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San Jose, Calif. (KCBS/Mercury News) -- Six years ago, San Jose Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy began Tour de French Fry, a 10-mile ride from one fast food restaurant to the next rating the quality of French fries and other favorite fast foods at each stop. This year’s ride, however, went beyond the call of finding the best deep fried potato wedges and became a mission to save children’s lives.
Last June, Purdy was covering the U.S. Open in San Diego when a tragedy happened less than 50 feet from his home in San Jose. A sixth grader named Breanna Eck-Slaughter was struck and killed by a motorist driving a sport-utility vehicle while riding her bicycle to school on the last day of the school year.
“She was riding her bike to school because the family car had broken down and she was saving up to buy a special helmet that she really wanted,” said Purdy. “…the family was really cash-strapped, so she was saving up her own money to buy her own helmet.”
Following the tragedy, Purdy met Eck-Slaughter’s mother at a neighborhood meeting where she begged parents to make sure their children always ride their bicycles with helmets.
“Her mother believes that a helmet would have saved her life, and her mother came to our street, to a block meeting we had, and made an impassioned plea that kids wear helmets.”
Readers of Purdy’s column rose to the challenge and raised over $7,000 for children’s bike helmets. Now, all the students at Hoover Middle School will able to ride with a helmet.
While the ride is over, donations are still being accepted to purchase more children’s bike helmets. For more information, visit Purdy’s column at Mercurynews.com.
Click here to see Mark Purdy’s column
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KCBS' Tim Ryan reports
