Young El Mirage man killed while riding bicycle

EL MIRAGE, Ariz. (KSAZ) -- Heartbreak for a Valley family Tuesday, as a young man on his bicycle was run over and killed in El Mirage.

The accident, according to officials, happened in the area of El Mirage and Dysart, and the accident also closed El Mirage, in both directions, between Peoria and Olive Avenues for some time. The victim, according to officials, is identified as 20-year-old Cody Nielsen.

Nielsen, according to officials, was due to turn 21 this month.

"He just started a job three weeks ago over by the Glendale Airport," said Autumn Kay Nunley, who was Nielsen's caregiver. "He got himself a bike and rode his bike for the last three weeks. He worked five to five. He's been putting money away, and was trying to just better himself."

Nunley received a painful phone call that she will never forget Tuesday morning.

"He was laying in the street yelling he just got hit by a car, screaming that he needed help," Nunley recounted. "He tried to tell me what the vehicle looked like...and then everything kinda dropped."

Police say a second car struck Nielsen, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the second car stood by, while the road was closed in El Mirage for hours.

Nielsen had been in and out of foster care for 12 years, after his mother was killed in a car accident in 2006.

"He was put into a family friend's home that I was told that didn't work out. He's just been on the streets for a while, and I was able to take him in," said Nunley.

Gofundme started by Nunley
https://www.gofundme.com/in-loving-memory-of-cody-nielsen