ALGOMA TOWNSHIP -- Lynn Ring's written account of her brother-in-law's critical injuries from an April car-bicycle crash -- and the decision to bring him home from the hospital to die -- are nothing short of heart-wrenching.

Ken Ring, 39, of the Sparta area, essentially had been in a vegetative state since the April 2 crash on 13 Mile Road NE near Algoma Avenue.

Last week, his sister-in-law wrote about telling Ken Ring's 10-year-old daughter, Abigal, of the decision.

"Scott and I went to Abigal’s house to tell her about her Dad and what was going to happen. She knows he is coming home to die and that her dad will be surrounded by friends and family while he is at home and he won’t be scared and he won’t be in pain," Lynn Ring wrote on an entry for CarePages, a web site used to give information about seriously ill hospital patients.

Ring, who suffered a critical head injury, died Wednesday.

Those who knew him say he was a devoted father and friend.

"What a loss for everybody, to lose somebody like him," said Cam Sikkenga, a close friend of Ring who was riding next to him when the crash happened.

Sikkenga, who lives with the memory of seeing his friend's broken body, today is questioning why the driver who hit Ring has escaped criminal charges.

That driver, Brian Craig Lindsey Jr., 26, was issued a civil infraction for careless driving after Kent County sheriff's investigators agreed with his account -- that he was blinded by the sun and never saw the bicyclists.

"I want justice for his family," said Sikkenga, who disputes that sun was a major obstruction that day. "There was no excuse for this."

He vividly recalls the devastating collision.

Sikkenga and Ring had ridden together before, but April 2 was their first ride this year. They were nearly finished, headed to Ring's home and riding near the bottom of a hill on 13 Mile Road, when he saw Ring flying through the air.

He knew the car was about to hit him too.

"I heard the impact. I knew I was going to die," said Sikkenga. "I knew I was next."

For some reason, the car only brushed against him. He still doesn't know how he was spared.

He saw his friend bounce on the pavement and roll. The scene was horrific.

Ring wasn't breathing and "his arms were all twisted up," Sikkenga said. Another driver, a man in his early 20s, stopped and prayed with Sikkenga as they waited for emergency personnel to arrive.

But while doctors repaired his broken bones, there was little improvement with the brain injury.

A week ago, his family brought him home under hospice care. It was not an easy decision, Sikkenga said.

"They struggled all summer with this," he said.

Sikkenga said Ring, a welder and fabricator, cherished his daughter and lived simply at a Sparta area farmstead long owned by his family.

"Abigal was the guy's life," he said.

He enjoyed sailing his Hobie Cat and was very talented with using a welder and torch, both at work and at home. He had built items at home through welding.

Sikkenga said Ring didn't boast about any of his abilities.

"He was one of the most humble persons I know," he said.

Ring's brother, Scott, described him as "truly a wonderful person" who loved his family.

He also believes the Charger driver should face a stiffer penalty.

"My brother was doing everything correctly. He was wearing a helmet," he said. "If he couldn't see, then he needs to slow down."

Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Becker on Wednesday said prosecutors likely would take another look at the April crash, but he didn't say if any criminal charges would be forthcoming.

E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/johntunison