Melbourne man James Rapley, killed in LA crash, was on his way home for ... - Herald Sun

James Rapley with sister Julia. Source: Supplied

A MELBOURNE cyclist killed by an alleged drink driver in Los Angeles was on his way home for Christmas.

James Rapley, 29, died after being struck by a car that drifted into the bike lane in the Pacific Palisades on Sunday.

His girlfriend, Karen Scott, said the tragedy of his death could "only be reduced by others learning from this mistake".

"James is no longer with us and my whole life has been ripped apart," she said.

"I don't know how I will live without him, I loved him so much."

James had flown from Chicago, where he lived with Karen and worked as a software developer, to Los Angeles a day before his flight to Melbourne.

"He didn't want to get caught in Chicago weather and miss his flight," his father, John, said.

He hired a bike for the day and was riding up a steep hill when he was hit by the alleged drink driver, at about 9am.

James with girlfriend Karen. Source: Supplied

According to local media reports, Los Angeles Police identified the driver as 19-year-old Mohammed Kadri.

In the US, the legal drinking age is 21.

James' parents, his younger sister and brother spent Christmas at their Seymour home arranging the funeral of their son and brother.

Karen, also from Melbourne, stayed in Chicago over Christmas because of work commitments.

Her mother has flown to Chicago to be with her.

She remembered her boyfriend of five years as "the most positive person you'll ever meet".

"He wanted to give back to society in many ways by giving to a number of different charities and he wanted to work at places that contributed to the wider community," she said.

"He had so much to love, so much compassion and so much strength to give to me and everyone he knew."

Since news of the crash reached the family on Monday morning, James' father said many of his friends had called with stories of how he had supported them.

"It's incredibly unfair" he said.

"We've lost someone extremely special."

An intelligent young man, James got a full scholarship to Melbourne University with an ENTER of 99.45 then was employed as a consultant at IBM.

Mr Rapley said his son had turned down a job at Google to work at Groupon, a company he believed strongly in.

"He was so well thought of there that they're paying to send him home," he said.

Despite grieving the loss of his son, Mr Rapley told the Herald Sun he wanted those travelling to Christmas celebrations to be careful on the roads.

"If you can't afford to get a taxi home then you can't afford to drink," he said.

ashley.argoon@news.com.au