Staff Reporter

LAPLACE- A pleasant, sunny afternoon bicycle ride was cut short when the rider was struck by on oncoming car trying to avoid collision with a slow-moving tractor.

Susanne Schexnayder was driving a silver Toyota Avalon traveling eastbound on Airline Hwy in LaPlace when she began to quickly overtake a slow-moving tractor, also traveling eastbound on Airline. However, she failed to see a man on a bicycle riding on the shoulder of the road. “In order to avoid a collision with the tractor, she swerved to the right and veered off the roadway towards a ditch on the right side of the lanes. Schexnayder then lost control of the vehicle, and as the car approached the ditch, a man on a bicycle was struck by the vehicle. The automobile then overturned and came to rest on its roof with the back of the car suspended in the ditch,” said Sgt Conrad Baker, traffic division of St. Parish Sheriff's Office.

Police identified the man as Edward Cook, but no address was available for the man. Cook was transported by Acadian Ambulance Service to River Parishes Hospital where he was treated for a series of scratches, cuts and bruises.

Schexnayder appeared to be uninjured and refused medical treatment. She will be cited for careless operation of a motor vehicle.