HUNTINGTON BEACH : Boy Gets Award After Helmet Saves His Life

When a car threw Phillip Le off his bicycle last month, he became the first child in the county seriously injured in a bike accident. He also became the first to be saved by the state’s bicycle helmet law.

On Tuesday, the Fire Department paramedics who treated Le that morning teamed up with police officers and a bicycle safety group to reward the 10-year-old for wearing a helmet.

Without it, Le might have joined the more than 250,000 children nationwide who suffer head injuries from bike accidents each year, according to the Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center in Seattle. Close to 1 million children younger than 14 are treated for bicycle-related injuries each year, the center estimates.

The Fire Department gave Le a new bicycle, and Safe Moves, a Los Angeles group that advocates bicycle safety, gave him a flashing new helmet and a “Helmet Hero Award” plaque.

Pat Hines, executive director of Safe Moves, hopes Le’s story will get the message out: “Bicycles are not toys, they are serious forms of transportation and a helmet is your most important tool,” she said.

A state law that went into effect last year has given police a means to enforce that concept. Children who are caught riding a bike without a helmet can be fined up to $25.

Paramedic Mike McKay said he is convinced Le would have died in the crash without his helmet.

“The helmet was smashed and his bike was damaged pretty badly,” McKay said. As it was, Le spent three weeks in the hospital and will spend the next two months in a body cast.

A new bicycle awaits his recovery, but Le is now wary of the sport.

“Maybe I’ll ride it,” he said.