Ghost Bike Erected Near Seattle's Seward Park Marks the Location of a Memorial Ride this Saturday

• Michael Colmant is the second person killed while riding a bike in Seattle this year.

• Memorial ride and walk to be held on May 15 from 2-4 p.m.

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A white “ghost bike” adorned with bright plastic flowers has been erected on Seward Park Avenue South as a memorial to Michael Colmant, the second person killed by the driver of a motor vehicle while riding a bike in Seattle this year.

Photos of Colmant and mementos to his athletic life have been tacked to a telephone pole and placed on the grass beneath the white bike, near the location where he was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver on April 11.

This Saturday, May 15, a memorial ride and walk will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. at the crash site near Seward Park to honor the 63-year-old family man, triathlete, and deputy director of the King County International Airport at Boeing Field. The ride begins at Be'er Sheva Park. Details about the ride and walk can be found on the Facebook event page. 

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The ride and walk were being organized by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways on behalf of Colmant’s family. Cascade staff members plan to attend to offer ride support and mechanical assistance, and Bike Works plans to bring its mobile bike repair van.

Colmant’s memorial ride comes a little over a month after dozens of people on bikes gathered in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood to honor the life of Robert Miesse, who was run over by a person driving a truck on March 24. That group also demanded that the city invest in safe bicycling infrastructure throughout South Seattle. A ghost bike has been erected high off the ground on a telephone pole at the intersection in Georgetown where the crash occurred.

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While the circumstances of both fatal crashes differ, they both show how Seattle’s streets remain unsafe for people on bikes and other vulnerable users due to a lack of safe bicycling infrastructure, as well as due to reckless or inattentive drivers. Cascade supports Seattle’s efforts to lower speed limits on arterial roads to 25 miles per hour, and it urges Seattle decisionmakers to move forward on the city’s Vision Zero safe streets goals.

Co-workers and family say Colmant was a 10-time Ironman Hawaii World Championship finisher, as well as a marathon runner, swimmer, and avid bike rider. He worked at the King County airport for more than two decades.

As of this writing, the individual who struck Colmant has yet to be apprehended. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Seattle Police Department’s tip line at (206) 233-5000. Witnesses described the vehicle as a silver sedan, perhaps an older model Nissan Sentra, with a license plate similar to BKU 053, and a smashed windshield.

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