A man on a bicycle and a Syracuse police car collided at the corner of Sumner and Euclid avenues on Friday around 11 a.m.

The man suffered minor injuries mostly on his legs and chin, but was taken to a local hospital for further examination, said Lt. Richard Shoff of the Syracuse Police Department. Shoff did not know the identity of the victim, but said he assumes he is a Syracuse University student.

“He just got a few bumps and bruises,” Shoff said.

A Centro bus was sitting in traffic at the corner of Sumner and Euclid and waved the cop car through, Shoff said. As the car began driving, the man on the bicycle turned the corner, and the two vehicles collided, Shoff said. Police are still investigating who hit who.

Four fire trucks and an ambulance arrived at the scene after the collision, said Talya Shlang, a senior public relations major, who saw the aftermath of the accident.

The man only sustained minor injuries, despite not wearing a helmet, because the cop car was nearly stopped at the time collision, Shoff said. He suspects the biker was in the process of breaking, as well, Shoff said.

Shoff said he believes one reason the biker was taken to the hospital even though the injuries were minor was because the biker was most likely not wearing a helmet.

Matt Smith, a senior finance major who lives on the 300 block of Euclid, said he saw the aftermath of the collision. The man was sitting on the curb and did not appear to be badly injured, Smith said.

At the time of the collision, the police were already on Euclid patrolling to enforce city ordinances in light of MayFest. Shlang said she thinks there was a cop car on every block, as well as many cops on bicycles riding up and down Euclid.

Police roped off Euclid from Sumner to Livington with caution tape, and redirected traffic so they could investigate further.

“At first I thought this was about MayFest,” Shlang said. “I thought they were just coming up with a reason to rope off the street.”

Published on April 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm