Bike tour participants injured when struck by vehicle early Sunday morning

This image of a damaged bicycle was posted Sunday on the Louisville Bicycle Club’s social media page. Five participants in the club’s Old Kentucky Home Bicycle Tour were struck by a mini van early Sunday morning. Click to enlarge.

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT

Monday, Sept. 12, 2016, 8:30 a.m. (Write-thru and correction, 2 p.m.) — Five participants in Louisville Bicycle Club’s Old Kentucky Home Bicycle Tour were struck by a mini van early Sunday morning on Bloomfield Road, sending four of them to the hospital.

According to a Bardstown Police Department press release, city police, Bardstown Fire and Nelson County EMS were dispatched to the area of Nelson County High School on Bloomfield Road at about 7:45 Sunday morning for a report of cyclists struck by a vehicle. The cyclists were traveling from Bardstown High School to their first stop on Old Bloomfield Road when they were struck from behind. The woman operating the vehicle told police she did not see the cyclists due to the glare of the sun through her window, and that she struck the first cyclist as she was reaching to lower her sun visor.

The cyclists involved in the accident included Frank Dale, 62, of Millan, Ind; Denis Rewerts, 67, and Heide Rewerts, 62, both of Naperville, Ill.; Kenneth Kirkpatrick, 60, and Anna Kirkpatrick, 58, both of Greencastle, Ind.

EMS transported four of the five cyclists to Flaget Memorial Hospital for evaluation and treatment of minor injuries. According to the Louisville Bicycle Club’s Facebook page, one of the riders was later taken to Louisville for further examination of a leg injury.

The Bardstown Police Department investigated the accident.

Editor’s note: This first version of this story incorrectly identified the driver of the vehicle that struck the cyclists. The Gazette regrets the error. 

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