Indianapolis bicyclist remembered after fatal crash at busy intersection

INDIANAPOLIS — On the south side of Indianapolis, there’s a very busy intersection. It’s where Raymond Street, Shelby Street and Interstate 65 all come together.

On Feb. 13, that intersection showed just how dangerous it can be. Dillan Lee Rogers, a 32-year-old bicyclist, was hit and killed by a driver while trying to cross the road that day.

“My favorite thing that Dillan ever said to me is when I first met him, he came up to me and said, ‘You know, I want to take you out,'” Bille Jean Peterson said during a vigil held Saturday. “But he said, ‘I’m not going to be your knight in shining armor, I’m going to be your weirdo on a bike.’ And it was the truth, and I’m just weird, period, so we were a great match.”

Peterson is the mother of Dillan’s children. The two had been together for more than 13 years. She said, the day Dillan was killed, he was riding his bike home from work, just as he did every day.

Dillan was struck by a driver as he was passing an I-65 off ramp.

“I’ve asked him numerous times, ‘Make sure you wear your helmet,” Peterson said. “But this light here, this back to back to back. I come past here all the time and people just fly when the light’s yellow.”

Peterson said Dillan never had a driver’s license, and he didn’t need it because he biked everywhere. He biked from his home to his job at Rolls Royce all year long, regardless of the weather.

“I can envision Dillan, you know, riding his bike, listening to his heavy metal, but still following the lights and traffic laws,” Peterson said. “And I think someone was just coming off too fast and it was just a tragic accident. My heart goes out to the man who struck him because he stayed here.”

While Dillan never made it home that morning, members of Bike Indianapolis finished his ride home Saturday and organized a memorial featuring a white ghost bike that carries a meaning and a message that marks the spot where a person was killed while on a bike.

 “We’ve seen these white bicycles around town, and Dillan explained to me what they were for,” Peterson said. “I never imagined that he would have to have one.”

Bike Indianapolis’ Jakob Morales had his own take on the crash. Morales believes the intersection was poorly engineered and is in need of a redesign.

“This is a horribly designed intersection and what happened was an eventuality with this kind of design,” Morales said. “This wasn’t an accident, this was a crash because of negligent engineering.”