Mom grieves son, 17, killed in bicycle crash: 'A great loss'
A St. Thomas teen died by drowning after falling from his bicycle into a ravine, striking his head and entering the water unconscious, his mother says.
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A St. Thomas teen died by drowning after falling from his bicycle into a ravine, striking his head and entering the water unconscious, his mother says.
Christopher Jude (C.J.) Turley, 17, of Elm Street in St. Thomas, died Monday in what St. Thomas police called an accidental death at the bottom of a steep ravine in the area of Elmina and Hemlock streets.
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“We think he didn’t realize how steep the hill was,” his mother, Darlene Gibson, told The London Free Press in a Friday interview. She added there was a drop of between 7.5 and 12 metres to the creek at the bottom of the ravine from a hill.
While Gibson said the family members “don’t know for sure what happened,” she noted his bicycle chain broke and it appears her son “hit the steep hill and was catching speed” and then “hit his head and landed face-down in the water. He drowned.”
He was not wearing a helmet, Gibson said. His bike did not have hand brakes, instead requiring backward pedalling to slow down, called coaster brakes, which would have been disabled by the broken chain.
Phone records indicate his movement stopped at 8:47 p.m. Sunday, his mother says. St. Thomas police have said they found his body Monday at about 10 a.m.
“I didn’t know he was missing,” Gibson said. “I thought he was in his room.”
Turley had just graduated from Grade 12 at Central Elgin collegiate institute in St. Thomas. He was considering a future in construction and the building trades, his mom said.
He was working this summer doing landscaping, lawn cutting and weeding for apartment buildings in St. Thomas – work he found on his own. He didn’t work for a business, Gibson said.
“He was a helper. He would go anywhere to help someone. He was cutting grass, pulling weeds, he was a go-getter,” Gibson said. “In the winter, he would go up and down the street shovelling driveways.”
He was also athletic and enjoyed long-distance running, she added.
Turley was autistic and graduated from the developmental education program of the Thames Valley District school board.
“He will be missed, it’s a great loss,” Gibson said. “He was a social butterfly.”
He had siblings with disabilities and became a caregiver in the family, she said.
“He always tried to help as much as possible around the house. He always had friends here, the house was never quiet,” Gibson said. “He was friends with so many people. When we were out, everyone who walked by would say hi. Everyone knew him.”
A visitation is scheduled at the Shawn Jackson Funeral Home on Elgin Street in St. Thomas Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. A celebration of life is scheduled for July 26, which would have been his 18th birthday.
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