Good Samaritan Relives Horrific Bike Wreck

The bicycle rider's name is Frank, and Reidel Post doesn't know much more than that, except that he's in stable condition after colliding with a motorcycle on Santiago Canyon Road.

Based on what Post saw Saturday on the two-lane stretch of highway, stable is good enough.

A day earlier, Post feared the worst as she tried to comfort Frank and his 13-year-old son, who witnessed the collision from his bicycle.

The incident took place near Modjeska Grade Road, about a mile from Cook's Corner, at 11:27 a.m.

Post, who lives in Placentia, came upon the scene shortly after it occurred. It  immediately reminded her of her own incident 24 years ago, when she was critically injured on Carbon Canyon Road and airlifted to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, same as Frank.

Like Frank, who has children ages 15, 13 and 10, she had small children at the time.

A FedEx driver was among the first on the scene after Post's accident, and gave her some bad news. "He told me that both men were gone, meaning dead," Post recalled on Sunday by email.

On Saturday, Frank was on his stomach, with "a lot of blood coming from his nose," adding to the horrific image.

"No one was by the bicyclist so I lightly touched and rubbed his arm and called him 'Sweetie' so if he was still alive, he would hear and feel some tenderness in the midst of the terror," Post said.

"I know what that feeling is like, so it was my time to repay a debt of many years ago."

About five minutes passed when Post noticed a small group huddled around the motorcyclist, who was laying to the side of the road well away from Frank. She thought the distance between the bodies was indicative of the force of the impact. The motorcyclist was still wearing his helmet. He was taken by ambulance to Mission Hospital.

Frank was laying alone in the middle of the road, unconscious on the hot pavement.

"I thought Frank was dead when I arrived on the scene," Post said. "I shaded his face with my jacket, talked to him as though he was conscious."

Eventually, Frank opened his eyes and tried to get up. "But at this point," Post said, "there were several of us who told him he could not get up. He kept trying to get up, but we told him no."

Frank was transported by ambulance down the road where a helicopter could take him to the hospital.

Post said the boy, whom she declined to name, was beside himself.

"He was a very mature and smart 13-year-old," she said. "When I asked him to look at me so he would not see his father being turned over and placed on the gurney, it was almost impossible for him to do. I told him, 'I'm so sorry for what you saw happen to your father.'

"He replied while crying, 'I wish I hadn't seen it, but I did.' I told him that I predict he will be OK. I couldn't promise anything, but I believe it will be all right after he is taken to the hospital."

She then told the boy that 24 years ago, "I was in worse shape than your father, and look at me now."

The boy managed a laugh. Hopefully, Post managed to be right.

Post said she was relieved to receive a phone call Sunday from Frank's wife, who said her 50-year-old husband was stable at Western Medical Center.