DALLAS — A man is in custody after drunkenly slamming into a group of cyclists near DFW Airport Monday, authorities said.
A camera on the back of one of the bikes caught the whole incident. The terrifying video starts with a group of cyclists riding down the right-hand lane of North Airfield Drive.
In the blink of an eye, a white Subaru speeds up behind the group of cyclists. Another blink and you see him slam into two of them. By the time you’ve blinked again, he’s hit one of them a second time, and ran them over. Then instead of stopping to help, he speeds off.
Witnesses quickly chased him down and in a matter of moments he was cuffed and taken into custody by DFW airport police.
“They were doing everything they should have. It was during the day they were in a group. There was no excuse for this guy not to see him,” said Attorney Bill Shirer, aka the Cyclist at Law.
Fortunately, the victims in this – a man and a woman in their 60s were not seriously injured.
Court documents identify the driver as 31-year-old Benjamin Hylander and say he was drunk when this happened. A breathalyzer test after the crash showed his BAC was .25.
Police records say once they stopped Hylander, he tried to run up to the man he hit while EMS was treating him. He told officers that he was “sorry” and that he “just needed to talk to the individual he hit.” He also told them he’d had two maybe three large beers.
Shirer has seen these types of cases before, but none this egregious and says it’s a good thing the bike recording device caught the incident.
“There's a lot of cyclists using these rearview cameras. And they've been very, very helpful. I mean, I've had many cases where these cameras have just really shown what goes on. It's really remarkable how bad some motorists are” he said.
Over at PlayTri bike shop in Las Colinas, owner Chris Swanzy says they sell those types of devices and it’s one of the first things he noticed when he watched the video followed by the familiar route.
“I ride that same airport loop all the time. I'm seeing that I was very familiar with exactly where they were at and some of the dangers that that come with riding on the road,” Swanzy said.
He says what happened has startled the North Texas cycling community and he hopes the incident serves as a reminder for motorists to share the road.
Hylander is facing multiple charges including DWI and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.