Bicyclist dies in Monahans

MONAHANS A bicyclist was killed on Friday afternoon after a truck ran into him on State Highway 18 near Interstate 20, Monahans Police Lt. Orlando Orona said.

The bicyclist, who was identified as Jose Balderas, was hit when a tractor-trailer driven by Michael Bindschadler tried to leave a loading dock at the 1900 block of South Stockton Street next to the McDonald's, Orona said.

Teresa Cross, who works at the McDonald's near where the accident occurred, said she ran out after seeing several people surround the man, who was lying face-down on the street and bleeding from head to toe. His head was black and blue.

"I told him just to lay still," Cross said. "We asked him if he was alright. He said, ‘Yeah.' "

She stood with him until her manager called her back into the restaurant as the ambulance approached. When she looked out again, the paramedics had placed a white sheet over the body.

Trena Baker, a waitress at the Pappy's restaurant nearby, said she recognized the bicyclist as a regular on the road who usually went back and forth to the Lowe's a few blocks up the road for grocery runs.

"He always carried a box on his bike... I used to see him all the time," Baker said of the bicyclist, who she knew simply as "Jose."
"I can't believe that happened to him," she said.

Orona said the accident still was being investigated and no citations were issued.