BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

yeesh, what a way to start your morning. that's creepy. wonder what happened?

Post Gazette: http://postgazette.com/pg/09104/962719-100.stm

A man who police said was homeless was found dead last night near the Eliza Furnace Trail.

A bicyclist called 911 at 11:25 to report the man's body, found near the parking garage on First Avenue near the Downtown end of the bike trail, the Allegheny County medical examiner said.

He has been identified as Larry Mays, 53.

Forensic investigators pronounced him dead at the scene at 11:40 p.m.

Results were not available from an autopsy done today.

I guess people use the trail at all hours of the night, though I can't see myself riding down there at 11:30pm. I feel bad for both people at that scene. As much as it sucks to say it, I'm kind of surprised things of this sort don't happen more often on the riverfront trails. Pleasantly surprised even.

I try to ride with a friend if I am on the trails that late. That is unfortunate, but I agree with Brad, I am surprised it doesn't happen more often.

kind of off topic, but a couple years ago some friends and I started a ride on the C&O at Cumberland at 9pm (in october)and rode all the way to hancock that night. Very spooky, yet surreal and fun especially near the Paw-Paw Tunnel.

wp

I ride the jail trail at any time of the night.

It isn't as safe as I'd like. I guess. I've never had a problem.

Riding a bike on the Forbes-Fith corridor at midnight on a weekend: the real-life equivalent of Grand Theft Auto - except if you lose, you don't get a chance to play again.

How many drunk drivers are there on the trail? On Forbes Ave, Saturday, 2:10 AM?

Traffic fatalities = 40,000 deaths a year.

Random crime = 800 deaths a year.

50:1

The more folks that ride the trail at all hours, the safer it is.

You will not hear about this from your car-ad supported news source. "Be safe! Have someone escort you to your car!"

As Mr Scott-Heron says, it is rather unlikely that our particular revolution will receive adequate television coverage.

Mick

So, what did this guy die of? Run over by dozens of stampeding cyclists at 10 at night? (um, right) Passed out from too much booze? Hypothermia? OD? Hit by a car and stumbled there to die?

Like plane crashes and house fires, I'm less interested in the event than what caused the event.

Stu, I tried looking him up in google news, but the guys name doesn't come up at all - not even for this article.

(Unless it is the kicker at the end of the article about the University of New Mexico Regent's Professor Larry Mays.)

If the guy died by random crime, I may want to rethink what I wrote earlier. Maybe someone from Bike-Pgh or Steve Patchen Bike-ped coordinator could report on this - after all mysterious deaths are bad for the image.

Mick

I tried to followup on this

It turns out there are a couple of mysteries involved.

Mystery #1:

***

http://m.triblive.com/triblive/db_7239/contentdetail.htm;jsessionid=4A4FEA9EB6CB825ADB7D0FF6E410E652?contentguid=ptxghhki&storycount=2170&detailindex=6

"Autopsy inconclusive in Pittsburgh homeless man's death."

"By The Tribune-Review, "

"Wednesday, April 15, 2009"

"More tests are needed to determine what caused the death of a homeless man whose body was found near the Downtown section of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, a spokeswoman for the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday."

"The body of Larry Mays, 53, was found late Monday by a bicyclist near a table and chairs at the southwest corner of the First Avenue Parking Garage, city police Lt. Kevin Kraus said."

"An autopsy yesterday was inconclusive, the spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office said."

(end of news article)

***

I'm guessing that it was probably an OD with one of the powerful fentanyl derivatives on top of poor health and exposure.

Mystery#2

When searching on the guy's name, Larry Mays, I found a report of a homeless guy named Larry Mays that died here in 2007.

http://www.nhchc.org/memorialday/PittsburgPAPostGazet9295E0.pdf

Coincidence? ID Theft? Mistaken ID?

Anybody's guess. A homeless dude picking up a dead homeless dude's SS check is my guess.

I sent an email to the police pointing the old article out.

Mick