A Lincoln Prep sophmore and regular cyclist was involved in a hit and run wreck in Leawood Monday afternoon. Jeff Shipman was hit on Mission Road near 151st Street, south of Ironwoods Park. He crawled at least a mile back to the park before someone found him.

Fortunately his injuries were not life threatening and he’ll be back on the bike in a month. Jeff Shipman and his twin brothers often ride on KCBC’s Thursday night Brookside ride.

WDAF-TV 4 has the story and video.

Teen Thanks Helmet After Hit-And-Run
Wednesday, 18 Apr 2007

LEAWOOD, KAN.  –  A sophomore at Lincoln College Prep High School said a bike helmet saved his life.  He was the victim of a hit and run in Leawood and suffered a broken tooth, a concussion and some of the nastiest scrapes you’ll ever see.

Jeff Shipman, 16, never saw the car that hit him, or if he did, he certainly doesn’t remember.  But what he will never forget is the value of a bike helmet.

Road rash covers most of his body, he’s missing teeth and a lot of brain cells from a concussion.

“It sucks, but it happen,” Shipman said.

He loves to bike and he will live to bike another day because of plastic and styrofoam.

“I mean to get the foam to separate from the plastic to crack and break off like that, that would’ve been the top of my forehead, and it would’ve been all over for me,” Shipman said.

Shipman was biking on Mission Road south of Ironwoods Park Monday afternoon when a driver hit him and kept going.

“If you’re just going to leave me to die, that’s just a coward thing to do,” he said.

Shipman rides with a small computer on his bike that tells him how far he had gone.  Based on that, he knew he had to crawl more than mile back to the park where he was found.  The man who found Shipman on a park bench said Shipman is the toughest kid he’s ever met.

“I’ve got to get back in race form,” Shipman said. “This isn’t going to phase me at all. It takes more than a couple of broken teeth and a concussion to keep me off my bike.”

His bike is history, his helmet is too, but it did it’s job when it counted most.

Shipman hoped to be back at school on Friday, but he won’t be back on a bike for a month, doctor’s orders.

Rob Low, FOX 4 News