Inquest: USA tourist died in bike crash on A689 Nenthead

John Franklin Schultze, 71, of South Tacoma, Washington state, died on June 27, 2024, while cycling on the A689 between Alston and Nenthead. Mr Schultze, who was retired from the United States Air Force and a substitute teacher of over 20 years at the time of his death, was on holiday in the UK with members of his family. While nobody directly saw the incident, a witness statement was submitted to Cockermouth Coroner's Court by Tristan Fletcher, who was driving to Alston from Newton Aycliffe, and was the first to come across Mr Schultze.

Mr Fletcher said he saw Mr Schultze face-down on the A689 at around 10am, at the bottom of a freshly-re-surfaced slope with loose chippings before a right-hand bend, with a pink bicycle lying on top of him. He said he received no response to calling and shaking him, but noted Mr Schultze 'breathing sharply', with an obvious head injury, and with a helmet lying a few metres away from him. He called 999 for an ambulance before a postman arrived on scene, and the call-handler advised them to turn Mr Schultze over.

Upon doing so, Mr Fletcher noted Mr Schultze 'did one gasp and then stopped breathing', and both men performed CPR until a first-responder arrived around 15 minutes later. Assistant Coroner for Cumbria, Dr Nicholas Shaw, commented: "He notes loose chippings on the road, that it had been resurfaced, and that might make the surface a little less amenable for cyclists." PC Chris Stones of Cumbria Police provided a statement in which he said that the weather was 'clear, dry and overcast', but also noted loose chippings on the road.

Inspecting the scene, he recorded seeing a sign warning motorists of a skid risk due to the newly resurfaced road. He also examined Mr Schultze's bicycle, and 'saw no obvious signs of damage that I would attribute to being struck by a vehicle'. An air ambulance doctor confirmed Mr Schultze as deceased at 10.38am.

Word reached PC Stones from a member of the public that Mr Schultze's 16-year-old grandson was waiting for him at the bicycle shop in Nenthead.

A post-mortem examination was carried out by way of toxicology, which proved negative, and a CT scan, which revealed a head injury causing bleeding to the frontal lobe along with multiple facial fractures and bleeding in Mr Schultze's airway. Pathologist Dr Fergus Young concluded that the most likely medical cause of death was a head injury, and found 'no definite cardiac cause for the accident'.

Dr Shaw concluded: "I think from the description of the scene, and particularly I take note of the road surface with loose chippings, and then the frontal injuries to the face, the most likely thing in the absence of anyone seeing it, is that he's come down the hill, and attempted to brake to negotiate the bend at the bottom of the hill.

"He has then lost it on the gravel and come off the bike face first into the road. "It's clearly a major injury, and you're going to be knocked unconscious and quite probably die quite quickly as a result of it."

Dr Shaw ruled that Mr Schultze's death was the result of a road traffic collision.

A statement submitted by Jennifer Schultze, Mr Schultze's daughter, said that her father had graduated from high school in 1971, and entered the air force that year, serving in the Philippines, Okinawa, Germany, and the US, before retiring and working as a teacher.

He had been married twice, and is survived by his two children, Jennifer and John Schultze Jr, along with his two grandchildren.