Mike Kraiman saw a skateboarder approaching as soon as he crossed Franklin Boulevard toward the Eugene Millrace the afternoon of Sept. 28.
The oncoming male student wheeled his way around a corner too quickly, smacking head-on into Kraiman. The force drove Kraiman, 46, to the sidewalk – left wrist first.
Kraiman laid on the ground in pain as the skater asked him if everything was OK. Thinking he wasn’t badly injured, Kraiman told the student that he was all right.
The skater didn’t apologize before he hightailed away, said Kraiman, technical support administrator for the EMU.
“I’m feeling a little bit disabled,” Kraiman said, cupping his cast-bound wrist, a body part which he finds essential for everyday activities.
“My job and most of my life is based on using my hands,” he said.
Kraiman’s day job requires “very complex hand coordination” and entails fixing software, setting up lighting, sound and visual equipment for events and acting as a locksmith for the University.
During the evening, Kraiman uses his wrist for bowling at Emerald Lanes. A member of the Thursday Night Thrillers bowling team for two years, he is still confident his game – with scores reaching almost 200 points – will not lose its zing.
“I’m not a quitter,” Kraiman said. “I’ve been getting a lot of encouragement and support.”
Kraiman said he will try to bowl with his right hand because he doesn’t want the injury to limit his social activities.
Kraiman’s wrist will require surgery on Oct. 17, and while he doesn’t want the skateboarder to pay for the estimated $1,000 operation, he does want a little acknowledgment.
Kraiman felt so disoriented after the accident that he couldn’t picture a detailed description of the skater, he said. On Oct. 4, he posted a classified advertisement in the Oregon Daily Emerald asking anyone with more information to step forward.
He hasn’t received any calls.
It’s no surprise an accident like this happened on campus, considering the hundreds of bicyclists, skateboarders, long boarders and pedestrians who travel through campus each day, Kraiman said.
Pedestrians are a vulnerable target, trying to avoid collisions when students powered by wheels speed through campus walkways, he said.
“We (pedestrians) are the lowest on the food chain,” he said.
The University prohibits bicyclists and skateboarders from riding on sidewalks throughout campus between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, said Department of Public Safety Lt. Herb Horner.
DPS has not received any reports of pedestrians being hit this year, Horner said.
Bicyclists and skateboarders must remember to give verbal or audible warnings while approaching pedestrians ahead, Horner said.
“I see bikers all the time who do not do that,” Horner said. “The biker thinks they can just zip by. … Someone could turn around and not even know a bicyclist is right behind him.”
When Kraiman spots an oncoming skater, the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he hopes he doesn’t “get massacred” during a walk through campus, he said.
“People’s actions do have consequences,” Kraiman said.
“Thank God for insurance.”
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