Sidney man injured in motorcycle crash

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Sidney man participating in an annual motorcycle ride on the Dragon’s Tail in Tennessee was injured in a crash Saturday afternoon.

Steve Egbert, of Sidney, is currently in the critical care unit at the University of Tennessee Hospital.

“He has no life-threatening injuries,” said his wife, Mary Ellen Egbert Sunday. “He has two breaks in his left leg, three bones broken in his foot on his left leg, a liver laceration, a lung puncture and five broken ribs. He’s on a lot of pain meds right now and is not allowed out of bed.”

According to Mrs. Egbert, her husband and several other Shelby County residents had gone to Tennessee with their motorcycles to participate in the event, which includes old cars, motorcycles and hot rods. Dragon’s Tail is “really curvy” she said and the vehicles run it every Fourth of July in Tennessee and North Carolina.

“They were near Maryville, Tennessee, when they went around a corner,” said Mrs. Egbert. “The light changed and Steve was trying to catch up to the other riders. There was a right turn after the stop sign and he overdid the turn and the bike went down.”

Egbert went across the road and hit the guardrail, she said. He rolled away to get away from the road.

“People stopped to try to help him, but no one touched him,” said Mrs. Egbert. “He’s gonna be in bed for a while.”

She said her husband was wearing his helmet, which saved his life.

“I had a missed call from Bob Oliver (one of the other riders) and I tried him. He didn’t answer so I called Steve. He answered and told me he was in the ER (Maryville Hospital) and he just had some road rash.

“After they did cat scans and X-rays, they strapped him onto a cot and put him in an ambulance. They brought him to the trauma center/critical care unit at the University of Tennessee,” she said.

“Our son-in-law’s father lives in Tennessee so he followed the ambulance from Maryville to UT until we could get here,” she said. She was accompanied on the trip by her daughter, Stefanie Hale.

The physicians, she said, are concerned about his leg. The liver will heal itself, she said. The lung has been re-inflated but it hurts to breath.

“He’ll be in critical care until at least Monday,” she said. “Once he’s moved then therapy will start to work with him. He’ll have to walk 40 feet before he can be released from the hospital.”

Once he’s out of critical care, he’ll be in the hospital for at least another five days, she said.

“I was really excited for him to do this with his friends,” said Mrs. Egbert.

By Melanie Speicher

mspeicher@sidneydailynews

Reach the writer at 937-538-4822; follow her on Twitter @MelSpeicherSDN. Follow the SDN on Facebook, www.facebook.com/SidneyDailyNews.

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