.
Garner police responded to a crash in a neighborhood on Kimloch and Hadrian Drives around 10:30 a.m. The WRAL Breaking News Tracker was on the scene where a white SUV crashed into the side of a home and a red sedan was hit off to the side of the road, its windshield and front bumper badly damaged.
Authorities said that the driver of the red sedan ran a stop sign and hit the white SUV, pushing it into the front yard of the home on Kimloch Drive. It caused minimal damage to the house.
The driver of the red sedan was taken to the hospital for a hand injury and the driver of the white SUV was uninjured. Police said impairment was not suspected, and the driver of the red sedan was cited for failure to stop at the stop sign.
The homeowner was not home at the time, but she told WRAL News the traffic in the neighborhood has gotten worse since she moved there in 1995. She denied a request to be interviewed, but did say she wishes the town would make the road in front of her home a four-way stop.
A bicyclist is in critical condition after being struck by a car in Durham Friday evening.
Durham police responded to the area of S Roxboro Street and Heatherwood Lane around 7:30 p.m. to a report of a bicyclist who was struck. That person was taken to the local hospital and is in critical condition as of Friday night.
Police said this is an active scene and more information will be released once the investigation has concluded. No charges have been filed at this time.
.jpg "Multi-vehicle crash on I-95 near Miami Gardens Drive involved five cars and sent three people to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital with serious injuries.")
