By Greg Ellison

(Oct. 22, 2021) Berlin Councilman and Kite Loft owner Jay Knerr is at home recovering after a round-trip to Shock Trauma in Baltimore following a motorcycle accident in Girdletree on Monday.

Knerr was leading his brother and cousin on a motorcycle ride just before 11:30 a.m., when he struck a 72-year-old pedestrian walking in the middle of Taylor Landing Road along the yellow dividing line.

“We come around this one section of road with a bend and there’s a straightaway,” Knerr said from home on Wednesday.

When he glanced ahead he took note of a man walking in the road.

“I immediately took her (the motorcycle) down and we were going probably less than 20 miles an hour as we approached,” he said.

Knerr said as he got closer, he realized the pedestrian might be unaware of the motorcycle’s approach.

“He was still walking, so I thought he had headphones on or something,” he said. “I veered off to the far right of the right-hand lane to give him plenty of room.”

But, Knerr continued, as he was about to pass the walker, the man abruptly changed directions.

“He just sprinted right in front of my bike,” he said. “It was the most bizarre thing and I can’t even explain it.

“My bike started to go down to the left and I put my leg down and that’s when it broke because it caught the weight of the bike,” he said. “My leg just was smashed.”

Knerr’s family members trailing behind quickly stopped and checked both men for injuries.

“My brother and my cousin were behind me and they were shocked by what happened,” he said. “They went over to him as he was laying on his back in the middle of the road and he said his back was hurting.”

Emergency units from volunteer fire departments in Girdletree and Snow Hill responded to the scene with Maryland State Police Aviation Trooper 4 summoned to the Girdletree Firehouse landing zone.

Knerr, who had assumed an ambulance would provide transport to a hospital in the area, was surprised when first responders opted to include him on the flight with the pedestrian to Shock Trauma.

Following medical treatments to address a broken fibula, Knerr was able to return home by Wednesday.

“After they put the brace on my leg and the screws, they opted to let me come home and do some recovery,” he said.

Knerr said the mishap was his first in more than three decades of riding experience.

“I never thought that something like that would happen, where he would just run out without looking back,” he said.

Knerr said the exact condition of the pedestrian remains unknown.

“I hope he certainly recovers and gets better,” he said. “It’s just a freak thing.”

For now, although restricted from climbing stairs, Knerr is charting a course to recovery.

“I hit the back of my head and did have some slight brain bleeding, but that will heal up fine,” he said. “I have family taking care of me and I’ve got great people at my work, so they’re taking care of things.”