Hermosa Beach resident Michelle Fiorenza didn't see the motorcyclist go down but when he realized there was a body next to the bike in the road, he told his girlfriend to wait in the car while he went to see what he could do.
What he ended up doing was helping a man, who may be a fellow Hermosan, get through some critical moments before Manhattan Beach paramedics arrived to treat the downed rider and get him to Harbor-UCLA Hospital.
When Fiorenza, a Los Angeles County Fire Department captain with more than 20 years as a certified paramedic, approached the scene, he said another person was standing near the biker with a look on his face that said, "This guy's in a bad way."
Fiorenza wasn't deterred, opting to "see what I can do" to help the victim. He told Patch the man, who "didn't look too good," was on his "left lateral" side, breathing but not conscious.
The Hermosan kept the man's airway open and left him the way he'd found him, on his side, knowing that the way the man was laying was best for his situation.
Within seconds, a man who is an anesthesiologist came to assist. That's when Fiorenza moved to stabilize the man's head while the anesthesiologist managed his airway.
"There wasn't much we could do," said Fiorenza, who said they never needed to perform CPR on the victim.
When medics arrived, he helped them get the man onto a c-spine board.
"It was sad," he said of the scene. "I hate to see things like that and I've seen plenty of trauma. One minute you're going out for a nice ride..."
As of Friday shortly before 12 noon, the man was in critical but stable condition, said Mark Mason, a sergeant in Manhattan Beach police's traffic division.
The injured motorcyclist is believed to be a Hermosa Beach resident. Police did not find identification on him, however, the motorcycle's registration and information provided by a man whose friend rides a bike similar to the one involved in the crash has led MBPD to believe they know who the injured driver is.
The out-of-state driver of the rental vehicle that turned in front of the motorcyclist was not injured, said MBPD.
- Previously: Hermosa Beach Motorcyclist Injured in Collision
- Previously: Motorcyclist in Collision in Critical Condition
