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Teen on bike killed by ice cream truckBy KEVIN GRAHAM
© St. Petersburg Times, PLANT CITY -- Cody Simon Wyrick was excited about moving back to Oklahoma in two weeks. It was the only home he ever had before moving to Plant City three months ago with his mother and oldest brother. But the 14-year-old will never again see the white pit bull he left behind, his friends and family in Aftan or go bull riding. Cody was riding his gray 10-speed bicycle in the dark on Trapnell Road on Monday night when he was struck and killed by a neighborhood ice cream truck, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Cody was three-tenths of a mile from his home, reports show. The driver, Billy G. Peach, 43, was traveling east on Trapnell, troopers said, when he hit Wyrick at Silver Maple Drive at 9:20 p.m. Monday. Cody was not wearing a helmet and his bicycle did not have lights, troopers said. "There were no lights in the area, and no lights on the bike," FHP Lt. Harry Earp said. "From my understanding, he (Wyrick) was on the road, not so much that he crossed it." Hillsborough ordinances require children under 16 to wear helmets while riding a bicycle, Earp said. Peach, of 6703 Glen Meadow Loop in Lakeland, was not injured, according to troopers. Peach was charged with speeding in 1994; he pleaded guilty to a seat belt violation in 1992 and operating a motor vehicle in unsafe condition in 1995, driving records show. Earp said alcohol was not a factor in the accident. No charges have been filed, but the investigation is continuing, he said. At 8:30 p.m. Monday, Cody told his mother, Tammy Wyrick, that he was going to look for a friend but promised to be home within 90 minutes, she said. "I heard sirens about 9:45, and that's when I got cold chills," Mrs. Wyrick said. "I just sat and watched the clock." It was 10:33 p.m., Mrs. Wyrick said, when a state trooper and a priest arrived at her home at 3810 C.A. Bugg Road. Keith Calhoun, a family friend who lived with the Wyricks, said he identified the teen's body at the accident site. "He was lying there covered with a sheet," said Calhoun, who wanted to believe the teen was playing a trick. There would be days, Calhoun said, he'd wake up and find Cody lying on the floor in his bedroom covered with sheets so he could trip Calhoun. "When I touched him, I knew (it wasn't a joke)," Calhoun said, fighting back tears. "That bike was his getaway toy," said David Boll, Mrs. Wyrick's boyfriend. "He would ride down the street carrying an American flag." Mrs. Wyrick, who has another son who lives in Oklahoma, said she moved to Plant City to get away from a "controlling relationship." She met Boll after she moved here. The couple had planned to return to Oklahoma in two weeks because Cody missed going to school there, Mrs. Wyrick said. "He was a jokester," Mrs. Wyrick said. "When you were sleeping, you'd never know if you would wake up with your face painted." Mrs. Wyrick said they will use part of the $600 they had saved to move to transport Cody's body to Oklahoma so he can be buried next to his grandfather. Cody's heart valves are being donated, she said. Seven children ages 5 to 15 in Florida died in 2000 from bicycle-related injuries, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. - Kevin Graham can be reached at graham@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3404
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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From the Times Ernest Hooper |
