A 24-year-old Norwegian man rollerblading across the United States died in Kansas after an 82-year-old woman allegedly struck him with her SUV and left the scene.
Joachim Lanham was on the 22nd day of a cross-country trek from New York to Los Angeles when an off-duty first responder discovered him critically injured in a roadside ditch in Salina, roughly 175 miles from Kansas City, on Sept. 5, the Wichita Eagle reported Monday.
Lanham was initially taken to Salina Regional Health Center before being transferred to the intensive care unit at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.
After spending six days in a medically induced coma, he died from his injuries on Sept. 11.
In a post on Lanham’s Instagram account, his family said his brother Michael “was with him holding his hand throughout the week and at the very end.”
The Saline County Sheriff’s Office said the driver came forward while deputies were investigating the crash site.
According to police statements reported by KSAL, the 82-year-old woman said she had been driving a 2013 Ford Edge SUV westbound on Country Club Road.
She reportedly told investigators that she believed she had hit something and turned around to inspect the area. After seeing nothing, she continued driving home.
Lt. Scott Trembley of the Saline County Sheriff’s Office said the woman later noticed damage to her vehicle and contacted a friend, who accompanied her back to the scene.
“She knew she struck something. She just wasn’t sure what,” Trembley told the Wichita Eagle.
The investigation has been referred to the Saline County Attorney’s Office, which will decide whether the driver should face criminal charges, the sheriff’s office said.
About 40 minutes before the collision, Lanham had spoken with his parents by phone and described how important long-distance rollerblading was to him, according to his family.
On the day of the crash, he posted a video showing himself skating along Kansas’ seemingly empty roads.
“I’m in Kansas baby, the heatwave has been kicking my ass, I thought I knew what hot, but nothing like this,” he wrote in the caption.
“My weather forecast app keeps telling me to check up on my loved ones and to seek refuge, but I’m on a mission. Mother nature will definitely slow me down but I will succeed.”
Earlier this year, Lanham completed a rollerblading journey of more than 3,665 miles across Australia.
“We as his family are so thankful for all the support you have given him on his wild adventures,” his family wrote in a message to his followers.
“They meant the world to him.”
Lanham’s family also posted the final video he recorded before the crash, showing a butterfly flapping its wings on his foot.
