Emmaus boy hit by Truck Gets a new Bike

On Saturday March 5, at about 10:20 a.m., Karl Scharer watched his son become pinned and nearly crushed under the rear tire of a truck.

Scharer and three of his children were riding their bikes to Community Park, a ride they had done dozens of times before, he said. Reid, a five-year-old, wanted to be in the lead, and Scharer was right behind when they stopped at Fourth and Chestnut Streets.

Coincidentally, an Emmaus Ambulance heading east back to headquarters was at the light too, and behind it was a truck getting ready to turn north on Chestnut.

Inside the ambulance was Emergency Medical Technician Jeff Knopf, who remembered seeing people on the Triangle and bicyclists on the corner.

When the lights changed, the ambulance proceeded ahead and the truck made its turn. What the EMTs inside the ambulance didn’t know, was that as the truck turned, Reid and his bike got taken with it.

“It all happened in about 8 seconds,” Scharer said.

The bike was mangled and the 5-year-old’s little body got wedged under the tire and was actually being pushed down the street. There was so much force, that Reid’s sweatshirt was grated into the road, leaving an orange skid mark.

As Scharer told his son’s story, he shook his head slightly, as in disbelief; at the time, he had thought his son’s body would churn under the truck’s tire.

But Scharer got the driver to stop and back up so he could pull his son’s body free.

Knopf said the boy would have surely died if his father had not acted so quickly. The pressure from the tire had caused asphyxiation; the telltale signs of that were the red splotches that formed in Reid’s eyes. The boy could have suffocated, or suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen.

At the scene, a crowd quickly formed, including someone who worked in ski patrol and knew about emergency response. Plus, Justin Stauffer, an off-duty Emmaus EMT, just happened to be shopping downtown, and he immediately responded when the accident happened.

By that time, Knopf was just pulling the ambulance into headquarters when the call came in. He was back at the scene with fire and police support within a minute, he said.

What Knopf saw was Reid’s 5-year-old body half under the truck, and that brought back some bad memories.

Knopf had been on a call once that involved a school bus and a child who died at the scene. But the crew’s first thoughts were to minimize any spinal cord injuries by immobilizing Reid with a neck collar and body harness.

Reid’s father said the first thing his son said was that he could not see. Reid also called out for his mother, crying, “I love you,” as the ambulance rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar Crest.

With thoughts of that past call in his head, and a look at Reid’s condition, Knopf, an EMT veteran, said he had to fight back his own tears. The boy had become less responsive, which was not a good sign.

At the hospital, it was discovered that Reid had a concusion and a bruised lung. He also had some damage to cervical vertebrae. But Knopf said the boy's bones were so young and pliable, that they did not break, and that could have saved him from spinal cord damage.

To the amazement of the Emmaus EMTs, Reid was released from the hospital in less than a week.

Emmaus Ambulance Corps chief, Mike Nonnemacher, said they have so many calls, that it is always nice to see a good outcome. In fact, the Scharer call went so well, that it became a case study in teamwork.

From the Emmaus Fire and Ambulance Corps alone, Knopf, Stauffer, Paul Shankweiler, Robert Schwoyer, Bobby Erney, Terry Oswald and John Reiss all contributed to the save.

At a training of area EMTs, on March 19, Knopf used the call to discuss the value of teamwork, but there was also another reason. The team had invited the Scharer family to the lecture, too, for a special presentation.

Knopf took up a collection from the other fire and ambulance workers and bought Reid a new bike and helmet. They presented it to him Saturday morning.

The only obvious outward signs Reid had from the accident were the red splotches in his eyes that will slowly fade. And as to bike riding, Reid told his father he is ready to get back on.