A man who was struck and left unconscious last month by an unknown individual riding the wrong way on an electric scooter is taking legal action for the rider’s data.
Allyson Medeiros, a 32-year-old Chicago-based tattoo artist, was biking home after work in the Wicker Park neighborhood on June 20 when he was struck head-on by the rider, who was navigating the scooter against the flow of traffic, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The accident knocked Medeiros unconscious and left him with multiple serious injuries, including broken bones and teeth, and “dangerous amount of air in his chest cavity,” according to a GoFundMe page to help him cover the cost of his medical bills. He was treated in the trauma unit overnight and required more than 20 stitches, and his jaw is wired shut, according to the Post.
Weeks after the incident, it’s still not clear who hit him or on what kind of electric scooter they were riding. But the incident occurred just days after the launch of Chicago’s e-scooter pilot program, in an area of the city where 10 companies—Bird, Bolt, gruv, Jump, Lime, Lyft, Sherpa, Spin, VeoRide, and Wheel—deposited their scooters (the program is not citywide). Up to 2,500 scooters are permitted in zoned areas as part of the program.
Bryant Greening, Medeiros’ lawyer, told Gizmodo by phone on Wednesday that while his client did not see the make of the electric scooter that hit him, he is “very confident that it was one of the electric scooters that are part of the city’s program.” If any of them knows that one of their riders was responsible for the incident, they’re not telling.
Greening—a co-founder of LegalRideshare, a firm that deals exclusively in rideshare-related personal injury cases—said that the e-scooter companies, as well as the city, were sent letters informing them of the issue and requesting that they preserve any data related to the incident. Following a lack of any “meaningful response,” Greening filed a petition in court this week naming the city and the companies and asking that a judge order them to turn over data they may have related to the incident.
According to Greening, that includes naming any companies or riders that may have been in the area at the time of Medeiros’ crash. Greening told the Post he took the measure in order to head off any potential loss of data, which he said by phone could include advertent or inadvertent loss of information.
“By putting them on notice and then filing this action, we believe that it would be unlawful for this data to go missing,” he told Gizmodo. “And Allyson’s chances at recovery entirely depend on the responsible parties being discovered.”
As of Wednesday, Medeiros’ GoFundMe page had raised more than $12,300 of its goal of $50,000 in just 16 days. The page said he “will make a full recovery,” but Greening said Medeiros is “still in a lot of pain and has got a long road ahead of him,” adding that he may have additional surgeries in the future. According to his GoFundMe, Medeiros does not have health insurance, and donations will help him pay for bills related to the accident.