Bicyclist in critical condition after struck by car at Pierce County intersection
A bicyclist was hit at high speed by a car at an intersection on the Key Peninsula and was critically injured Jan. 2, according to Key Peninsula Fire Department spokesperson Anne Nesbit.
Units were dispatched to the intersection of state Route 302 and Wright Bliss Road Northwest at 5:02 p.m., Nesbit said. The department posted on Facebook at 5:19 p.m. that units were on scene. The spot is just down the road from Key Peninsula Fire Department Station 45, at 12310 Wright Bliss Road NW.
The bicyclist had been riding an electric bike and wearing all dark clothing, Nesbit told The News Tribune in a follow-up text message. She confirmed the driver of the car stopped after the accident and called 911. The bicyclist was transported to a hospital in Tacoma in critical condition.
Samantha Hughes-Lutge, the bicyclist’s aunt, disputed that the bicyclist was wearing all dark clothing in an email to The News Tribune Friday.
The bicyclist was wearing a “light tan colored Carhartt Duckbill Full suit with a hunter orange lining, with a light tan backpack, riding a grey electric bike that not only had a headlight but other lights on it,” Hughes-Lutge wrote in a follow-up email Saturday. She also shared photos of the tan suit and a helmet that she said the bicyclist wore.
Asked to re-confirm what the bicyclist was wearing, Nesbit told The News Tribune via text messages on Friday and Saturday that she relayed information from emergency responders when the accident occurred. She wasn’t at the scene and isn’t able to confirm the account personally, she wrote.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information from a relative about the bicyclist’s clothing.
This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 6:10 PM.
