SUV slams into bicyclists in crash caught on video, police say

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Thursday, June 20, 2024
SUV slams into bicyclists in crash caught on video, police say
SUV slams into bicyclists in crash caught on video, police say

DALLAS -- Two bicyclists are alive after a horrifying hit-and-run crash near the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

Police said the driver, who has been identified as Benjamin Hylander, is suspected of driving drunk.

"And, all of a sudden, I get pushed forward, and I start feeling myself falling to the right," said Tom Geppert, one of the bicyclists.

"And honestly, that is the last thing I remember. The next thing I remember is the, you know, ER, physician over me asking me with, you know, what's going on."

Geppert, who is also battling prostate cancer, rides with the Grapevine Chain Gang.

After he was hit, video shows him being run over by the SUV. He was left unconscious and aching.

"I'm guessing the bike lifted the car up so that by the time it rolled over my thighs, it was already kind of at a height when it didn't crush my thighs,' Geppert said.

Police said Hylander left the scene of the crash.

A woman, who has been identified as Deborah Jo Eads, was also injured.

Airport police said her injuries were non-life-threatening.

Police said Hylander's SUV had eight beers inside and that he admitted to drinking.

According to police, he failed a field sobriety test and his blood alcohol content was nearly two times the legal limit.

"I've been riding 4000 miles a year for 20 years, and I've never had an interaction with a car before. And most people don't do crazy things like that come up and run into you from behind. When you're going 20 miles an hour, you know, you know, it's just it's it's crazy," Geppert said.

Hylander was being held in the Tarrant County Jail on multiple charges related to the crash.