Jack McMahon and two buddies stood in the Minnetonka church parking lot Thursday, looking at the paint on the street that marked where his best friend was killed.
As day was dissolving into night on Wednesday, Andrew Dudley rode his bike out of the Cross of Glory Church's parking lot and onto Shady Oak Road where he was hit by a car.
McMahon and others gathered Thursday night at the same church to grieve and find comfort. Hours earlier, students at St. Louis Park High School, where Dudley was a senior, had created a mural of brightly colored handprints and messages in an impromptu memorial to the 18-year-old they remembered as "easygoing and cheerful."
"It was just bad timing," said McMahon as he walked away from the accident scene. He said Dudley and the driver "just didn't see each other. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The driver of the car was not issued a citation after the accident, which police said happened at about 8:45 p.m. Dudley was heading north along Shady Oak when he was struck. He had the standard bicycle reflectors but no lights and was not wearing a helmet, said Police Capt. Scott Boerboom.
He also was riding against traffic heading north in the outside lane of the two southbound lanes, Boerboom said. Bicyclists are supposed to ride in the same direction as traffic, he said.
The captain added that there also is a sidewalk available to bicyclists and pedestrians.
In 2010, the last year that complete statistics have been compiled in Minnesota, there were 898 crashes involving motor vehicles and bicycles. That was down 6.2 percent from the previous year. There were nine fatalities in 2010 compared with 10 in 2009.
