On June 16 at 5:15 p.m., the Lincoln Police and Fire Departments responded to a motor vehicle collision on Concord Road near Hillside Road. The collision involved a dumpster truck and a bicyclist, who was identified as Eugene Thornberg, a 61 year old resident of Wayland, MA.

The investigation, which included interviews of several witnesses and a reconstruction of the collision, found that the cyclist, while riding his bicycle south on Concord Road, passed several vehicles to their right while those vehicles were stopped in traffic in response to the traffic signal at the intersection of Concord Road and South Great Road. As the cyclist approached the stopped traffic, he rode off the road surface and onto the loose dirt shoulder of the road. Once on the soft shoulder, the deceleration of going off the road combined with the soft surface of the dirt shoulder made the bicycle unstable causing the cyclist to lose control of his bicycle and fall over in the direction of the stationary dumpster truck, landing in front of the right rear dual tires of the truck. At the same time, the driver of the truck began to move with the flow of traffic, unaware the cyclist had fallen under the tires. There is no indication that mechanical failure or the operation of another vehicle contributed to this collision. No criminal charges or civil motor vehicle infractions will be filed against the operator of the truck.

The collision was investigated by the Lincoln Police Department, Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.