Ghost bike placement September 2nd 2013 for Cyclist killed by motorist at 135th & Ridgeland

On June 11th Brian McDevitt took a day off work as a Chicago Policeman to spend time with his family. In the afternoon he went for a ride on the Palos path. When crossing the intersection of 135th & Ridgeland he was struck by a vehicle making a left turn. He laid in a coma at Advocate Christ Hospital for 10 days and passed away succumbing to his injuries on June 21st 2013. He would have turned 31 the following week.
Brian leaves behind his wife and two small children.
Brian was a decorated officer of the CPD earning many awards in the short time he was on the force. A great family man and avid cyclist and always had a smile on his face that will be truly missed.
We're placing a ghost bike at the scene and hope motorists will get a message from it and take more care. My wife rides this path and almost got hit several times if not for being extra cautious
We're calling this for 4:00 pm and all are welcome
Thank you so much for reading this and stay safe out there

This is the newspaper article
http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/20887577-522/bicyclist-dies-10-da...

Thanks again and God Bless

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Permalink Reply by Mary Ellen McDevitt on August 26, 2013 at 6:33am

Thanks, Ken. The more people there, the better!

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Permalink Reply by Bert Travis on August 26, 2013 at 8:31am

Ditto Ken. Besides honoring Brian down on the south side here people don't seem to know how to handle us so they just drive right through or way to close to us. Hopefully there will be enough to get some attention we are humans too and hurt and bleed and die when they don't pay attention. The real only thing that will work I'm afraid is accountability which is fading fast in this country. Especially in Brian's case

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Permalink Reply by Bert Travis on August 27, 2013 at 12:30pm

We are planning a Ride of Silence from the bank lot at 112th and Kedzie with the bike on a trailer, to its new home at 135th and Ridgeland.
Be leaving the bank roughly 3pm
Thanks in advance for your support

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Permalink Reply by Bert Travis on September 1, 2013 at 4:33pm

Hi all. Just want to say all are welcome tomorrow. I'm really hoping to draw attention to our right to the road and coexistence towards safer streets for us to ride

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Permalink Reply by Mary Ellen McDevitt on September 2, 2013 at 6:57pm

Thanks for posting that article!!

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on September 3, 2013 at 3:38am

My sympathy to the family and friends of Officer McDevitt.

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Permalink Reply by Bert Travis on September 3, 2013 at 3:41am

Thank you Anne and I'll pass that on

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Permalink Reply by Anne on September 3, 2013 at 6:23am

I think we need to place Ghost Bikes at the DMV.

Placing them on sidewalks seems so...late...

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Permalink Reply by Bert Travis on September 3, 2013 at 7:33am

Hey Anne. That just might do it!

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Permalink Reply by Bert Travis on September 5, 2013 at 10:19am

Thanks to all that showed up and made this a great event for Brian's family and friends. You may have seen the press and media coverage which can only help us in getting the word out on what kind of damage a car can do to a cyclist.
Special thanks to Ken Gray, Ich Weston, Al, and Liz Adamczyk for all the help and guidance through this process
God bless you all
Bert