An Alexandria man, riding a motorcycle, suffered a serious leg injury when he was struck by another motorist Monday afternoon on Lower Helton Road.
55 year old Theodore Joseph Pryjama of Lower Helton Road, Alexandria was treated by DeKalb EMS before being airlifted from the scene by a Life Force helicopter ambulance. He was reportedly flown to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville.
Lieutenant Randall Maynard of the Tennessee Highway Patrol told WJLE that Pryjama was traveling west on Lower Helton Road on a 2007 Harley Davidson motorcycle, trying to negotiate a curve, when he was sideswiped by an eastbound 2009 Ford Focus, driven by 27 year old Jennifer Johnson, also of Lower Helton Road.
“As they were negotiating a curve, the car came over on the westbound side, probably about a foot and a half from the center. They sideswiped. She was almost out of the curve and he was going into the curve. After impact, the car continued off to the right side of the road, went into the ditch, and then came back on the roadway and stopped. The motorcycle rider was ejected, traveling about 75 feet staying in the roadway. His motorcycle continued, going off the left side of the roadway approximately 100 feet into the weeds,” said Lieutenant Maynard.
He said the accident was not a hit and run. ” After the wreck she (Johnson) was trying to call her parents. They didn’t answer. She went and got them and came right back,” said Lieutenant Maynard.
Pryjama’s wife was following behind him on another motorcycle and witnessed the accident. She was not involved in the wreck and was not injured.
Johnson was cited for failing to maintain her lane of travel. There were no signs of alcohol or drugs involved in the accident, according to Lieutenant Maynard.
Members of the Liberty and Temperance Hall Stations of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department responded along with officers of the Sheriff’s Department.