The LA Times reports on a deposition from the Gardena police sergeant who should have been in charge when officers fatally shot Ricardo Diaz-Zeferino, but apparently wasn’t, as he explained his mindset and what led up to the shooting.
The unarmed victim was shot as he tried to explain that it was his brother’s bicycle that was stolen. And that the two men police had detained weren’t armed robbers, but just friends trying to help find the missing bike.
The officer had an audio recorder, but didn’t bother to turn it on because pushing that little button would have distracted him. And he admitted under oath that he had never seen a robbery suspect jog towards police, as Diaz-Zeferino did before they blew him away, and that he never saw a weapon, in the victim’s hands or anywhere else.
It should also be noted that the officers were all allowed to review the video before they gave their statements.
Meanwhile, the Times says a debate raged on social media over whether the shooting was justified, as the victim’s family calls for a federal probe of the department and their actions in the case.
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NPR looks at the first black Africans to compete in the Tour de France, on the first-ever African-based team. Previously, only beige Africans had competed in the race.
Starting today, Lance Armstrong will ride two Tour routes in advance of the race to raise money for charity; race leader Chris Froome calls Lance’s return a non-event.
Meanwhile, Froome is accused of cheating when he and his teammates look too fresh after crushing the competition on Tuesday’s final climb; his performance data may have been hacked, as well. And Lance, who should know, speculates that Froome and his Team Sky are too strong to be clean.
Francesco Reda faces a lifetime ban after testing positive for an EPO derivative at the Italian Championships last month; an Irish website accuses him of being a compulsive cheater.
Good news from Ivan Basso, who says everything’s fine after surgeons remove a testicle because of a possibly cancerous tumor. Now he has something else in common with Lance, besides a doping ban.
Newsmax absurdly asks if bicycling causes testicular cancer.
Caught on video: While the riders in the Tour de France may ride up the Alpe d’Huez, others are busy racing down it. And not on the roads.
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Local
CiclaValley rides the rest of the Compton Creek bike path.
Santa Monica police announce more bike and pedestrian safety enforcement operations later this month.
Times readers react to their recent story about proposed safety improvements to deadly PCH in the ‘Bu.
Pasadena is in the running for a $2.7 million Metro grant for a cycle track on Union Street.
State
A Palm Springs resident suggests breaking up the proposed 50-mile bikeway linking cities in the Coachella Valley. Which would pretty much make the whole thing useless.
A teenage Port Hueneme bike rider was seriously injured when he was hit by a van while riding in a crosswalk. Those seem to be dangerous places for people on bikes lately.
When you’re carrying heroin and already high on some controlled substance, don’t try to steal a bike from a Santa Clara college campus. And don’t try to avoid cops by suddenly riding in the opposite direction, which isn’t suspicious at all.
Family and friends pay final respects to the Afghan refugee killed by an allegedly distracted driver as he and his son rode in a Sacramento bike lane. Something that may happen more often, as cell phone use by California drivers is on the rise.
National
Twenty-nine states don’t have any laws prohibiting bicycling under the influence; California isn’t one of them.
A writer for Deadspin takes a long and painful journey learning to ride a bike as an adult.
Investigators concluded that a Spokane bicyclist just happened to fatally fall in the vicinity of a speeding patrol car — even though the victim’s DNA was found on the car’s bumper.
Once again, the Orangetheory Fitness chain is shocked to learn that some people think their promotional orange bikes mock ghost bikes, this time in Spokane. Oddly, they appeared to be just as shocked in every other city they’ve pulled the same stunt in.
A rider in my hometown spots someone else riding his stolen bike; police help him recover it. But seriously, if you spot someone riding your bike, don’t threaten to slit his throat with a pocketknife.
A Chicago cyclist was wearing headphones when he tried to ride around railroad crossing barriers, with tragically predictable results.
Black cycling clubs from across the county gather in Minneapolis to ride bikes and talk equity.
An Indianapolis driver flees the scene after running over a bike rider’s arm.
