Long Beach filmmaker Danny Gamboa forwards word that justice has been delayed — if not denied — in the case of Duane Parkison, the San Bernardino detective killed in a hit-from-behind collision while riding in Irvine last year.
A Facebook page demanding justice for Parkison notes that the OC DA’s office has indicated they won’t be filing charges, and implies the driver may be receiving some sort of favorable treatment.
Today I got a call from Mike Lubinski at the OC DA’s office. He is possibly releasing a statement to the press and public as to why they did not file charges and asked if I would like it sent to me. I told him I asked for an official reason two months ago and was told by Tom Glazier that the woman did everything she could to avoid the accident. I told him for this reason I do not trust the DA anyway and do not care to read the statement. I mentioned the “lunch” numerous times and asked if the statement brings up the lunch and he said it does not and did not comment further. So, if anyone wants to read the statement they can request it, and when we put up the website with the police report everyone will be able to draw their own conclusions. As for the “lunch”, stay tuned, we are working on getting answers for that.
It goes on to explain the lunch reference, and notes that the Irvine police have recommended charges.
In my opinion, there have been strange twists in the investigation of this. The Irvine Police Dept. found her at fault for two vehicle violations and recommended a charge of Misdemeanor Vehicular Manslaughter but the OC DA will not file charges. In her transcribed statement to the Irvine PD the driver says she had “lunch with the Deputy Sheriff of San Bernardino County”… “something Hoops?” and she goes on to say “he took my husband and I to lunch and was very kind”. Duane was on vacation and this did not occur in the jurisdiction of San Bernardino County so why would anyone have “lunch” with the driver? The family would like to see this “lunch” investigated. For more information, please come to the “Justice for Duane Parkison” facebook page.
It does raise questions as to why the DA is apparently ignoring the recommendations of the Irvine police in this case.
Call me crazy, but I thought it was up to a judge and jury to decide whether she actually did everything she could to avoid the collision.
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An anonymous reader sends word that the ghost bike installed for fallen cyclist Roger Lippman has already been removed — evidently by the heartless folks at Caltrans, who don’t seem to want any reminders of how dangerous their roadways really are.
Roger Lippman’s ghost bike is gone. It was there yesterday, but gone this morning. The fake purple flowers I had woven into the post it was chained to were left lying on the sand.
I specifically chose purple after a quote from the book The Color Purple. According to the character Celie, the Lord knows purple is pretty and that’s exactly why he puts so little of it in the world. He’s “just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don’t notice it.” Well, imagine how pissed He is whenever some idiot fails to notice His master work, which He created in his own image, just because a goddam text or “one for the road” is so much more important. I kind of imagine that the Joel Alexander Murphys of the world will be bitchslapped straight out through the back wall of the universe if they hop on the “up” elevator by mistake.
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Dj Wheels offers a couple of legal updates.
First up is the news that a bench warrant has been put on hold for Christine Dahab after she failed to appear for a scheduled court date. Dahab is the driver charged with felony DUI and DWI after plowing into a group of late night riders in Culver City last year, injuring 13 riders; an LAPD officer investigating the case suggested that the collision was the riders fault for evidently staging a drunken orgy in the street.
Wheels speculates that her failure to appear may be related to Dahab’s pregnancy; if she doesn’t appear by August 16th, a warrant for her arrest will be issued.
Meanwhile, road raging Angeles Crest driver Earl Cox is going to trial as we speak.
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LAPD reminds everyone to be on the lookout for the driver who killed Paul Albert Helfen in an early morning Nordhoff Street hit-and-run on June 22nd. And notes there’s a $50,000 reward for information.
If you don’t want to get involved, send the information to me. I’d love to get this SOB off the streets.
And I could use the money.
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Great Streetsblog profile of the cycling group Cast a Shadow, riding next week to raise funds for clean water in Africa.
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LACBC’s former award-winning City of Lights program is transforming into a new organization to be called Multicultural Communities for Mobility. KPCC offers a great report on last weekend’s Wolfpack Hustle midnight singlespeed drag race;, while a rider captures a helmet cam view. Santa Monica bike advocates and staffers question funding for the city’s ambitious bike action plan. After losing his father to the disease, an Israeli man rides from Malibu to NYC to fight cancer. A Long Beach cyclist pedals his bike across the country in 46 days, and chronicles his story in an e-book.
Corona cyclists won’t see sharrows on the coast highway until fall. A Newport Beach rider writes about where it all went wrong in the first part of a first-person story. Bike SD reports that a San Diego cyclist is on life support following a June hit-and-run. San Diego is joining the rest of the civilized world in scrapping its bike licensing program. An Ocean Beach writer says if you’re going to ride, follow the rules. A tax on sugar could have unintended consequences for cyclists who use sports drinks, bars and gels. A Santa Cruz writer says parents should set an example for their kids by wearing a helmet. Lodi cyclists will soon get new artistic bike racks. The 18-month old Fresno girl critically injured in the drunken crosswalk collision that killed her 7-year old sister and injured their father has come out of a medically-induced coma; the driver had a .11 BAC. A Modesto teacher is killed in a left cross while riding in Santa Cruz at around 40 mph, after the driver says he never saw him; thanks to Brian Skaggs and Don Blount for the heads-up. Campbell CA cyclists are reeling from two bicycling fatalities in just 30 hours. Bad roads will continue to contribute to collisions for cyclists, and everyone else on them, according to a Bay Area report. A Bay to L.A. bike tour will take place this month to support Prop 37, requiring the labeling of genetically modified organisms.
