Ever the risk taker, 18-year-old SF State student Lucian Gregg was killed over the winter break in Santa Cruz while riding his fixed-gear bicycle without a helmet on Jan. 2 this year.

The accident, which occurred on East Cliff Drive and Jessie Street, may have involved a collision with a Fed Ex truck, which made a legal right turn onto Jessie Street as Gregg was riding behind the truck going northbound down a hill. He may have collided with the truck or fallen off of his bike while trying to avoid it, Santa Cruz police said.

Gregg, a stagehand and theater major, was a freshman who had just spent his first semester in San Francisco. The Santa Cruz native was staying with his parents in Live Oak at the time of his death.
A preliminary autopsy report listed the cause of death as blunt trauma to the head, likely a result of Gregg not wearing a helmet.

Gregg was described by a friend as “adventurous,” and said it was typical of him to not wear a helmet.
“He was just really adventurous, loved the outdoors, loved riding his bike,” said Jennifer Williams, an 18-year-old English major at the University of San Francisco, who came to know Gregg over the summer in Santa Cruz.

Initially police had difficulty tracking down the truck and driver that may have been involved with the fatal crash because Fed Ex contracts out its vehicles, making it harder to figure out where certain drivers were around the time of the incident, around 2 p.m., said Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend. After ruling out some 60 drivers in the immediate area, investigators believe they now have the proper truck and driver identified.

The driver left the scene of the accident because he may not have known there was an accident, Friend said.

“We have a driver whose time we cannot account for when the incident occurred,” Friend said.

However, his name has not been released and a determination to file criminal charges has not been made, pending the outcome of forensic evidence collected by the State Justice Department.

Friend said he expects the forensic evidence to be released by the end of this week, at which point it will be turned over to the District Attorney’s office, who will decide if criminal charges are appropriate.

Gregg’s death touched off a debate on bicycle safety in Santa Cruz, particularly the use of fixed-gear bicycles. The bikes, popularized by city bike messengers and typically used by track racers, have no standard braking mechanism, which is a violation of the state Vehicle Code. However, a rider can slow the bicycle down by forcibly pedaling backward.

Gregg was traveling at approximately 25 mph when we crashed, police said. He was the second cyclist to die in a crash in Santa Cruz this past year, according to press accounts.

“This was a very serious matter—a life was lost,” Friend said.

Williams, a USF student and fellow Santa Cruz native, said Gregg was gregarious and friendly, and tried to befriend as many people as possible.

“He just really cared about everyone, left a good impression on everyone,” she said. “We would just walk around the city and explore San Francisco.”

She also provided an anecdote of Gregg’s free-spirited, adventurous behavior.

“A lot of people talked about a story how he climbed a tree during lunch hour in high school, and ate his lunch on top of a tree. It caused a big commotion, and nobody knew who he was. Security had to be called, and when he came down everyone had a lot of respect for him,” she said.

“It’s just a day-to-day thing,” she said of coping with the death of her friend. “Our group of friends was really excited to get to know him better. I still miss him a lot.”