- The Washington Times - Friday, July 31, 2015

A man bicycling across the country to raise money for affordable housing died Thursday morning after being hit by a cellphone-distracted driver in western Oklahoma.

The cyclist, Patrick Wanninkhof, 25, was struck by a car while riding on Highway 152 south of Elk City just after 8 a.m. He died at the scene, Oklahoma Highway Patrol said, CBS’s local affiliate reported.

Another bicyclist, 22-year-old Bridget Anderson, was hurt in the same crash. Police said she was stable and was airlifted to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center with a leg injury, CBS reported.

According to the trooper’s report, both cyclists were riding west when a 2014 Chevrolet driven by Sarah Morris, 35, of Cordell hit them.

Ms. Morris, who wasn’t hurt in the incident, told troopers she was distracted by looking at her phone when she hit the cyclists, CBS reported.

Authorities did not indicate whether Ms. Morris would be cited, CBS reported.

Mr. Wanninkhof, a native of Key Biscayne, Florida, who was living in the Bronx, New York, was part of a group called Bike & Build, which rides across the nation to raise money for affordable housing. His group, which was biking from Maine to California, had stopped in Tulsa on Sunday to work with Habitat For Humanity.

He moved from Florida to New York to join Teach for America, teaching physics and computer science at a public performing arts school in the Bronx, according to his Bike & Build page.

• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.

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