The Miller Ridge Elementary fourth-grader died soon after from his injuries, and both the school and Middletown community have mourned his passing.
During Friday’s Middletown High School football game, players wore decals on their helmets honoring Adkins.”
Middletown City Council members spoke of the boy’s death at their most recent meeting. Both city officials and those at Middletown’s Atrium Medical Center said the coming weeks will see efforts unveiled to remind families and children of the importance of bike safety and helmets.
Officials at the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSP) said Monday the investigation into the accident has been closed with no charges filed against the driver of the pick-up truck.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation,” said OSP Lt. Clint Arnold. “We always encourage bicyclists and pedestrians to be very aware when crossing roadways."
Adkins' death prompted city officials to move to help, said Middletown spokeswoman Shelby Quinlivan.
“Middletown Police Department and Fire Department are working with the school district and several local businesses to put together safety programming and a helmet distribution. We will have more information in the coming weeks,” said Quinlivan.
Officials at Atrium Medical Center are ready to assist and have already reached out to city officials, said Alexandra Carpenter, trauma program manager for the center.
“Biking defensively,” is a key lesson all kids should learn, said Carpenter.
“The helmet is the mechanism in place to prevent them (children) from having a serious injury,” she saids.
“Younger kids do a much better job” of absorbing bike safety lessons, she said.
“With older kids and younger adults it’s a lot harder to promote helmet wearing,” said Carpenter.
During the summer of 2017 Middletown Fire Department conducted a bike helmet giveaway program. Fire personnel were on the lookout for whether children are wearing their helmets or not during summer months.
Children who were wearing their helmets will be rewarded with a voucher for a free small ice cream cone. Those seen not wearing their helmets did not receive a voucher to pick up a free bicycle helmet
Jennifer Burcham, spokeswoman for Atrium Medical Center, “we are working with the city of Middletown on a new program to promote child bicycle helmet use.”
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