Dear Editor:
It was a beautiful afternoon last week when on my way home from the gym driving west on Newark Street in Hoboken, I came upon an accident scene. A bicyclist had been struck and was lying in the street.
My past EMT instincts took over, and I rushed to aid the victim in any way I could, holding her head still as I was trained to do in EMT school. She was breathing and displayed no obvious injuries. I couldn’t do much for her and eventually, the Hoboken Police and Ambulance arrived on the scene and I left.
Imagine my shock and sadness when two days later, I came upon a wreath and a picture of her affixed to a telephone pole on the corner of Grand and Newark. A typewritten note read, “My darling Clare, March 6, 1973-June 15, 2004: You are my world, my life, my wife, taken from me before our time had begun. I will love you forever and beyond.” The girl I tried to help had a name – Clare. And she was someone’s wife, daughter and sister. I never knew her but she was just like many of us – she enjoyed rollerblading and bicycling through the streets of Hoboken.
,br> If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is simply this: if you are going to ride a bicycle or rollerblades through Hoboken (or anywhere), “wear a helmet.”
I am sure the residents of Hoboken will join me in offering our condolences to the Roberts’ family.
Dylan M. Archilla