Motorcycle Accident Survivor Shares His Story

What do you see when you look at me? I’m a son, I’m a husband, I’m a father, I’m a biker. My name is David Wyland – my friends call me Wiley – and this is my wife, Susan. On Thursday the 19th of March, I was on my way into work, seven o’clock in the morning. I was obeying the speed limit, I was obeying the traffic laws – I was hit from behind by someone who wasn’t. He wasn’t paying attention, he wasn’t following the rules, he was adjusting the radio on his car. He hit me from behind going an excess of 40 miles per hour, pushed me 80 feet into the car in front of me. Totaled out my motorcycle, busted me up, busted my nose, busted my skull, broken ribs, broken, vertebrate and a crushed leg.

We got the phone call that my husband had been in the accident and I tried so desperately to get to him and when I finally did get to his motorcycle, I was told that they had just taken him away in the ambulance. The ambulance was actually going to a place where the helicopter could land and med-flight him up to the trauma center, because they didn’t think he was going to live. His motorcycle was just totaled – it was laying on its side. All the bags were just thrown all over the road. They were just all crushed and broken up. When I first walked into the hospital room to see my husband, it’s one of the hardest experiences that I’ve ever had to go through. His face was really, really swollen – his eyes were swollen shut, his face was about twice as big. He had no skin on his cheeks. Blood coming from his eyes, his ears, his nose. His mustache, his beard were all dark red from all the blood that he had lost. He had tubes and things stuck all over him- it was really, really hard.

I was told by the deputy that the investigation, that they investigated the accident as a vehicular homicide, because they didn’t expect me to live.

I really didn’t know what to do, I knew we probably needed to contact a lawyer and I just asked some members of our biker family and it seemed like whoever I talked to said “You need to call Bruce L. Scheiner, you need to call Bruce L. Scheiner” and that’s what I did. I was worried about – number 1, my husband, his injuries, how long it was going to take him to recover, our financial situation, how we would be able to pay the bills, is he ever going to be able to go back to work.

You hear stories all the time about how insurance companies want to just railroad you into accepting anything and accepting nothing and our friends, my brothers, suggested Bruce (Scheiner) and that was the best decision I ever made.

When I called, they hooked me up with a lady named Cindy and she actually set up to meet me at the hospital that afternoon – I called in the morning and that afternoon she met me at 1:30 in the hospital. She was just absolutely great. She just, I just felt like I didn’t have any worries, I could call her anytime about anything. When we went to Bruce L. Scheiner’s office, we met with Cindy, not only did we meet with her, but… we met with Bill Chadwick. Oh yeah, Bill Chadwick. Bill went out and came back in and said Bruce wanted to meet with us personally and that he was with a client, but as soon as he was finished with that client, he wanted to come in and talk to us personally and I felt very privileged to have that happen, because you know, the head of an organization has never really talked to me about anything unless they were going to fire me [laughter]. But I felt honored that the man was, was interested enough in me to want to meet with me personally and was interested enough in my case to take the time out of him busy schedule to come in and talk with us and I thought that was, that was pretty awesome. Bruce (Scheiner) came in and talked to us about our case, told us how he was going to handle the case, told us what he was going to do for us, told us the amount of insurance money that there was – I just felt like giving him a big ‘ol hug, but I was scared to [laughter] cause, you know, you just don’t want to walk up and hug somebody that you’ve never met before.

It was a good feeling to know that there are, that there is a lawyer out there that you can trust, that’s not out for himself, that he’s there for you – to help you. That’s what Bruce L. Scheiner has done for us. He’s a great guy. He’s my new best friend, I love him to death, think they’re fantastic people. He’s my new best friend, I love him to death, think they’re fantastic people. In one of the worst times of my life, Bruce L. Scheiner and his staff came through, they were a comfort, they were honest, easy to talk to, were there for us when we needed them and are still there and I would recommend them for any accident, automobile, motorcycle or any other thing that they may need that is within his expertise. I’m not one to trust attorneys, but I would trust Bruce L. Scheiner with my life – he’s got my back and I’ve got his.