This story has been making the rounds on social media in the Twin Cities. I'm interested to see if the wider range of BF has any input/experience with dog/bike collisions.
I saw the headline and expected it was a bichon or other lap dog, but it was a yellow lab ?!?
For reference, I was riding this section of the Luce Line on Sunday, and I've biked this trail since the 80s, so I know it well. Rough estimate is that half the dogs are off leash in this area, leashes are required to walk a dog here, but most use it as an off leash park. I've never had a bad encounter with a dog here (or anywhere), but I'm always cautious with an off leash dog ... I have no idea what it'll do.
My post on a thread about this:
... maybe they saw their dog unresponsive and the person biking past at the same time and thought the two things were related.
I have to say, as somebody with a dog like a yellow lab (70 lbs flat-coated retriever) - I can't imagine a passing rider could kill a dog that size without going down. It is possible, but not likely.
This story does not add up. And without being able to ID the person on the bike, we will be left with the incomplete reporting from the people that lost their dog.
Frankly, this story should have never gotten beyond NextDoor without more critical info.
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota...ine-killing-it
Since this story is nothing but a published Nextdoor post, I've pasted the content below to save you from feeding the clickbait publication: A dog died days after being kicked in the head by a bicyclist on the Luce Line State Trail in the western Twin Cities suburbs earlier this month, according to a police incident report.
An Orono Police Department incident report says a 73-year-old Orono woman called police on Oct. 13 to report her dog's death.
She said she, her husband and their dog were running along the trail on Oct. 6. There was
no one in sight of them until a "
biker came from behind, at a quick pace," kicked their dog in the head, and kept riding down the trail, the report said.
The dog was running behind the owners on the trail when it was kicked, the report said, noting the biker kicked the dog so hard it ended up on the side of the trail in the brush and wasn't breathing.
The owners performed a heart massage on the dog and revived it, the report said. For the next five days, the dog rested at home. But on Oct. 11, the owner went to put the dog in its kennel when the dog's legs went out from under it and it stopped breathing.
They massaged its heart again, but it didn't work and the dog died, the report said.
The owners said the bicyclist is believed to be a man, he was wearing a helmet, black bike pants and a colorful bike shirt, but they aren't sure if they'd be able to recognize him if they saw him again because it "all happened so fast and they were trying to attend to their dog."
The incident report calls this a petty misdemeanor, but no suspect has been identified.
Meanwhile,
posts on NextDoor indicate the owners have hung signs on the Luce Line about their dog, a yellow lab, near Brown Road in Orono. Many on the page are calling for etiquette from bikers, walkers, dog owners and others on the trail, which has been extra busy this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources maintains the 63-mile
Luce Line State Trail that stretches from Winsted east to Plymouth, where it connects to the
Luce Line Regional Trail, which connects to Minneapolis. The DNR has a
webpage dedicated to trail etiquette and rules. Among them: pass on the left and give an audible signal; stay to the right when others approach; yield to pedestrians and slower trail users; and keep your pets on a leash and under your control at all times.
The DNR's website says the Luce Line has experienced "very high use" and it may not be possible to practice social distancing on it, noting it can be impossible to pass or approach someone without coming within six feet if there are too many people on the same stretch of trail at the same time.
Afterthought: