Pedestrian Hit by Car

By Gary Meyer and P. Hedlund

Frazier Park resident Matthew Kermode, 27, is being treated in the Trauma Unit of Kern Medical Center after being hit by a car while walking on Frazier Mountain Park Road. The accident occurred east of Monterey Trail at 10:25 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 13.

According to California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer Robert Shuck, Kermode was walking in the eastbound lane of the roadway when he was struck by a black 1993 Honda Civic, driven by Andrew Sloat, 47 of Frazier Park.

Sloat said he was unable to see Kermode until it was too late to react, according to CHP’s report. Sloat stopped and tried to assist Kermode who was soon airlifted to the hospital.

Officer Shuck reported Kermode suffered two broken legs, two broken arms and head injuries in the accident. A family friend posted to a Facebook page on Sunday, Aug. 14 that Kermode’s condition had improved to “serious and stable.” Stepmother Marion Kermode said in an interview with The Mountain Enterprise on Monday, Aug. 15 that physicians “are keeping him heavily sedated, but the good news is that there is no brain damage.” She said he was receiving multiple surgeries for arm, leg and rib fractures, and that he is being kept on a ventilator and in an induced coma because of the need for time for the extensive injuries to heal.

“When they move him around he opens his eyes, and then he goes back out again. He looks right at them, but he can’t talk [because of the tubes]. It is hard seeing him that way , but it is for a reason. He looks better every day,” Mrs. Kermode said. The South Kern Christian Church, at which Matthew’s father, Tom Kermode, serves as pastor, is said to have organized a prayer circle for the young man.

This is part of the August 19, 2011 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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