AURORA, Colo. – Talking through the pain of broken teeth, Thom Bilous finds himself wrapped in love surrounded by dozens of precious cards sprawled across his living room sofa from the students where he teaches at Aurora Academy.
“It’s funny looking at the cards, what kids pick up about you from being in your classroom. That the kids took the time to do this is crazy,” said Thom. “Honestly, I didn’t think they liked me that much,” he laughs, adding “because I’m always asking them to do work and get on them for turning in assignments and trying to push them to be their best.”
The stacks of colorful notes and hand-drawn messages are a welcomed distraction and thoughtful way to soften the blow of what happened on 13th Avenue in Aurora two weeks ago.
“I still don't really have any memory of the incident, which is kind of a blessing and a curse,” said Bilous. “Because I can't put any of it together – I don't have to remember the trauma of being hit by the car, which is great, because I feel like I would just be kind of replaying that over and over again.”
On February 28 at around 8:15 p.m., Bilous was riding his bike home from school after staying late so a fellow teacher who was getting back into portrait drawing could use him as a subject for her work.
Bilous had no clue his physical appearance captured in the portrait would soon be battered and bruised.
“I take a pretty standard route home from the Lowry area where my school is at. I was coming back up 13th and just crossed Peoria, which has a huge construction zone,” said Bilous. “I was riding my e-bike and somewhere after that Peoria interchange, I was hit by a car that did not stop to check if I was alright.”
The crash knocked him off his bike and he was left all alone.
“Knocked several of my teeth out, broke my nose, scraped my face and got a concussion,” said Bilous. “It's a neighborhood street. What's frustrating is because the school's there, I just worry that next time, it might not be as fortunate as just a few missing teeth and a small bleed on the brain. It could be somebody dying. It could be a kid hit.”
Dazed and in shock, Bilous was able to walk his bike for a bit before grabbing his phone. At home, his partner, Adrienne, was waiting for him to arrive when the phone rang.
“8:23 p.m. is when he called me, and he was sobbing. So immediately I knew something was wrong, and so I just asked, ‘are you okay?’, and he said, ‘I've been hit by a car,’” said Adrienne Razavi. “It was hard to understand him, and I didn't know why at the time. Part of it was the crying and then obviously part of it was he was bleeding profusely from the mouth and he lost some teeth. I was terrified, honestly, because you just never want to get that call about your partner.”
Not knowing the full extent of the damage and only a couple of blocks away, Adrienne rushed to 13th Avenue and Tucson Street.
“It took maybe three minutes to get to him, and he was in a really bad way. He was sobbing. He was covered in blood,” said Razavi. She drove him to the emergency room at UCHealth Anschutz.
“They took him in immediately and wheeled him back but I wasn't allowed to join him immediately. And so for like 15 minutes, I was just sitting out there, like sobbing, hoping he was okay,” added Razavi.
After hours in the hospital, the couple came home from the trauma room as the experience started to settle in.
“I had what's called a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is basically bleeding on the brain. Fortunately, it was very small. It could have been a lot worse,” said Bilous.
Beyond the physical damage, Bilous is working through the emotional trauma.
“My face healed really quickly. I did not look this healthy or good this time last week for sure and the change in a week was pretty striking,” said Bilous. “But it's been kind of like a post-traumatic stress now, sort of being anxious around traffic, not necessarily being able to sleep through high anxiety.”
Because of Thom’s injuries, he’s not able to recall specifics of the vehicle or exactly where he was struck on 13th Avenue. The couple knows it happened somewhere between Peoria and Tucson streets.
“They (Aurora police) did get footage from one neighbor directly across the street from their ring doorbell that shows him walking the bike to some point. It’s a very narrow range of footage, I haven’t seen it yet, no one has shared it with me,” said Razavi. “They didn't ask any of our other neighbors, which I know because I went door to door to ask for footage.”
The damaged bike Thom was riding that night sits in the corner of the couple’s living room.
“This is actually Adrienne’s bike. I was using it for the week while mine was in the shop,” said Thom. “It's a little banged up on the fender. The basket in the back is pretty loose now and then, there's a lot of my blood all over the bike.”
The couple has poured over the bike to see if it could provide any additional clues as to how the crash unfolded.
“We've gone over it with a fine tooth comb to try and figure out if there were any clues on the bike, to see if we can figure out where the actual hit and run took place,” added Bilous.
