A mourning family spoke about cyclist deaths after a man was fatally struck by a dump truck while riding his bike last week in D.C. He was a 65-year-old father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
Michael Gordon was struck at Rhode Island Avenue and Seventh Street NW, in the Shaw area, on Friday. He was 65.
“Everybody we know will die one day, but to get hit by a vehicle, not only that, a dump truck?" Gordon's daughter Ebony Gordon asked in an interview Wednesday.
His family is devastated and searching for answers.
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“It just keeps happening, like it happened today, again, another cyclist. What is it that you can’t see?” Ebony Gordon said.
Gordon was a District native and loving, devoted father, his family said.
“He always was the life of the party — just his personality. Warm, giving, loving, happy,” said Ebony Gordon. “That just was him. Driving his Cadillac, which is his bike. That's what he called it.”
He is survived by eight children, 18 grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Michael Gordon’s death was the first of two fatal bike crashes in D.C. in less than a week.
Another cyclist was killed Wednesday in a similar manner. The victim, 40-year-old Shawn O’Donnell, was struck by a commercial truck at 21st and I streets NW. She was taken to the hospital, where she died of her injuries.
Gordon’s family plans to hold a candlelight vigil Friday at the location of his death to honor him.
