Tag Archive for Michael Reyes

Morning Links: DUI drivers get well-deserved extended sentences, and a careful Menifee cyclist mourned

Good news as a couple of outrageous high-profile legal cases come to a conclusion.

A Chula Vista car thief is sentenced to 14 years, 8 months in prison for the death of bike rider David Voigt. Michael Reyes, who was already on probation for car theft and meth possession, was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty earlier this year to gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence, auto theft, possession of methamphetamine and other charges.

Reyes was behind the wheel of a car he had just stolen after a day of drinking when he crossed onto the wrong side of the road and hit Voigt head-on, killing the husband and father before crashing into a tree and power pole.

And a Colorado woman gets a well-deserved 10 years for killing a cross-country cyclist after falling asleep while driving with cocaine and anti-depressants in her system — while on her way to a court hearing on a previous DUI arrest.

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Menifee remembers fallen cyclist Matt Carp for his caring and passion for riding, while a friend describes him as the safest bike rider he’s ever ridden with.

Unfortunately, sometimes that’s not enough.

Compounding the heartbreak, Carp’s oldest son took his own life following his father’s death, in a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.

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As expected, Vincenzo Nibali rode to victory on the Champs Elysees after dominating the Tour de France from the first stage to the last. He says he couldn’t have won without improved drug testing to level the playing field.

Improvements in bike technology are increasing the risk of serious injuries in the peloton. And the legendary Jens Voight calls it a TdF career after 340 stages.

The Wall Street Journal looks at Sunday’s big race in Paris; no, the other one. As expected, Marianne Vos took the inaugural women’s La Course race, as British favorite Lizzie Armistead crashed out near the end. The NY Times notes Vos won a race she worked to get started.

Meanwhile, Brit rider Emma Pooley observes that women’s cycling is an underdeveloped asset.

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Local

Mayor Garcetti promises urban acupuncture to transform the city’s future Great Streets; I know exactly where I’d like to stick the first needle or two.

Better Bike’s Mark Elliot offers an insightful response to the recent Times editorial criticizing Councilmember Gill Cedillo’s ill-advised veto of the planned North Figueroa road diet. Two other letter writers, not so much. As often happens, a pair of self-proclaimed bike riders insist no one will ever ride to work or to go shopping simply because they can’t imagine themselves doing it, ignoring the fact that countless others cyclists do it every day.

A sarcastic Burbank letterset decries planned bike lanes on Verdugo, saying it doesn’t matter how many motorists or homeowners are inconvenienced if it placates bike riders. Sounds about right to me.

A Pasadena rider suffers serious head injuries when he’s hit by a car while walking his bike across Los Robles Ave; fortunately, he’s expected to survive. This is why I always prefer to ride rather than walk my bike across an intersection; on foot, you’re a sitting duck.

 

State

A Santa Ana cyclist vows to fight after he’s ticketed for not registering his bike and riding on the sidewalk; several SoCal cities — including LA — cancelled their bicycle registration requirements after police used them to target bike riders.

Newport Beach asks cyclists to comment on the city’s proposed bike plan.

A Riverside cyclist is rescued after intentionally riding his bike off a paved pathway on Mt. Rubidoux.

An Oxnard cop becomes a Facebook hero after he buys a little girl a new princess bike to replace the one she had stolen.

The family of a fallen San Luis Obispo cyclist files suit against the driver who took his life.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition offers advice on how to avoid dooring and what to do if it happens anyway.

 

National

People for Bikes asks why don’t more African-Americans ride them?

How to teach anyone to ride a bike in five easy steps.

Remarkably, an Oregon rider is back on his bike after three surgeries for benign brain tumors.

An Indiana man keeps riding at age 83.

A North Carolina rider says every cyclist lives with “the fear.”

 

International

Canada is missing the boat — or rather, the bike — on cycling tourism.

A Vancouver pedestrian suffers a broken back when she’s hit by a speeding cyclist and knocked off a seawall. Seriously, show some extra caution around people on foot; some pedestrians may be clueless, but they’re the only ones more vulnerable than we are out there.

The Guardian follows a single New York Citi Bike around the city for a day; here’s what happened when they tried the same experiment in London.

Yet another young driver tweets about running down bike riders, yet another employer pays the price for her stupidity.

An American cyclist who spent the last two decades circling the globe to promote world peace is killed by a drunk driver near Moscow.

Tokyo looks to London for bicycling inspiration.

 

Finally…

An Indian army officer sets a new record for riding a bike 103 kilometers — 64 miles — with a bottle of water balanced on his head; not surprisingly, there was no old record. And an Illinois bike rider is pleasantly surprised when a cop tickets the tailgating driver behind him. Thanks to my aspiring filmmaker nephew Adam Sputh for the heads-up; if there are any admissions officers for the USC film school reading this, save him a place in the class of 2019.

