SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Del Paso Heights father is grateful to be alive after a motorcycle accident left him severely injured. Now, he’s looking for the Good Samaritans who pulled over to save his life.
Neil Miles says the only reason he's alive today is because of the protective gear he was wearing and the people who stopped to help him. He considers himself lucky.
“I was just going from one job to another trying to provide,” said Miles.
He remembers the accident that left him in a UC Davis Medical Center bed with two broken arms, hands and wrists. He also broke his left foot and leg, and severed an artery in his arm.
“I put my own tourniquet on,” said Miles.
He left his home on June 15 after a full day's work with the Postal Service to go to his second job. He was going 30 mph onto the freeway on the westbound Interstate 80 connector ramp to I-5 when he hit gravel while down shifting his bike. Then, he hit the pavement.
“I was going left to right trying to catch my balance but there was so much gravel there and then there was a rail there, so I rode the rail,” said Miles.
He was bleeding out on the side of the highway when a stranger blocked traffic with their car so no one would hit him. Two bikers arrived and moved his bike, and one gave him the shirt off his back to use for his injuries.
“Thank you God that I can live another day to see my beautiful eight children and my wife,” said Miles.
A father of eight children ranging from six-months-old to 19-years-old, Miles spent Father's Day in a hospital bed. He wants to use his luck to pay it forward with a message for fellow riders.
“A turtle shell backpack. It saved my bacon just sliding across the asphalt. It kept me above that and took a lot of the impact. Get a good jacket with a lot of padding, a good helmet. Without that, it’s not worth riding. I regret not wearing my boots,” said Miles.
The California Highway Patrol says this is the time of year when they see an increase in accidents. Speed is the number one cause.
Officer Margarito Meza wants to remind drivers to share the road.
"We do have to take into consideration those motorcyclists. We have to be on the lookout for them on the roads and highways. Before you make a lane change, use your blinker, look over your shoulder, check your mirror and then do it again to make sure there is no motorcycle there,” said Meza.
The family is hoping to connect with those Good Samaritans, if possible, to say thank you. They're waiting to see if they qualify for any assistance while his wife is caring for him and they will both soon run out of time off from work.
The family has a Meal Train and GoFundMe page set up.
