Joe “Scratchmaster Joe” Martinez informs us that his fellow Seattle graffiti/visual artist and business partner Nko Reynolds (a co-founder of the Free Sheep Society and a member of experimental-theater company Implied Violence, which won a Stranger Genius Award in 2008) was injured in a bicycling accident yesterday. Nko is in “serious but stable condition” at Harborview Hospital. Martinez’s missive is below.
UPDATE: Martinez says that Nko is responding to verbal commands and recognized his mother, wife, and him, who visited Nko at the hospital.
Nko suffered a significant head injury, as he was not wearing a helmet. This injury required [him to] undergo brain surgery. The surgery was successful in stopping the epidural hemorrhage that was putting his life at risk.
The extent of his injuries is unclear; however, he has the use of all his limbs. Unfortunately, he has yet to respond to verbal commands. Upon admittance to the hospital he was able to recite his name and instruct medics to contact his wife Anna, so this shows some promise.
The staff will try to extubate him soon, and then we’ll know more of his motor function and cognitive abilities.
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Dave Segal is a journalist and DJ living in Seattle. He has been writing about music since 1983. His stuff has appeared in Gale Research’s literary criticism series of reference books, Creem (when...
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77 replies on “Seattle Artist Nko Seriously Injured in Bike Accident”
Poor kid. I hope he recovers. I hope he isn’t financially devestated by the medical bills. I hope he isn’t fundamentally changed as a result of his injuries.
Yelling “wear your helmet” at an injured cyclist is like yelling “where was your chocolate?” at a divorced friend.
I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I feel like calling all of my divorced friends just so I can yell “where was your chocolate?” at them.
If you get hit by a car and are not wearing a helmet, expect to get a ticket.
If only for liability reasons, you should always wear one.
@47: Yes, I am arguing that. And no, I am not out of my fucking mind. The data is out there.
@54
obviously you didn’t even read your own post.
“Dr. Richard A. Schieber, a childhood-injury prevention specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the leader of a national bicycle safety initiative, said public health officials were realizing that in addition to promoting helmet use, safety officials must teach good riding skills, promote good driving practices and create safer places for people to ride.”
Education + helmets = safe riders. Where does Dr. Schieber question the merits of riding with helmets?
Also from the CDC…
Several researchers (2,5,8,12) have recommended that bicyclists use helmets to prevent head injuries. However, controlled studies evaluating the effectiveness of bicycle helmets in bicycle crashes have not been available until recently. In particular, the results of a case-control study in Seattle in 1989 indicated that the use of bicycle helmets reduced the risk for bicycle-related head injury by 74%-85% (1). The findings of other studies that have compared the proportions of helmeted and unhelmeted riders who sustained head injury in bicycle crashes (13- 15) detected higher risks for head injury among unhelmeted riders (crude odds ratio=4.2 {13}, 19.6 {14}, and 4.5 {15}). Although other strategies may be useful in preventing bicycle-related injuries (i.e., proper road design and maintenance; improvement in bicycle design, manufacturing, and repair; and bicycle safety training {5,16,17}), the use of these strategies does not eliminate the need for bicycle helmets.
of coarse helmets are not perfect…
The testing of bicycle helmets approved by either the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or the Snell Memorial Foundation indicated that using any helmet will protect the brain and neck during a crash more effectively than not using any helmet at all (18). However, these tests identified potential problems with helmet design, including a tendency for all helmets to slip out of proper position with the unequal application of force; a tendency for hard-shell helmets to slide on concrete, potentially increasing the risk for facial injury in a crash; and a likelihood for soft or no-shell helmets to catch or drag on concrete surfaces, causing the head to decelerate at a faster rate than the rest of the body, which potentially increases the risk for neck injuries (18). Subsequent tests indicated that helmets covered with a hard shell or a micro-shell (i.e., a very thin plastic covering) were least likely to cause injury to the head and neck region (19).
But no where is it suggested helmets should not be worn.
@44 Telsa, usually I like you, but that was fucking lame. I guess it’s a good thing you kept your “nerd brain” a’runnin, because I can tell that personality is not your strong suit.
Really lovely scenario you imagined for the victim, by the way. This makes me want to dick-slap you.
Oh, lighten up, @57. I thought it was hilarious.
