The Helmet Saved My Life: ’ Onalaska Boy, Ten, Struck By Vehicle in Marysville While Biking, News
‘The Helmet Saved My Life:’ Onalaska Boy, Ten, Struck By Vehicle in Marysville While Biking
- By Natalie Johnson / [email protected]
- Aug 1, 2017
- 0
Zaiden Cochran, Ten, poses for a photograph outside The Chronicle in Centralia on Monday.
- Matt Baide / [email protected]
Zaiden Cochran’s helmet is cracked and battered after he was struck by a vehicle while railing his bike Saturday. The vehicle sustained powerful harm. The windshield was shattered by the force of Zaiden’s helmet-clad head striking it.
- Courtesy Photo
Zaiden Cochran is seen while in a hospital following the crash.
- Courtesy Photo
The vehicle sustained strenuous harm. The windshield was shattered by the force of Zaiden’s helmet-clad head striking it.
- Courtesy Photo
Except for some bumps and welts, a few stitches and a hairline fracture, an Onalaska boy’s life is getting back to normal after being hit by a car while railing his bike Saturday.
Zaiden Cochran, Ten, credits a helmet he’d only had for a brief time with saving his life and permitting him to recover so quickly from the catastrophic crash.
“I got it like the night before. I liked the mohawk and skull and the matte black,” he said. “The helmet saved my life.”
Zaiden was visiting his mother in Marysville Saturday when he went for a rail along a familiar route, he told The Chronicle Monday.
He was zooming down the street when he came face to face with a car.
“When I took the left I witnessed the white car coming and I hesitated,” he said.
Neither the car or rider were able to avoid the crash.
“I felt like a bump and heard it, but I became unconscious,” he said.
Zaiden next remembers being on a stretcher with his mother holding onto him. He later learned that his bicycle hit the car with such force that it broke the bumper. The helmet broke the car’s windshield before he was catapulted into the air and over the car.
KOMO four News reported that police have not cited the driver and do not believe speed was a factor.
Despite the force of the crash, Zaiden escaped with no head trauma or serious internal injuries. He has a hairline fracture in his spine that’s expected to heal on its own, a black eye, road rash and a few stitches, but was more preoccupied Monday with heading home to play a fresh movie game.
The brand fresh helmet suffered considerably more harm.
“The helmet took all of the influence,” said grandmother Josie Cochran. “He’s a raunchy kid.”
While some kids might see them as uncool, Zaiden said his practice instructed him the importance of wearing a helmet.
“I’d tell them the outside doesn’t matter,” he said. “How it saves you is what matters.”
It’ll be four to six weeks until Zaiden can get back on his bike, due to the fracture, he said, and he’ll miss football this year.