The Brooklyn borough president calls for safer streets in the wake of a bicycling fatality.
U2 front man Bono says he’s getting there after being injured riding his bike in New York’s Central Park, but still can’t play guitar due to nerve damage.
Bike riders face challenges on DC’s Capital Hill. A cyclist got a speeding ticket after colliding with a car that cut her off; the officer explained that she would have been able to stop otherwise. Sure, let’s go with that.
New Orleans experiences growing pains as it goes from a whopping five miles of bike lanes before Katrina to over 100 today. Meanwhile, the widow of an Atlanta firefighter killed in the Crescent City while training for a triathlon is outraged to learn the driver is back on the streets after just 14 months behind bars.
International
A Winnipeg writer says protests by city councilors against the city’s proposed bike and pedestrian plan are way out of proportion.
A Brit cyclist who hit a little girl and dragged her down the sidewalk denies riding dangerously.
UK Parliament members grill the Prime Minister over bike safety.
Cyclists aren’t the only ones behaving badly on the streets of Dublin.
Melbourne’s mayor wants to ban bikes from certain roads in the central business district. For our own good, of course.
A Kiwi man is ticketed for dangerous driving after trying to chase down the bike rider who robbed him.
Finally…
Caught on video: An Ohio rider hands a truck passenger back a cigarette he tossed out into the street, something I *cough* may have done once or twice myself, albeit with less positive results. Here in LA, we have to dodge distracted drivers; in Mexico, bike riders have to duck low-flying UFOs.
And the capital of North Korea apparently has more separated bike lanes than we do. And sharrows, too, confirming that they really are a commie plot.
I’m not a Lance defender, by any stretch. But the way you paint Lance Armstrong’s comments on Twitter as a statement that Sky are “too strong to be clean,” is a bold-faced lie. Let me repeat: you are lying. He didn’t say that Sky was too strong to be clean. He said, “1. Clearly Froome/Porte/Sky are very strong. Too strong to be clean? Don’t ask me, I have no clue.” That’s a direct quote. He is, at worst, insinuating that they might be unclean, but he is not outright accusing them of being dirty.
It’s one thing to read what are clearly your opinions in italics but it’s another thing entirely for you to distort facts. I used to suspect that this blog was not professional. Now I know that it is not.
Lance is finished in the cycling world. Don’t let yourself get sucked into that whirlpool of shit and piss.
You’re right, Cesar.
In my rush to get this online last night, I characterized Lance’s comment the same way it was in the headline of the story I linked to. I should have used the word “speculates,” rather than “says.” I have changed that sentence to reflect that, and I thank you for the correction.
However, your issue is with just one word out of 1,109 employed in this piece. So next time, maybe you could skip the insults and just point any mistakes I may have made, and I’ll be happy to fix them.
That way, we’ll both have a better day.
It’s a shame Froome gets caught up in this. It’s true that cycling has a long and troubled legacy regarding doping, but in fairness they do more robust drug testing of their riders. As well as ban far more substances than most other pro sports. Is there room to cheat the system? I’m sure there is, but it’s sad to see current riders paying the price for Lance’s generation.
That being said — don’t get me started on the hypocrites from Astana….
I also must admit, the doping thought did go through my mind, watching live as he was faring so much better than the others….
I remember having exactly the same thought when Floyd Landis devastated the peloton just a day after bonking in the Tour. And we know how that turned out,
I wish I could believe cycling is really clean these days. I suspect that some teams, at least, have just gotten smarter about it. Lance doped with at least the tacit approval of UCI, which turned a blind eye to his cheating. The difference now is that cycling has gotten more aggressive about catching and dealing with doping, unlike most other sports.
I suspect if you check any professional team in any sport, you’ll find some form of cheating. From steroids and corked bats in baseball, to deflated footballs in the NFL and rumors of chess players on Adderall.
As long as there’s an incentive to win, some people will find a way to cheat.
The reason why the qualifier “black” was added was because white South Africans have been in the tour for decades if not longer. Remember Robby Hunter?