@57: I don’t even know you, but I know my personality well enough to know that people look for me when I’m free — invariably to buy me beers and to shoot the breeze. I know, it’s a shocking revelation — even to me. But sometimes I should just suck it up and accept that I’m not hated by everyone on the planet, even though I genuinely believe I am.
I also know that when I was lying there in a hospital bed, functionally blind (my glasses were instantly shattered into tens of pieces by the impact), some of those friends travelled great distances to check up on me, while others wrote get well cards to have delivered by those who did the travelling to my bedside. All expressed a gratefulness for my being cognitively okay and sense of humour still intact, even if I was healing for months after being mangled. All expressed gratitude that I was wearing a helmet.
Oh, and when a colleague of mine in the bike courier world got hit by a car he tried to veer in front of (his fault), he was not wearing a helmet. He was given the nickname “Gerber” for the baby food he would have to eat due to his head injuries. Miraculously, he made a full recovery — and then proceeded to return to work without a helmet. Idiot. Purée becomes him.
Last bit? Data are manipulable. I know, above all else, that helmets really can’t make a head injury worse than it would be sans helmet. And my inspiration for the “NNNNNNGGGGUHHHHHHHH”? Why, here, of course.
We’re all in a state of shock over this. The comments are very distracting but I hope we can rally around each other and try to not be so selfish for at least a second or more each day. If he needs anything – fundraiser, moral support, whatever… We’re here for his friends and family too. Lets just try to push some positive hope in his direction and keep fighting. Words of encouragement never hurt.
59: Get the fuck over it. Your romanticism reeks of silliness, not of romanticism, oh my god. You’re pathetic.
I agree w #60. I know he worked at Grey. I hope there is a fundraser being planned. I know my friends and I would love to participate. Perhaps Grey and/or Vermillion can have a night where part of the proceeds go to his recovery?
Absolutely. soon.
Is this a Seattle thing? Because I know a runner who broke her leg going through a windshield in Seattle, and yet I saw her biking around the new town we live in at night, in the rain, with no lights and no helmet. It’s a genuine tragedy that such horrible accidents happen, but the evil part in the back of my mind is always reminded of Darwin…
@61: There’s nothing romantic about being hit by a car, kiddo.
65, I think I misidentified your comment. I’m glad you’re better and I value the perspective that you’ve contributed to this thread.
you fuckers all contributed to my giving up on the human race.
Josh, when you throw a piece of raw meat into a shark tank, the results shouldn’t surprise you.
I just remembered this really disturbing scene he did at that motel on Aurora before it was razed.
It involved a lot of fake blood, a lot of screaming.
~Life imitates art~
Just one of the things that can happen if you don’t wear a helmet is a right frontal lobe injury. These injuries can wipe out your inhibitions and ethics. Would you like to be a major asshole who strips down in public and fondles whoever walks by or sleeps with any meth addict or republican who strolls along?…If the answer is no wear your damned helmet!
“you fuckers all contributed to my giving up on the human race.”
better get to Aurora Bridge then before they build the fence.
Aside from the merits of the helmet debate (and really, is there anything more tired than the helmet debate in the comment stream of a bike injury post?), a lot of what I am seeing here is “blame the victim.” This time it’s about the helmet. Are you same folks as prolific in comment about sexual assaults? (“Well was she wearing a skirt? Was she alone on a dark street?”) Or home-invasion robberies? (“Well were all their windows closed? Did they have an alarm system?”)
Blaming the victim is lame, people. Lame and immature. It’s his life, he got badly hurt, he deserves our compassion and support.
I’m doing a poetry dance art piece where I give commands to Nko to wear a helmet and some body armor.
Then I show him how to field strip an Uzi for when some idiot opens a car door in his face.
Tels & Still: *sighs* it’s always an example for you people. lots of people are hurting because of this, and those using it as an example are using it rather viciously. we don’t need to be told that it could have been prevented, we already know that and knowing makes it worse to bear.
let’s all wear helmets, people
@74: Look, giver of the dick slap, I’m not sitting here all smug and schadenfreude-y about this person being wounded. I commented because know what it’s like, so far be it for me to denigrate his pain. And admittedly, I would be wrong if I said I’ve worn a helmet 100 percent of the time I’ve been on two wheels good. But ever since, I encase my skull with something rather than nothing.
