An 83-year-old Villager was transported by ambulance to Ocala Regional Medical Center after he was knocked from his bicycle by a vehicle that failed to stop.
The Village of Glenbrook resident had been riding his bicycle at 6:52 a.m. Tuesday on North Buena Vista Boulevard near The Villages Polo Fields when he was struck by the passenger-side mirror of a vehicle that was traveling in the same direction, according to an accident report from the Florida Highway Patrol.
The driver of the vehicle that struck the bicyclist “failed to stop, call 911 or render aid,” the report said.
Last year, there were two high-profile hit-and-run accidents involving bicyclists in The Villages:
• The first crash occurred Oct. 30 when 60-year-old Jessica Laube and 68-year-old Robert Hunter of the Village of Dunedin were bicycling on Morse Boulevard near Bonita Boulevard and were hit from behind by a white Mercedes. The driver, described as an elderly woman with a cane, reportedly got out of the car, took a look at the crumpled cyclists on the ground, got back in and drove away. When 89-year-old Marilyn Hamilton of the Village of Fernandina took the 2014 Mercedes up to Gainesville for repairs, it led to her arrest. Hamilton has pleaded not guilty to two counts of hit and run.
• The bicycling community in The Villages was still reeling from that crash when 61-year-old Ken Nevers, of the Village of Fenney, was bicycling Nov. 3 near the Manatee Recreation Center when he suffered severe head trauma including memory loss, a broken rib, and a fractured shoulder along with lacerations on his face and head after being hit by a Jaguar that fled the scene. FHP received a tip which led to the arrest of 59-year-old William Joseph Croop of Orange Springs. Croop, who has a criminal history, continues to be held without bond on a charge of hit and run.