 

 

Morning Links: New Santa Clarita bike safety campaign; Beverly Hills official calls you an organ donor wannabe

citys-bike-safety-campaign-raise-awareness-about-sharing-road-41943-2-288x322A new Santa Clarita bike safety campaign says Respect is a Two-Way Street.

But they lose me with the illustration of a bike crashing into a car. And the last line that seems to put responsibility on riders to avoid getting killed, rather than on drivers to avoid killing someone.

So what do you think?

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This is what cyclists are up against in Beverly Hills.

Better Bike’s Mark Elliot quotes Beverly Krasne, city council member and former mayor of the Biking Black Hole, in justifying her adamant opposition to bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd:

Cyclists are on a donor cycle mission – to give their organs to someone.

Somehow, though, her solution to our perceived recklessness is to keep the city as dangerous and anti-bike-friendly as possible.

Maybe someone should let her know most of us just want to get through her damn city without getting killed in the process.

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Police are reviewing the $100 ticket a DC cyclist got for following too closely after he’s buzzed, then brake checked by an angry truck driver — despite riding on sharrows at the time — after bike cam video of the incident is released.

Something tells me the officer needs a little retraining. Or maybe a new job.

And the driver needs to be behind bars.

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As long as we’re in DC, I somehow missed this one last week as the US Secretary of Labor says he just wants to ride his bike to work. And that the department is committed to making “cycling to work an affordable, easy and enjoyable option.”

Sounds good to me.

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Local

The Source says the new Metro bike map was released just in time for last week’s Bike Week.

The new Los Angeles Register looks at the Bike Kitchen.

The Bike League profiles LA’s own Miguel Ramos of Multicultural Communities for Mobility.

Free bike repairs and repair demos in Santa Monica on Saturday the 31st.

Santa Monica’s Cynergy Cycles is offering a discount on registration for the California Coast Classic Bicycle Tour benefitting the Arthritis Foundation. Which means I now have two medical conditions with their own benefit bike rides, and I’d like to stop there, thank you.

Long Beach’s monthly Kidical Mass continues to grow in popularity.

 

State

Ex-con Michael Reyes pleads guilty to killing Chula Vista bike rider Daniel Voigt while driving in a stolen car with a suspended license last month; he faces over 14 well-deserved years in prison when he’s sentenced in July.

San Diego considers building an enclosed bikeway under the Coronado Bridge, which currently bans bikes. I seriously want to ride that one.

Okay. The Tour de Cluck offers a bike tour of Davis-area chicken coops. Yes, chicken coops.

 

National

The problem with Same Roads, Same Rules is that neither was designed with bicyclists in mind. Amen, brother.

In an insightful piece, a rider says the bike industry shouldn’t forget the women who already ride in their efforts to reach the ones who don’t.

Ten reasons why Open Streets events like CicLAvia rock.

Only 1% of head injuries occur on bikes, while 48% occur in cars. But no one suggests helmets for automobile passengers. Or most business employees, for that matter.

Not surprisingly, Portland comes out on top in a new ranking of the best cities for bicycling; also not surprising is that LA is nowhere on the list.

My hometown bikes to work at 11 times the national rate. When I last lived there three decades back, it was pretty much just me.

Is anyone really surprised that a Nebraska football star won’t faces charges for stealing not one, not two, but seven bicycles? It’s long past time to stop coddling criminal athletes.

Evanston IL plans to encourage bicycling by banning bikes on some streets. Yeah, that’ll work.

 

International

Protected bike lanes are the best medicine for dangerous Winnipeg roads.

Great Britain honors the cyclists who lost their lives in World War I. That was the war so devastating it was supposed to end all wars. Despite their sacrifice, it didn’t.

Dover police knock a cyclist off his bike when he allegedly failed to respond to commands to dismount, then say he just fell off.

Bradley Wiggins wants to restore your faith in cycling. My faith in cycling is as strong as ever; my faith in pro cyclists, not so much.

IKEA is now offering an e-bike in some Austrian stores; no word on whether you have to build it yourself.

An Aussie writer debunks popular bicycling myths. And says yes, cyclists cause collisions but so does everyone else.

As China continues to re-enter the world, its citizens face the same dangers Westerners do, as a Chinese bike rider is kidnapped by Taliban militants in Pakistan.

 

Finally…

A Cambridge, Massachusetts bike safety campaign uses the local vernacular as it urges riders to Be Wicked Smaaht. And a British driver who killed a teenage passenger in a 130 mph crash — in a 60 mph zone, no less — has his sentence cut in half because he’s sorry. Oh, well okay, then.

 

Morning Links: Killer Chula Vista driver had multiple priors, faces up to 15 years; and not so fast on Olin case

Prepare to get mad.