That said, I do not appreciate being told that I’m some permutation of a cold-hearted, vicious, fucking lame, and dick-slap-worthy wretch-bitch-cunt-whore-whatever. I sympathize with him, and that’s that. I don’t know him, but I wish him the best. As for the rest, consider wearing a helmet if you want to avoid drawing negative commentary following a head injury (not to mention potentially permanent damage). A little bit of protection is still more useful than none at all.
What the hell is this thread?
it’s no bueno, i wanna be in Seattle with these peoples right now…oh i miss u guys so much and these PDX…. they got NO Idea… NKO UR so Irreplacable!!!
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Poor kid. I hope he recovers. I hope he isn’t financially devestated by the medical bills. I hope he isn’t fundamentally changed as a result of his injuries.
I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I feel like calling all of my divorced friends just so I can yell “where was your chocolate?” at them.
If you get hit by a car and are not wearing a helmet, expect to get a ticket.
If only for liability reasons, you should always wear one.
@47: Yes, I am arguing that. And no, I am not out of my fucking mind. The data is out there.
@54
obviously you didn’t even read your own post.
“Dr. Richard A. Schieber, a childhood-injury prevention specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the leader of a national bicycle safety initiative, said public health officials were realizing that in addition to promoting helmet use, safety officials must teach good riding skills, promote good driving practices and create safer places for people to ride.”
Education + helmets = safe riders. Where does Dr. Schieber question the merits of riding with helmets?
Also from the CDC…
Several researchers (2,5,8,12) have recommended that bicyclists use helmets to prevent head injuries. However, controlled studies evaluating the effectiveness of bicycle helmets in bicycle crashes have not been available until recently. In particular, the results of a case-control study in Seattle in 1989 indicated that the use of bicycle helmets reduced the risk for bicycle-related head injury by 74%-85% (1). The findings of other studies that have compared the proportions of helmeted and unhelmeted riders who sustained head injury in bicycle crashes (13- 15) detected higher risks for head injury among unhelmeted riders (crude odds ratio=4.2 {13}, 19.6 {14}, and 4.5 {15}). Although other strategies may be useful in preventing bicycle-related injuries (i.e., proper road design and maintenance; improvement in bicycle design, manufacturing, and repair; and bicycle safety training {5,16,17}), the use of these strategies does not eliminate the need for bicycle helmets.
of coarse helmets are not perfect…
The testing of bicycle helmets approved by either the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or the Snell Memorial Foundation indicated that using any helmet will protect the brain and neck during a crash more effectively than not using any helmet at all (18). However, these tests identified potential problems with helmet design, including a tendency for all helmets to slip out of proper position with the unequal application of force; a tendency for hard-shell helmets to slide on concrete, potentially increasing the risk for facial injury in a crash; and a likelihood for soft or no-shell helmets to catch or drag on concrete surfaces, causing the head to decelerate at a faster rate than the rest of the body, which potentially increases the risk for neck injuries (18). Subsequent tests indicated that helmets covered with a hard shell or a micro-shell (i.e., a very thin plastic covering) were least likely to cause injury to the head and neck region (19).
But no where is it suggested helmets should not be worn.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml…
LATFH
@44 Telsa, usually I like you, but that was fucking lame. I guess it’s a good thing you kept your “nerd brain” a’runnin, because I can tell that personality is not your strong suit.
Really lovely scenario you imagined for the victim, by the way. This makes me want to dick-slap you.
Oh, lighten up, @57. I thought it was hilarious.
@57: I don’t even know you, but I know my personality well enough to know that people look for me when I’m free — invariably to buy me beers and to shoot the breeze. I know, it’s a shocking revelation — even to me. But sometimes I should just suck it up and accept that I’m not hated by everyone on the planet, even though I genuinely believe I am.
I also know that when I was lying there in a hospital bed, functionally blind (my glasses were instantly shattered into tens of pieces by the impact), some of those friends travelled great distances to check up on me, while others wrote get well cards to have delivered by those who did the travelling to my bedside. All expressed a gratefulness for my being cognitively okay and sense of humour still intact, even if I was healing for months after being mangled. All expressed gratitude that I was wearing a helmet.