Looking at the damage, Adrienne tries to piece together some clues.
“The fender here is very far in this direction and the back one as well – it’s actually touching the tire,” said Razavi. “It's likely that he was hit on the left and fell into the road on the right.”
Two weeks later, his blood is still all over the bike. The couple will have to wait to clean off the bike and take it to the shop for repairs.
“It lives here for now, but my guess is that there's going to be some pretty significant structural damage that we can't see because it's such a dense, heavy bike,” said Adrienne.
She said Aurora police investigators showed up at the trauma room to talk to Thom on the night of the crash, but he was unable to remember anything.
“I gave them (APD) the information that I had, which is what he (Thom) told me on the phone. And they told me that they were going to go investigate the area.”
Aurora police told Denver7 the case has been assigned to the Traffic Investigations Unit and the probe is ongoing, but so far, there’s little information to report other than what Thom was able to share.
Adrienne and Thom’s dad both walked 13th Avenue looking for clues, but he isn’t ready to return to the scene.
“I actually haven't walked 13th yet. I keep waking up every day kind of being like, I’m gonna do it today, I'm gonna just try and go down there and see if it jogs any memory. But I'm a little apprehensive and scared,” said Bilous. “I have fallen off my bike a couple times, once on ice. There’s always been a reason. Every time I've been able to throw out a hand – I've been able to mitigate the damage even going at a higher speed on the bike. So I want to believe that in this instance, that would be the same case, like I would have been able to – had it just been a fall.”
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For Adrienne, the crash hits close to home in another way.“
I work for the Denver streets Partnership, which is a non profit transportation advocacy group, basically trying to make it easier to get around Denver without driving,” she said.
That portion of 13th Avenue does not have protected bike lanes.
“It really frustrates me because you can see it on 13th. Our neighborhood streets are way too wide and there's not enough traffic calming measures, and it's not well lit,” said Razavi. “There's systemic issues that inherently make… being on the road more dangerous.”
Denver7's On Two Wheels aims to dive deeper into the unique hazards when biking in Denver and across Colorado, but to also share the good things and lift up the amazing people who take up cycling to get stronger and feel better about their mental health. You can watch our special report in the video player below.
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The couple hopes their experience helps shine a light on the dangers experienced daily by vulnerable road users in the Denver metro area.
“Obviously, one person hit him and one person left, and that's inexcusable, but this whole incident happens often. People get hit or nearly hit often – whether they're biking or walking or even driving,” added Adrienne. “We know that this is an issue and we know how to fix it, we just don't, because we've invested so much in driving and American culture just feels so much based around driving that people really can't fathom how we can move away from it.”
The painful experience has left Thom with advice for other cyclists.“You got to take some steps to make sure you're protected. I was wearing a good jacket and good gloves. I was wearing jeans which didn't rip, so I think I was protected from more damage by my clothing choices,” he said.
It was just a short trip home from work and Thom wasn’t wearing a helmet that night. “I will be wearing it… if I don't, my mother will graft one onto my head. So, I will be wearing it pretty much forever when I'm on a bike now. I do wish I had been wearing one but I don't think that would have been the difference between me being hit or not,” he said.
They are also considering mounting cameras on their bikes to capture video in case something bad happens again, but they don’t want the hit-and-run to take away the joy of riding.
“I have seen so much joy in how he rides his bike,” said Adrienne. “He's got his music on and he's jamming out while he's riding. Not like, obviously, where there are cars, but he'll kick his foot out like he’s dancing and safely obviously – clearly having a blast.”
While Thom heals and sorts through next steps, he’s building up courage to find his wheels again.
“I don't want this to define my cycling experience,” said Thom. “It's gonna be scary the first time I get back on the bike but it was scary getting back in the car the first time after a car accident. I assume it's scary getting back on a skateboard if you fall off. Just like riding a bike, you just got to get back on it and try again.”
Aurora police could really use the public’s help with any clues or information. Anyone with details can contact Denver Metro Crime Stoppers by calling 720-913-7867 or by submitting an anonymous tip online at this link.
For anyone that would like to support Thom in his recovery, the couple has set up a GoFundMe account to help with medical bills. You can head over there at this link.
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Watch Thom and Adrienne's full story in the video player below.
Aurora teacher, struck by hit-and-run driver on his bike desperate for answers
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