Professor still suffering from amnesia after bike accident

ABINGDON, Va. – A 70-year-old physics professor lost his memory, perhaps temporarily, when he flipped over his handlebars last week and landed head-first on the asphalt. The old red truck that police said forced him off the side of Old Saltworks Road in Abingdon never stopped.

Ted Dingler, an adjunct professor at Southwest Virginia Community College, was four bicycles back in a six-man string Wednesday evening when, just 10 minutes into their ride, they came up on a sharp right turn.

Mike Seymour, who was leading the group, heard a diesel truck rattle up behind them. Despite the blind curve and double-yellow line, the truck sped up and drove up next to the bicyclists to pass. But a motorcycle was coming the opposite way and to avoid a head-on collision, the truck driver lurched right.

“We had to take to the ditch,” Seymour said. “Either that or he was gonna run over us. I had a red fender just inches off my elbow.”

Dingler’s wheel caught the back wheel of the rider in front of him. “It catapulted him over the handlebars,” Seymour said. “He shot up in the air and came straight back down onto his head.”

The motorcyclist stopped and, together with the five cyclists, tried to stabilize Dingler as the truck sped away.

“If he would have waited three seconds, just three seconds, we would have been around the curve and he would have a long straightaway to go safely around,” Seymour said of the truck driver. “Just a few minutes before, everyone was talking and laughing and now his whole life has changed because this one guy couldn’t wait three seconds.”

Dingler was unconscious, but there was no blood or obvious injuries. After six minutes, he came to, Seymour said. He started blinking, moving his fingers, talking.

“He didn’t know who we were or where he was,” Seymour said. “He didn’t even know what a bicycle was.”

Dingler was taken by helicopter to the Bristol Regional Medical Center where they discovered a pool of blood on his brain, said his girlfriend of eight years, fellow-professor Georgia Householder. On Saturday, he was listed in serious but stable condition.

“It’s going to be life altering,” Householder said. “It’s going to be a lot of hard work. He’s very confused, doesn’t know where he is. He can’t come up with names of people. But he’s improving every day.”

Virginia State Trooper Rex Carter said they are trying to track down the red truck, which has a square front crew cab and a gray stripe around the bottom.

“He’s driving on the wrong side of a two-lane, curvy road with a double-yellow line. That’s already a violation right there,” Carter said. “Once you move your vehicle across the double-yellow line, you’re putting yourself and everyone else in danger. So regardless of whether a hit and run ever comes to fruition, reckless driving is there.”

Householder said Dingler, a well-known and avid cyclist, has two daughters, a son and six grandchildren, who are all splitting time at the hospital. She spends each night with him.

“Right now, he doesn’t have any memory,” she said. “I don’t think he knows my name. I think he knows I’m somebody in his life, but he hasn’t called me by name. Or his children, I don’t think he’s called them by name.”

Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Erik Hinchey, who sometimes rides with the Abingdon group, was the first to arrive at the scene. He said he’s not surprised the truck never stopped. As a cyclist, he’s been cussed at, pelted with beer cans and taunted for wearing tight clothing.

“There’s a tremendous lack of respect for others,” Hinchey said. “People just don’t care about anybody anymore.”

cgalofaro@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2531