Crashing and the five stages of grief. A Seattle cyclist steals his bike back a year after it was stolen, no thanks to the police. Minnesota attempts to ease cycling with a new mobile app. A 90-year old WI driver faces charges after running down a cyclist while mistakenly driving on a separated bike path. A New York cyclist builds his own protected bike lane to keep cops from double parking in it. Nine New York cyclists share their favorite rides in the city. The New York Post rabidly says pull the plug as NYC’s bike share hits a minor speed bump. Once again, a NY cyclist is critically injured, but it’s nobody’s fault. Charlotte’s new bike share system will be a legacy of the Democratic National Convention. A Michigan cyclist on a cross-country tour is killed by semi-truck in Georgia. A Florida rider is found guilty of illegally leaving a bike lane — with about 30 other riders — despite the testimony of the rider they were passing, because the judge believed the blind man officer who didn’t see the rider they were passing.
Montreal police are investigating whether a driver intentionally ran down a cyclist after yelling at him to use the bike path. A UK driver is convicted of killing a bike riding father of three while showing off for a woman; it was his second hit-and-run in six years. Motherhood and Olympic cycling medals do mix after all. American cycling scion Taylor Phinney firmly establishes himself as the fourth best cyclist in the Games, after finishing just off the podium in both the road race and the time trial. Gold medalist and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins backs mandatory helmet laws — or maybe not — after a cyclist is run over by a bus, even though a helmet would not have helped in the slightest in this case. The London Times offers an even-handed look at the debate. The London Telegraph says the time for talking has stopped and it’s time to actually do something about bike safety. Scottish traffic cameras cut accident and injury rates. Funding bike advocacy could help the bike industry sell 30 million more bikes. An Aussie cyclist crashes because his coffee was too hot. Brisbane police are on the lookout for a spitting cyclist.
Finally, once again, Bikeyface nails it. And are you a velocapitalist?
i understand the ghost bike on 11th, just south of ocean park, had an impound tag within 24 hours of its placing. any word on the one left on PCH?
I’m told Erin Galligan’s bike will be removed from PCH any day, if it hasn’t been already. We need a change in state law allowing memorials that don’t interfere with traffic on state highways.
^^^^ in reference to ghost bikes in the city of santa monica placed in july., sorry if it confused anyone,
regarding the duane parkinson case, his wife is one of my longtime friend’s wife’s sister. devastating to the family with 3 young kids? i never once believed there would be charges brought up against the driver. found out the driver’s family is one of the most prominent in the GOP. hence, why she would be living in shady canyon. think she first refused to talk to the police. when she did decide to talk, story was sort of fishy. but this is news to me, she knew the victim and had lunch with him. so she had lunch that day with him and then ran him over? it is virtually impossible not to see someone riding a bike on that street. very steep downhill, very straight, no sidestreets, no turnouts/driveways and the sidewalk/bike trail is removed from the street by 10-15 yards to the north side.
correction, found out more info from facebook page. the post above is slightly confusing. the driver had lunch with the Chief of the SBSD not the victim. wtf for?
I don’t think there is ghost bike icon on google or even bing maps yet and it’s in the virtual world that our efforts should be focused. When everyone can find someone nearly identical who has died- same age, height, etc., worldwide, see the spot, read the blog up till there last entry, correspond with there friends and family who in them will find something of the lost’s essence and welcome the contact, then we will speed things up a lot.
My guess is we have been complaining about memorials getting removed since cars started trespassing on public roads. It’s time to be heard.
The information about Duane Parkinson is really troubling. When this happened a year ago, I remember reading comments by people purporting to be his Sheriff’s Dep’t. colleagues out in San Bernardino. The comments were over-the-top in their characterization of his death as a tragic accident. Even more forgiving than the general public can be when describing hit-from-behind killings of cyclists. I think it was in a San Bernardino paper.
I would focus my attention on her apparent isolation from other widows of fallen law enforcement. She needs to network with a rich tapestry of support aailable to her and better emphasize her face is being booked as a widow and I find she’s now drifting to generic advocacy as obviously that’s more comfortable then dwelling over her spouses bones so perhaps not just other widows but any relatives beyond her should be helping her setup a actual website with far greater control over it’s presentation and priority of facts with for example a streaming video that plays on splash to more fully engage us in this sealed from the start worm can.
I have no doubt that concurrent jurisdiction’s standing may someday be needed to stop local car dealers campaign donations from preventing prosecution when indicated as here- but I’m not sure the detectives facts support criminal civil rights prosecution though I assume if they do it’s his families politics that fetter them from pursuing that zealously sufficiently yet.
It should be sufficent to get a federal conviction and the threat of that might have the driver wanting to have charges brought locally so she can plead out and be spared the harsher penalties of just ducking and crossing her fingers being risked.
She’s not being prosecuted becaues most drivers drive as recklessly as she did everyday. THat alone is not a sufficeint reason to not take it to grand jury if only the charges recommended are severe enough for that, if not, I agree if wrongful conviction is feared then it should be the appellate courts job to protect her not the prosecutors.
What would the precedent of criminal exposure from not driving as far to the left as practible when a bike is to your right be? Those are the stakes.
District Attorneys offices often won’t press charges if the defendant’s attorney has connections with that da.
Criminal defense attorneys lobby district attorneys, give them gifts, money, etc. in hopes of getting their future clients off on charges. I wouldn’t be surprised if the woman responsible for killing Parkinson hired an
attorney that once worked at the OC da’s office.
On the death of Duane Parkison, good commentary above. It does appear that this case was a sealed can of worms within a few hours of the collision. The Sheriffs were making unusual statements in their local papers in what looked like an attempt to defend the driver Taryn Stout of Shady Canyon, Irvine. I also was surprised because there had yet to be an investigation into the fatality. And good comment about political contributions from car dealers. I assume that you were referring to the parents of the driver. Is their name Shepard? This definitely looks dirty.