Oh, and when a colleague of mine in the bike courier world got hit by a car he tried to veer in front of (his fault), he was not wearing a helmet. He was given the nickname “Gerber” for the baby food he would have to eat due to his head injuries. Miraculously, he made a full recovery — and then proceeded to return to work without a helmet. Idiot. Purée becomes him.
Last bit? Data are manipulable. I know, above all else, that helmets really can’t make a head injury worse than it would be sans helmet. And my inspiration for the “NNNNNNGGGGUHHHHHHHH”? Why, here, of course.
We’re all in a state of shock over this. The comments are very distracting but I hope we can rally around each other and try to not be so selfish for at least a second or more each day. If he needs anything – fundraiser, moral support, whatever… We’re here for his friends and family too. Lets just try to push some positive hope in his direction and keep fighting. Words of encouragement never hurt.
59: Get the fuck over it. Your romanticism reeks of silliness, not of romanticism, oh my god. You’re pathetic.
I agree w #60. I know he worked at Grey. I hope there is a fundraser being planned. I know my friends and I would love to participate. Perhaps Grey and/or Vermillion can have a night where part of the proceeds go to his recovery?
Absolutely. soon.
Is this a Seattle thing? Because I know a runner who broke her leg going through a windshield in Seattle, and yet I saw her biking around the new town we live in at night, in the rain, with no lights and no helmet. It’s a genuine tragedy that such horrible accidents happen, but the evil part in the back of my mind is always reminded of Darwin…
@61: There’s nothing romantic about being hit by a car, kiddo.
65, I think I misidentified your comment. I’m glad you’re better and I value the perspective that you’ve contributed to this thread.
you fuckers all contributed to my giving up on the human race.
Josh, when you throw a piece of raw meat into a shark tank, the results shouldn’t surprise you.
I just remembered this really disturbing scene he did at that motel on Aurora before it was razed.
It involved a lot of fake blood, a lot of screaming.
~Life imitates art~
Just one of the things that can happen if you don’t wear a helmet is a right frontal lobe injury. These injuries can wipe out your inhibitions and ethics. Would you like to be a major asshole who strips down in public and fondles whoever walks by or sleeps with any meth addict or republican who strolls along?…If the answer is no wear your damned helmet!
“you fuckers all contributed to my giving up on the human race.”
better get to Aurora Bridge then before they build the fence.
Aside from the merits of the helmet debate (and really, is there anything more tired than the helmet debate in the comment stream of a bike injury post?), a lot of what I am seeing here is “blame the victim.” This time it’s about the helmet. Are you same folks as prolific in comment about sexual assaults? (“Well was she wearing a skirt? Was she alone on a dark street?”) Or home-invasion robberies? (“Well were all their windows closed? Did they have an alarm system?”)
Blaming the victim is lame, people. Lame and immature. It’s his life, he got badly hurt, he deserves our compassion and support.
I’m doing a poetry dance art piece where I give commands to Nko to wear a helmet and some body armor.
Then I show him how to field strip an Uzi for when some idiot opens a car door in his face.
Tels & Still: *sighs* it’s always an example for you people. lots of people are hurting because of this, and those using it as an example are using it rather viciously. we don’t need to be told that it could have been prevented, we already know that and knowing makes it worse to bear.
let’s all wear helmets, people
@74: Look, giver of the dick slap, I’m not sitting here all smug and schadenfreude-y about this person being wounded. I commented because know what it’s like, so far be it for me to denigrate his pain. And admittedly, I would be wrong if I said I’ve worn a helmet 100 percent of the time I’ve been on two wheels good. But ever since, I encase my skull with something rather than nothing.
That said, I do not appreciate being told that I’m some permutation of a cold-hearted, vicious, fucking lame, and dick-slap-worthy wretch-bitch-cunt-whore-whatever. I sympathize with him, and that’s that. I don’t know him, but I wish him the best. As for the rest, consider wearing a helmet if you want to avoid drawing negative commentary following a head injury (not to mention potentially permanent damage). A little bit of protection is still more useful than none at all.
What the hell is this thread?
it’s no bueno, i wanna be in Seattle with these peoples right now…oh i miss u guys so much and these PDX…. they got NO Idea… NKO UR so Irreplacable!!!