A weekend ride on mini motorbikes turned life-threatening for 14-year-old Jaimon “JT” Cohen, who is still hospitalized after a head-on collision near Mayport Road in Atlantic Beach. The crash left the Jacksonville teen with multiple broken bones, a lacerated spleen and a head injury. He is now using a wheelchair while doctors and his family work through surgeries, rehab and a long recovery plan. His mother says the helmet he wore cracked on impact and almost certainly kept the worst from happening. The fallout has the family juggling hospital visits, therapy schedules and mounting bills as one parent steps away from work to care for him full time.
Crash, injuries and hospital care
Family members say the collision was a head-on hit between two mini motorbikes at a busy intersection off Mayport Road on March 23, with the bikes traveling an estimated 30 to 35 mph. Surgeons operated on JT’s arm and worked to stabilize his leg, then returned for a second leg surgery after swelling went down. He is being treated at UF Health Wolfson Children’s Hospital and is expected to need weeks of rehabilitation before he can regain more independence, First Coast News reported.
Mother’s account: ‘The helmet saved his life’
JT’s mother, Tracy Diana, described a scene that no parent wants to see. She recalled an open fracture in his arm, a large hematoma on his head and her son screaming in pain at the crash site. “The helmet saved his life,” she told reporters, explaining that the outer shell had cracked in two spots and showed rubbed-off paint where it struck the ground. Her account made clear just how violent the impact was, and how close the family came to a far worse outcome, according to First Coast News.
Helmet safety and Florida rules for riders…