Brevard bicyclist killed in crash with turtle

The fatal accident was reported about 3:15 a.m. Wednesday near the intersection of Royal Palm Avenue and Sail Drive in Indian Harbour Beach.

Brevard County Fire Rescue crews and investigators were called to the beachside town after the body of David Kervin, 51, was found in the roadway near the motorized bike.

“He apparently suffered a head injury and was already deceased when we arrived,” said Don Walker, spokesman for Brevard County Fire Rescue. “It appeared he hit the turtle. He may have also been hit by another vehicle while lying injured."

The turtle, described as a box turtle, survived the crash and managed to walk away with a minor injury. It was found nearby with a small crack on the bottom of its shell.

It was not immediately known if Kervin was wearing a helmet. Brevard County sheriff's deputies are conducting a traffic crash investigation. The Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and said his injuries were consistent with accidentally falling from a bicycle.

Traffic investigators said such crashes involving turtles do happen, but they are rare.

"You see these kind of accidents very rarely. It's either a deer or bear when you hear of an animal involved in an accident," said Kim Montes, a spokeswoman with the Florida Highway Patrol.

Montes recalled a crash involving a turtle that was struck while attempting to cross a busy stretch of Interstate 4 in Volusia County.

"Somehow, the driver clipped the turtle at such an angle that it tossed the turtle into the windshield of another car," Montes said. "The troopers got there and pulled it out of the windshield and put it in a nearby body of water. It happens, but it's very rare."

Or maybe it was *this* turt...

You're pedaling, on a bicycle, and you don't *see* a turtle ahead of you, in the road? WTH? I mean, how *big* must a turtle be, for you not to go around it? Maybe this cyclist deserved.... Geesh.

You know, if you are 51, riding a motorized bike, at 3:15 AM; you probably already made some poor life decisions.

The turtle causing your demise was a messenger for the rest of us.

Kudos to the police.

I will tell you a story.

My daughter is a lawyer. A man came in her office to see her because he had been arrested for 'accepting' 10 eggs (turtle eggs). The man who gave him the eggs was a wildlife officer. The man who was arrested was getting into importing and exporting this species of terrapin. Now this terrapin, a painted terrapin, lives from Connecticut to the tip of Texas. You can go on EBAY and buy hundreds or thousands of these terrapins. But those found in the wild seem to hold some special position among the wildlife officials.

As soon as the defendant was asked, he said he could not transport these eggs because he was still waiting for his government papers approving this business. The wildlife official (unknown to defendant) persisted and finally asked him to just take the eggs and put them in his incubator. Finally, just being nice,, he said he would do that. Withiin seconds after accepting 10 eggs he was arrested. This case goes to trial (Federal Court) in January. He can get as much as 20 years for this.

So the man, who had no record, who capitulated to help a stranger with this exportation was not targeted for being a recidivist, but the Feds turned him into a person coerced to commenting a felony (holding 10 eggs and now faces 20 years. )

Things seem disproportionate to me.

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