DAVID Kennedy can’t stop reliving the moment his body slammed into the road, his leg twisting underneath his motorcycle.
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The Wodonga motorbike rider recounts the instant his life changed as he lies in a hospital bed, knowing he won’t be able to get on his feet again for at least three months.
Mr Kennedy, 56, hit industrial plastic wrap someone had stretched across Parkers Road in Wodonga at 10.40pm on Wednesday night.
The wrap was also strung across a second part of Parkers Road and in Gayview Drive.
A stupid prank maybe, but it could have been deadly for the father of three, who was on his way to work.
“I’m pretty lucky I was wearing the protective gear,” Mr Kennedy said.
Yesterday he spoke from his hospital bed at the Albury-Wodonga Private Hospital.
His left leg was in a moon-boot, the bone split, his lower leg broken in two places and his ankle dislocated.
Mr Kennedy’s left hand was encased in plaster, holding the shattered bones together.
He won’t be able to walk for three months and he doesn’t know when he can work again.
But he knows it could have been worse.
Mr Kennedy was riding the regular eight-kilometre route to do shift work at Mars Pet Care on his Suzuki 250cc Cruiser.
Mr Kennedy said he was travelling between 50 and 60km/h out of the Drage Road and Parkers Road roundabout, going into Moorefield Park Drive, when he looked up from the speedometer and saw the plastic at neck height.
He slammed on the brakes.
“I keep seeing this picture of when I hit the ground and the pain when I hit the ground and it kept happening,” he said.
Mr Kennedy skidded, coming to rest in the middle of the road.
His left leg was pinned underneath the bike and as he struggled to push it off, drivers behind him came to his aid.
“There are some callous people but these drivers renewed my faith in human nature because they couldn’t do enough,” Mr Kennedy said.
Wodonga police said the incident was not isolated.
More industrial wrap was found tied around two signs on either side of Parkers Road yesterday, as if that had also been stretched across the road but then cut in two.
This plastic was near Ware Avenue, a few
metres south of where Mr Kennedy’s incident occurred.
Police found more wrap in nearby Gayview Drive.
Acting Sen-Sgt Shane Martin said the person or people responsible faced serious consequences and the charges could include reckless conduct causing serious injury.
Sen-Sgt Martin said the police would need the community’s help to catch the offenders.
“We’re appealing for people to come forward ... it needs to happen as soon as possible,” he said.
“It’s very irresponsible.
“It’s putting members of the public at risk of serious injury.”
Police said neighbours heard voices about 10 minutes before the crash.
Mr Kennedy, a guitarist who plays with the band The Ethanol Brothers, called for the community to help police.
“I could’ve had brain damage ... or have died. These people have got to be aware of that,” he said.