‘It ran over me.’ A Key West Conch Train collided with a bicycle near Hemingway Home
A tourist was seriously injured when a Conch Tour Train hit a bicyclist in Key West, police said.
Sandy King, 55, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami after the crash Sunday afternoon on Whitehead Street at Truman Avenue.
In an interview with the Miami Herald/FLKeysNews.com, King said she was released from the hospital Monday night. Her injuries included a broken clavicle and a rib on her right side.
“Sore,” she said, when asked how she felt.
Recalling the crash, King said that on Sunday she had just left the Hemingway Home and Museum, 907 Whitehead St., with her husband, Allan. They were biking on Whitehead toward Truman Avenue, next to the lighthouse.
“I was going straight,” she said. “My husband was 20 feet behind me.”
She was in front of the Conch Train — a long vehicle built to resemble a rustic steam locomotive — when she was struck.
“It ran over me,” King said. “The wheels ran over my right arm and chest and dragged me a little bit.”
A woman on the train stepped off to help her as she was on the ground and paramedics arrived.
“I never lost consciousness,” King said.
King said she was taken directly to the helicopter site at the Lower Keys Medical Center and airlifted to Miami.
She isn’t angry at the Conch Train driver.
“It was an accident,” said King, who hadn’t been to Key West before this trip. “The lady didn’t mean to do it. She was really sorry. She just didn’t see me.”
Police on Tuesday had yet to release a report on the incident or details such as the driver’s name.
“The report isn’t in so the [information] I have is sparse,” police spokeswoman Alyson Crean said in an email.
Key West Fire and Rescue responded to 399 Truman Ave. at 2:25 p.m Sunday. They found the injured woman lying in the street next to one of the Conch Train vehicles, according to agency records.
Historic Tours of America runs the Conch Train tours, which have carried sightseers since 1958 through Old Town in a loop while a driver relates Key West history, points out famous spots and tells stories.
Piper Smith, of HTA, said because the incident is still under investigation the company can’t comment at this time.
In 2018, a 60-year-old man was hit by a Conch Train and dragged nearly 90 feet after police said he crossed against a red light.
Witnesses said when the man saw the train he tried to run past it but was struck. He was airlifted to Jackson Memorial with serious injuries. Police said he was later released from the hospital.
This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 4:11 PM with the headline "‘It ran over me.’ A Key West Conch Train collided with a bicycle near Hemingway Home."
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