Family wants answers in bicyclist's death

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Updated: 11/28/2012 9:26 pm

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla.-- The family of a bicyclist killed in a hit and run is speaking out for the first time.

Christian Schroom was hit, not once but twice, while riding his bike last weekend. Both drivers took off. Nearly a week later, Schroom's nephew says they still don't have answers. "It was a huge shock. It's rough to come to terms with how it happened. How someone could do that," said Damian Cox.

Schroom was a waiter at a local restaurant and an avid bike rider. His bike is how he ended up in St. Augustine in the first place. "He wanted an adventure and biked from Michigan to the Keys, but stopped in St. Augustine and fell in love with it and ended up staying there," said Cox.

But now police are searching for answers.

Heather Neville is with Velo Fest, a group that educates the community on safe riding. She knows all too well about the danger. "My brother was hit in Jacksonville Beach and my uncle was killed. It has been all around me," said Neville.

That's why she's putting up a memorial -- called a ghost bike -- where Schroom was killed. "The concept is not to scare bicyclists but to bring awareness that something tragic happened here," said Neville.

It's a reminder of something one family cannot forget. "It'd be nice to have answers and closure about why someone would hit him and keep going and leave him there to suffer," said Cox.

Cox says Schroom's mother is taking this hard because she was just diagnosed with terminal cancer weeks before her son's death.

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tlynn - 11/24/2012 8:48 PM
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imtellin….YOU are an idiot!

imtellin - 11/24/2012 5:54 AM
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you assume the drivers are aware they ran over part of mr. schroom ... they may not be... they may also have been drinking and were aware they would be in serious trouble, even though he was supposedly already upon the ground when the 1st allegedly witnessed,, vehicle struck part of him.. then supposedly another vehicle may have struck part of him ... how he got upon the ground remains the initial mystery,, was he himself drinking downtown after work ??? was he riding under the influence & cause his own death ??? or at least contribute to it ??? by now local police should have a B.A.L. reading on mr. schroom !!!! let's have it,, was he himself under the influence ??? did he strike the ground in such a way he was mortally injured by his own hands ??? other drivers might have given his body no more consideration than a pile of rags lying in the street,, or a bag of garbage blown off the curb !!!it has happened before folks... we had 1 on long island ,, no less than 27 vehicles drove over the body before someone realized rags don't make cracking noises !!! man simply had been drinking,, had a seizure of some type & fell off the sidewalk at night & was continually run over...everyone who came forward thought it was simply a plastic bag of garbage or rags !!!none of them were charged... there is no crime in mistaking a body for debris left in the road & late at night with spotty lighting & tired drivers,, reflexes are not as quick as they might be in daylight hours !!!
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