Alan Griffiths can’t remember what happened to him before he was found unresponsive on the floor
Alan Griffiths can’t remember what happened to him before he was found unresponsive on the floor
A woman is asking for the public’s help in piecing together how her husband suffered serious head injuries on his way home from playing pool with friends. Joely Nevitt’s heart dropped when paramedics answered her husband’s phone on Friday, April 3, but nobody knows how he became unresponsive on the floor.
Alan Griffiths, 35, had been playing pool with friends at The Rake in Eastham before making the same journey – on his push bike – he’d done hundreds of times home to Bromborough. But, on this occasion, he didn’t make it home.
The 35-year-old was found unresponsive on the floor by a bus stop on Plymyard Avenue in Eastham by a member of the public at around 8.20pm. She phoned North West Ambulance Service who blue-lighted Alan to Arrowe Park Hospital.
Alan suffered fractures to his eye socket, sinus and base of his skull. Joely said his injuries are too serious to be the result of a fall from his bike, and worries he was involved in a hit-and-run, which he doesn’t remember.
Joely, 32, told the ECHO how she’d spoken to her husband just before he set off home.
She said: “I was at work in Arrowe Park and rang Alan when I finished my shift at 7.30pm to say I’m leaving work and said I’m ‘nipping to the shop, do you need anything?’ He was playing pool with friends, he said he was leaving work and that he’d be home in around 20 minutes.
“When I got home I went to speak to our neighbour because they had a parcel, when I got home it was nearly 9pm and Alan was nowhere to be seen. I thought ‘where is he?’ We’re no further than 20 minutes away from Eastham.”
Joely tried calling Alan but there was no answer. She tried again a few moments later and her heart “dropped” when a paramedic answered.
She added: “They answered the phone and asked for me. They explained it was North West Ambulance Service and said Alan had come off his bike. They said he was really confused and had bad cuts to his head. They took him to Arrowe Park, where I met him.
“I got there at around 9.45pm. They wouldn’t let me see him at first. When I eventually saw him he was so upset and startled. I asked him what he could remember, but he remembers nothing after playing pool.”
Memory loss is very common after a head injury. It often involves difficulty recalling events around the time of the injury or temporary issues forming new memories, which is a frequent symptom of concussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBI).
Joely said her husband hasn’t had any flashbacks of the incident and fears something “sinister” could have happened. She said: “I know Alan, he would never ride on the pavement. It was asked if he’d rode into the bus stop but there’s markings on the curb and the floor from his bike.
“There’s three speedbumps on this road and if someone has straddled the speedbump at speed round the coroner there’s a chance they could have clipped him by accident, whether they realised or not.
“The force of his injuries he has sustained, I can’t see how he’s just fallen off his bike. We have no idea how long he was laid there either. The woman who found him called the ambulance at 8.24pm, she told me she’d been past at around 8.05pm to drop her son somewhere and didn’t see him then.
“It could have been a total freak accident or it could have been something more sinister. His injuries suggest there has been some force involved. If he’d just fallen from his bike or hit the curb he would have just suffered bruises or a broken arm at most. He’s in a lot of pain but thankfully on the road to recovery.”
Joely has not yet reported the incident to police but is urging people who was in the area at that time to come forward so they can peice together what happened. She’s also asking for people to check dashcam, CCTV or ring doorbell footage.
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