The rider rushed to the hospital following an early morning collision with a van at Pike and Boren last week has died, CHS has learned. The 18-year-old was identified by the King County Medical Examiner Thursday as Nap Cantwell, the son of Elysian Brewing owner Dick Cantwell and Chiyo Ishikawa, deputy curator for the Seattle Art Museum.
According to police, Cantwell was not wearing a helmet when he struck a van while riding downhill on Pike at Boren around 6:20a on Tuesday, May 29th:
According to witnesses, the male cyclist was riding his 10-speed bicycle westbound on Pike Street. The cyclist ran into the side of a van that was travelling south on Boren Avenue. The cyclist was not wearing a helmet. SFD Medics transported the victim to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
SPD said the investigation into the crash is ongoing.
Cantwell was a 2011 graduate of Garfield High School and worked at Elysian, according to his Facebook profile. He was also a musician and posted his works to this Bandcamp site. Last May, CHS heard from his father about the 15th anniversary of Elysian.
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Everyone — walkers, bicyclists, drivers — be safe out there.
So sad. My prayers are with the family. What a tragic accident ending such a young life.
I new Nap from the neighborhood. This is a terrible tragedy.
I mean, it’s not your fault if you’re hit by a car, but seriously: wear a helmet. You probably won’t ever be hit by a car, but if you are you will die. It’s not like you’ll get scolded. You won’t get a ticket. Your insurance rates won’t go up. You will die. Protect that fragile bone box that encases your humanity. If that goes, you lose everything.
I want all of you who ride their bike to work every day to stop for one second and think about putting a helmet on. You just need to protect that noggin.
That is way too young to die. My heart goes out to his family.
Rest in peace, young man.
Horrible. Can’t imagine how hard it must be to lose a child still so young.
Chances are that a helmet won’t make much differnce in a cyclist vs van accident, but every little bit helps.
Never forget your brain bucket. I never liked helmets, I wore one due to the law, one day I impacted hard enough to crack the shall and dislodge the foam insert. That helmet kept me out of Neuro ICU or worst.
Rest in peace fellow cyclist.
i didn’t used to wear a helmet while riding, but shortly after adding one to my gear i fell on my own and cracked the helmet.
helmets suck and they’re uncomfortable, but their benefits outweigh their costs.
I was an avid cyclist when I was 18. I used to bike all over the five boroughs of New York sans helmet, most of the time drunk and high. This was when no one wore helmets and it was just my friends and I and bike messengers out there. Took many nasty spills and never more than some cuts and bruises. I have to wonder how much really bad luck and freakish bad timing is more the issue than whether someone has a helmet on or not. With that said I won’t let my son ride his bike without wearing one and it’s better than not that it’s enforced these days. What’s nuts is there are states out there like Florida that don’t even require motorcyclists to wear one.
Why is it that a fatal injury it’s only noted that the cyclist was not wearing a helmet when you don’t see it noted when a cyclist dies that is wearing a helmet? Helmets give the rider and the people in traffic a false sense that a helmet will save your life when if you’re hit hard there’s nothing that’s going to protect you in your 40 pound bike against a two tone car/truck/van from killing you.
This is true, but at the same time the helmet certainly isn’t going to hurt. It’s one of those things where the benefits outweigh the costs by such a wide margin that even though a helmet won’t always help, it helps often enough that it should always be worn.
Very sad news, especially how young he was – I was really hoping to hear he had pulled through. My condolences to his family.
I just wanted to regognize that Dick Cantwell showed loads of strength this week giving his previously planned lectures on brewing at the AHA Conference. After hearing about the tragic death of his son, I expected him to cancel. He came through for the community of brewers, and continued to spread his knowledge in the midst of tragedy.
I pray for his son and family, but must also toast Dick’s bravery, and passion for his art.