Google exec killed while biking as grieving family rips LA for removing bike lanes
The family of the pregnant Google executive killed while biking is blaming the city of Los Angeles for her death, alleging the absence of bike lanes contributed to her tragic end.
An elderly driver struck 7-months-pregnant Regan Cole-Graham and her toddler son as they biked through Los Angeles’ Playa del Rey neighborhood in February.
The crash killed the 36-year-old Google executive and her daughter, Ophelia, who died shortly after being born prematurely. Her toddler suffered minor injuries.
Cole-Graham’s husband, Matt Graham, who was riding alongside her, and their other child were unhurt.
The family’s attorney blames the city for nixing bike lanes from Pershing Drive, a move he believes endangered cyclists in the area. The driver crashed into the mother at the intersection of Pershing Drive and Manchester Avenue.
“That protection, that area of safety was taken away, and we believe that was a critical factor,” Brian Breiter, the family’s attorney, told KTLA.
The driver crashed into Cole-Graham and her son just two miles away from their home. The man has not been charged with any crime.
Breiter and the family plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the city for removing the bike lanes.
A GoFundMe created for the family has raised more than $302,000. But the money hasn’t been able to fill the void left by Cole-Graham’s death.
Matt previously told the Post that Cole-Graham was an “amazing wife” and “the world’s best mother.”
“I feel like she was the better parent of the two of us and now I have to try and somehow make up for the void that is so impossible to fill,” Matt told KTLA. “They were addicted to their mother in the best way possible because she was always there for them, always wanted to play and be outside with them.”
Cole-Graham had worked for Google in Los Angeles since 2019, where she served as Consumer Marketing Lead and later Brand Partnerships Lead and orchestrated a multi-million dollar partnership with Live Nation among other deals, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She was also the mother of Ophelia and their two sons.
He’s hoping that sharing the tragedy will spur new safety measures.
“Whatever it takes to better the city for other families, because I don’t want any other family to ever have to deal with what we have had to deal with,” he said.
Matt wrote in an Instagram post that he decided to share his story publicly for the first time because he wanted the world to “remember how amazing she was in every way, and how ridiculously excited she was to be a ‘girl mom’ for the first time nearly 8-months pregnant with Ophelia.”
The California Post reached out to Breiter for comment.
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