By JEFF LIPTON
The victim, identified as Joseph Shannon of St. Augustine, Fla., was taken by police ambulance to South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside with severe head injuries, police said. He was listed in critical condition, according to a hospital spokesman.
"He's brain-dead," said Lt. Michael Tangney of the Long Beach Police Department. "His family is coming to grips with the extraordinary efforts to keep him alive." According to Long Beach police, Shannon was riding a bicycle in the northbound lane on Monroe Boulevard on July 28 at 8:52 a.m., when he was struck by the 2004 GMC school bus, which was traveling west on East Olive Street.
"Officers at the scene were unable to talk to Mr. Shannon because of his medical condition," said a Long Beach police spokesman.
Police said the bus driver, identified as Debra Hodge, 49, of Oceanside, and three passengers, including two children under the age of 15, were on the Long Beach school bus at the time of the accident. The bus driver complained of pain to her shoulder and was taken to a local hospital. Her passengers were not injured, police added. No summonses or charges were filed, the police spokesman said.
"It was just an unfortunate accident," said Tangney. "No criminality was involved."
Responding to the accident were members of the Nassau County Police Department's Crime Scene, who collected evidence, as well as the department's highway unit, which performed tests on the bus's brakes, police said. Long Beach detectives also responded to do an initial investigation.
Richard Boodman, who lives near the accident scene, said he was walking north on Monroe Boulevard when he heard a loud bang behind him.
"I heard a 'boom;' I turned around and saw the bus and the bike under the right wheel of the bus, and the guy was lying on his back and blood was oozing out of his head," said Boodman.
"The guy was out cold and the bus driver was just hysterical." Boodman said the area is dangerous, with "traffic controls that are out of control," and he blames the city council for not upgrading the safety of streets for bicyclists, as well as pedestrians and motorists.
"You can't cross the street safely over here," he said. "Accidents happen in Long Beach, but they happen much too often."
He said the placement of the stop signs is confusing and the city council has neglected to address the safety issue. "There's no consistency in the way the signs are put up," Boodman said.
He was also upset that the streets of Long Beach have no bike lanes. "If New York City has bike lanes, Long Beach should have bike lanes, too," he pointed out, adding that only the boardwalk in Long Beach has bike lanes.
Lt. Tangney called Boodman's statements "baseless," saying that there are no bike lanes in any surrounding communities. "We have a very nice boardwalk, which is the safest place in the city to ride a bike," he said.
He added that the stop signs in the community have been put up "systematically to create a very safe environment, resulting in a sizeable reduction in car crashes."
Tangney also noted that the city has been "recognized as a force in traffic safety."
A spokeswoman for the City of Long Beach also denied Boodman's claims that the streets lack controls. "We have stop signs all over the place, almost every street corner has them," she said.
The Long Beach school district did not return a call for comment.
Comments about this story? Jlipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000, ext. 213.