The accused drunk driver who killed Chula Vista cyclist David Voight earlier this week was on probation at the time of the collision, and had been convicted of meth possession two months ago. And he was still on the streets — in a stolen car — despite at least seven other previous felony charges.

San Diego’s NBC-7 reports Michael Reyes faces five counts, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, car theft and possession of methamphetamine, with a maximum sentence of 15 years and 4 months.

Reyes family expressed their sympathy for the victim’s family, explaining that he’d had many “life difficulties” in the past year.

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The Thousand Oaks Acorn goes back on an earlier story saying the sheriff’s investigation into the death of cyclist Milt Olin, killed in a collision with a sheriff’s deputy last December, had gone to the DA’s office for evaluation. According to today’s correction, the report is expected to go to the DA in the near future.

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A 70-year old Whittier cyclist suffered severe injuries when he was hit and dragged by the driver of a pickup truck; reportedly the driver kept going because he thought he hit a curb. Reports were the victim was riding salmon, though how any driver could be unaware he hit someone coming right at him is beyond me. Initial reports were that the victim’s injuries were not life-threatening.

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Latest word is that representatives of Wolfpack Hustle were on their way to city hall in a last ditch effort to save this year’s Marathon Crash Race. Funny how every department spokesperson for the city seems to point the finger at race organizers and/or city bureaucracy to deflect any responsibility for this massive snafu.

And you do know what snafu stands for, right?

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writer for the LADOT Bike Blog gets doored, but doesn’t seem to realize he was the victim of a hit-and-run. Speaking of LADOT, the department unveils their new campaign to fight trash cans in the bike lane. And the department’s Nate Baird moves on to a new job in Long Beach; he’ll be sorely missed.A bike rider was stabbed to death in Norwalk in an apparent gang attack.

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Bad news for LA area bike riders and pedestrians, as changes in Federal funding programs force Metro to renege on prior commitments to fund 49 projects in the county.

A UCLA bike commuter helps two injured cyclists the same day.

NELA’s York Blvd bike lanes will be extended to connect with lanes in South Pasadena.

The LACBC’s Operation Firefly gives out free bike lights in Glendale.

What the…? A Rancho Cucamonga letter writer somehow hallucinates that last year’s death of Cal Poly cyclist Ivan Aguilar had something, anything, to do with road raging bike riders.

In what seems to be a first anywhere, bike thefts are actually down at Cal State Fullerton.

Thousand Oaks needs volunteers for the final stage of this year’s Amgen Tour of California.

Two bikes worth $18,000 were stolen from an office in Valencia last weekend.

Santa Barbara County gets its first green bike lane in Goleta.

Good news for a change, as a Pleasanton cyclist’s riding companions team with a passer-by to save him from a heart attack.

Women now make up the majority of family cyclists.

That disassembled Pee-wee Herman bike sold for over $36,000.

The NYPD finally discovers that sometimes, pedestrians do in fact have the right of way.

The first line sums it up nicely: Virginia is for lovers, but it’s not always for bikes.

Two teenage girls are arrested for nearly decapitating a Brit bike rider with a rope strung across a trail.

Ford will partner with Dahon to develop a line of folding bikes designed to fit into the company’s cars.

Aussie cyclists struggle to get fair treatment from investigators following traffic collisions. Actually, you could write that same story just about anywhere.

Finally, an Alaskan cyclist smashes the record for the 1,000-mile Iditarod human — not dog — powered race across the Alaskan backcountry. I wonder if his record had anything to do with the unusually warm weather that’s left many stretches of the course void of snow and ice?

Update: Chula Vista bike rider killed by drunk driver in stolen car

A drunk driver. A stolen car. A dead cyclist.

A San Diego area bike rider has lost his life at the hands of a criminal apparently too drunk to control the car he stole.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, 29-year old Michael Reyes was traveling westbound on Chula Vista’s East J Street at Dennis Avenue around 4:15 pm Monday when he somehow crossed into oncoming traffic. He hit cyclist head-on before crossing over the sidewalk and crashing into a utility pole.

Reyes allegedly admitted to the police that he had been drinking, and that the silver Nissan Maxima  he was driving had been stolen earlier that afternoon. Inside the car, police found property that appeared to come from other car burglaries.

The 44-year old bike rider, who has not been publicly identified, was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center where he died.

There was nothing the victim could have done to avoid the collision. He does not appear to have done anything to contribute in any way to his own death, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, sharing the same planet with a drunk on a crime spree.

If there is any justice, his killer won’t be back behind the wheel of any car, stolen or otherwise, for a very long time.

This is the 20th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first in San Diego County. This is also the fourth cyclist killed in Chula Vista since 2012.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.

Update: The victim has been identified as 44-year old Chula Vista resident David Voight. According to San Diego’s 10News, Voight was a regular bike commuter, and was just eight blocks from his home when he was killed.