The biker who was struck by an SUV during last year’s biker confrontation on a New York Highway has finally spoken out about the controversial altercation and his paralysis due to the encounter.
Edwin Mieses told the Today show that he doesn’t blame the driver of the Range Rover, who was trying to escape after a group of bikers surrounded his vehicle during the Sept. 29, 2013 incident.
“I don’t blame him. Because at the end of the day, I’m not him to know what was going through his mind,” he said on TODAY Wednesday.
Mieses was riding with three friends that day, he said, but did not know anyone else in the group.
“I actually came from Massachusetts for a ride, which I became aware of on the Internet,” Mieses told Guthrie.
If you recall, Alexien Lien, the driver of the SUV, was surrounded by 20 to 30 motorcyclists on New York’s West Side Highway. Lien was driving with his wife and child. When a biker slowed down, Lien bumped him with the SUV and then sped away from the group.
But while Lien was speeding off, he struck 32-year-old Mieses, breaking his two legs and causing spinal injuries that have left him paralyzed from the waist down.
“I was fully conscious for the whole entire thing,” Mieses said. “I got off my bike to check on (another rider). As soon as I saw that it wasn’t that serious, I was just telling guys to keep going because I didn’t really want to ruin the ride and besides that, we were in the middle of the highway.
“As soon as I turned around and started walking back towards my bike, that’s when I got ran over. As soon as he hit me, I shut my eyes. I didn’t want to open my eyes because I knew that he had hurt me.”
Mieses said a young girl helped him.
“She was like an angel,” he said. “She kept throwing water on my face to keep me awake. I was just like so aggravated that she was throwing water in my face. I was awake because I was aggravated.”
Following Mieses and Lien’s encounter, the bikers followed the Range Rover into the city. When they caught up to the SUV, the bikers pulled Lien from the car and assaulted him.
At least nine bikers, including an undercover cop, were arrested for their involvement in the beating.
As for Mieses, he’s focusing on his recovery.
“(Doctors) told me it was 99.9 percent that I wasn’t going to walk, but I refuse to believe that,” he told Guthrie. “I want to walk more than they want me to walk.”
To see what else Mieses had to say about the SUV/biker confrontation, watch the video above. We wish him all the best.
SOURCE: Today | VIDEO SOURCE: Today
