Tragedy struck the Texas bike racing community last week for the second time in as many months, with 16 year-old MTB racer Walker Carroll now fighting for his life.
Walker and a teammate were on a training ride near the town of Hallsburg in central Texas last Friday when a truck crashed into Walker from behind at high speed.
Emergency medics treated Walker at the scene for life threatening and traumatic brain injuries before transporting him to hospital in stable but non-responsive condition.
According to updates posted on CaringBridge: Walker immediately underwent 8+ hours of surgery to relieve brain swelling and fuse T4-T12 vertebrae. He is now off a ventilator and breathing on his own, but still unresponsive with doctors and family waiting for him to wake up.
“The fact that he lived is an absolute intervention of an almighty God that said it’s not his time,” Dan Carroll, Walker’s father, told WDBJ News. Adding, that data from an on-board bike computer “showed that from the point of impact to when he finally stopped, he accelerated to almost 78 mph.”
A promising athlete, Walker started racing bicycles at 12 years-old and last year he won the JV-1 Mountain Biking League State Championship as a high school freshman.
Texas Department of Public Safety officers report the unnamed driver of the truck initially left the scene, only to return shortly afterwards. At press time no charges have been filed as investigators continue look into circumstances surrounding the tragic crash.
In December Texas cyclists Scott Mages and Andre Kocher died after also being hit from behind by a truck while on a training ride.
Photo Credit: Dan Walker
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