Edit and merge these two stories and then trim final story to 450 to 500 words. No more, no less. Write a 1/30/3 headline with a 1 column readout (narrative drop head) – recall there are examples of these kinds of drop heads in Chapt. 9 of your book.
Fatal Accident Version 1
A bicycle ride turned deadly for a University of Florida graduate student, who was fatally injured after he was struck from behind on Williston Road on Sunday. Welch McNair Bostick III, 34, was pronounced dead at 12:55 a.m. Monday, about five hours after the collision that occurred about 7:25 p.m., the Florida Highway Patrol reported. Bostick suffered internal bleeding when he was hit, a family friend and others who knew the doctoral student said Tuesday. Doctors used about 50 units of blood while trying to save him, but his heart later failed. A doctoral student at UF's agricultural and biological engineering department, Bostick had been riding north on Williston Road and was about three miles west of Gainesville when a northbound car crashed into the rear of his bicycle. Bostick had been bicycling on the road's paved shoulder, troopers reported. The 2000 Infinity, driven by Andrew C. Day, 18, of Micanopy, had drifted off the roadway just before the crash. Driver distraction may have been the cause of the fatal crash. "The preliminary crash investigation reveals the possibility that the driver may have been distracted, causing him to drift into the bicyclist," said FHP spokesman Lt. Mike Burroughs. Day was cited by troopers for failure to maintain a single lane. Bostick had mastered mathematics and physics in connection with his field of study, said James W. Jones, a distinguished professor with Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Bostick's major professor. Bostick had been one of about 15 people in Jones' lab at the school. "But he also mastered interpersonal relationships," Jones said. "He was just a fine gentleman. We miss him greatly." Born in Charlotte, N.C., Bostick moved with his family to South Carolina when he was a child, his family reported. He had received his undergraduate and master's degrees at Clemson University in South Carolina before entering the doctoral program at UF in the fall of 2001, said Jones and Kenneth L. Campbell, the department's interim chairman. "He's one of the best students I've ever had," said Jones, who expected Bostick would have received his doctorate later this year. Campbell said Bostick had done work in Africa relating to crop growth and production. "He was always looking to help out his fellow students. New students would come into the lab to work and he would greet and welcome them in," Campbell said. Bostick was active in community housing on campus. A resident at University Village South, he had served as "mayor" at the complex, an elected position at the student housing area. Jones said Bostick was considering going to Europe to continue his studies but was also looking at job opportunities in the United States. Before coming to UF, Bostick also had studied in Japan, where he met his wife, Carmen Valero Aracama, who graduated with a doctorate from UF last year. The couple has a 9-month-old son, Luca Bostick-Valero. A memorial service will be held for Bostick today starting at 9 a.m. in the Bamboo Garden at Kanapaha Gardens off Archer Road.
Fatal Accident Version 2
An avid cyclist, UF graduate student McNair Bostick always wore his helmet after a department professor's leg was broken in a biking accident last month. He was wearing it Sunday when a car fatally injured him on Williston Road as he headed home to his wife, Carmen, and 10month-old son, Luca, who lived with him in University Village South. The driver who hit him stopped, visibly disturbed. It was unknown by press time whether the driver faces any charges. An acquaintance, Brian Roth, happened to be driving by and saw Bostick was laying in a ditch next to his bike. The driver's car had damage to its passenger side and headlight. Blood was coming from Bostick's mouth, but he managed to tell bystanders his home phone number so they could contact his wife, said Roth, who still has the number memorized. Roth had known Bostick for about a year but felt most connected to him as he stood over him on the roadside. "I would say I met him on the road," Roth said. "Our friendship was very short and very intense." Roth touched Bostick's legs to check for injuries. Bostick said he couldn't feel Roth's fingers, but he hurt everywhere. "I told him I was going to come and see him, I would visit him," Roth said. "When I went to the hospital he wasn't there anymore." Bostick had a collapsed lung, a broken neck and massive internal bleeding, said Jawoo Koo, a doctoral student and close friend. He died early Monday morning in the emergency room at Shands at UF, Koo said. His friends plan to write Bostick's son a letter, to be read when he's old enough to understand who his father was. "We kept thinking what we can do for his son when he grew up," Koo said. "He won't remember McNair very well." Bostick, 30, was an agricultural engineering student who was scheduled to complete his doctoral degree at the end of the semester. A memorial will be held at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens at 9 a.m. Friends said Bostick knew almost all the residents of the graduate housing area. He would wave even from a distance if he saw a friend, said Sanjay Lamsal, a neighbor and colleague. The mayor of his housing complex, Bostick started swimming lessons, gardening workshops and a CPR program for his residents, Lamsal said. "He was constantly looking at how the residents feel and what their problems are and how they can be solved," said Lamsal, an international student from Nepal. Bostick, who moved to Japan after graduating from Clemson University in South Carolina, was fascinated by other cultures. He helped Lamsal and his wife organize a Nepalese night, where he was eager to try their food. Lamsal last saw Bostick teaching his son to swim in the Maguire Village pool. "It's very hard for people to just believe it," Lamsal said. "He is somebody who was always around us." Added his wife, Richa Rijal: "We used to see him biking in the evening always." Since he heard of the accident Monday, Lamsal hasn't ridden his bike. Koo, who researched with Bostick in the agriculture and biological engineering department, said he was "one of my closest and best friends." "We put some flowers on his desk," Koo said. "Everything has stayed as if he just stepped out for the restroom."