Doctor likely saved biker; Indiana man in serious condition after accident on Dragon
By Iva Butler
of The Daily Times Staff
http://thedailytimes.com/article/20080701/NEWS/964349352The luck of having a doctor riding in a group of motorcyclists behind John C. Breeze when he wrecked on the Dragon likely saved his life.
Breeze, 50, of Mount Vernon, Ind., was riding a black Harley-Davidson Electra Glide with a group of five friends from the Evansville, Ind., area. They were traveling south past the 8-mile marker toward North Carolina about 12:30 p.m. Monday when he had a serious accident.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Bryan Martin said Breeze came around a curve and went wide, and possibly his foot rest hit the pavement, which threw him into a 3- to 4-foot deep ditch.
Breeze's riding companions were not riding very close, and when a motorcylist behind him came around the curve, he saw Breeze lying in the ditch.
He and the other three riders behind him rode by to turn around and come back, because on the sunny summer day literally hundreds of motorcyclists were on the Dragon, the 11.1-mile section of U.S. 129 with 318 curves.
When the friends, Phillip Yates and Curtis and Tresa Phillips returned to the wreck site, they found a doctor tending to Breeze.
"The doctor and his wife were in the group behind us. They were lifesavers. They were very instrumental in keeping him going," Yates said.
Ben Steinberg, vice president of marketing and public relations at Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort, said one of the resort employees was on the scene of the wreck.
"I guarantee you that doctor is what saved his life. I've been told he possibly passed on two times at the scene and that doctor revived him. He got his color back and regained consciousness at the scene," Steinberg said.
Another lucky break for Breeze was the fact that a Rural/Metro Ambulance was close. The ambulance had been called out to an accident on the Dragon earlier, and the patient was apparently not badly hurt because he did not want to be transported.
The ambulance crew was on the way back to Maryville, and had made it almost to the Foothills Parkway intersection when the second call came in, a ambulance service dispatcher said.
It took them only nine minutes to turn around and get to the scene. It had taken them 37 minutes to get to the the earlier accident scene, the dispatcher said.
The name of the doctor is not known.
The group of five riders from Indiana had spent the night at Cherohala Resort in Tellico Plains and, as part of their planned trip, wanted to ride Cherohala Skyway and the Dragon.
After the wreck, Breeze's condition was found to be serious and luckily Lifestar was available. The Rural/Metro Ambulance Service crew transported him from the wreck site to the emergency helicopter, which landed near the Power House at Calderwood. Breeze was loaded into the chopper and flown to University of Tennessee Medical Center.
He was responding but listed as critical, Martin said.
Helping at the scene were Blount County Sheriff's Office deputies. who halted traffic until the driver from Butler's Wrecker Service, Jerry Hall, could load the bike for transport to their holding lot in Walland.
Hall, owner of the wrecker service, said the "motorcycle was damaged all over. It's border line totaled. The insurance adjustor will have to decide that."
Originally published: July 01. 2008 3:01AM
Last modified: July 01. 2008 12:11AM
Author
Topic: Doctor Saves Bikers Life on The Dragon (Read 809 times)