They found the killer. And he’s just a kid.
Police in Huntington Beach arrested a suspect Tuesday night in the killing 70-year old Huntington Beach resident Steven Gonzales as he rode his bike in the city, as well as injuring two other bike-riding men, in Sunday’s 45-minute vehicular rampage.
The suspect, officially described only as a male juvenile between 14 and 18, is being held in Orange County Juvenile Hall on one count of felony murder, and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
He was arrested after police found the car used in the attacks on the 6000 block of Warner Ave, just half a mile from the last reported assault.
There’s no word on whether he was with the car, or if it had been abandoned. Or whether it belonged to the suspect or his family.
There’s also no word on a motive for the attacks, but it could have been a copycat attack based the East Bay Area attacks from earlier this year, in which young people in stolen cars attempted to door or strike people riding bicycles or e-scooters.
It could also have been for any number of other reasons, from a hatred of bicycles to perceived racial or political factors in the deeply red community.
Or he could have just been looking for easy targets.
The tragedy in all this is that one man is dead, and another’s life could be effectively over.
Gonzales was needlessly killed, apparently simply for the crime of riding a bicycle on a warm summer night. His family and loved ones will now have to find a way to go on without him.
At the same time, his young killer is likely to remain in juvenile custody until his 21st birthday, at the very least. Or could face life in prison if he’s charged as an adult, or even the death penalty.
Which means his family had better get used to living without him, too.
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California intersections could get a little safer after a proposed statewide daylighting bill survived the legislature’s cutoff day for bills to pass; AB 413 would improve visibility by banning parking within 20 feet of an intersection.
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This is who we share the road with.
A Seattle cop joked about a woman killed by another cop as she was walking, bizarrely bursting into laughter after confirming she was dead. He added that the city should just write a check for $11,000 because she was only 26 and “had limited value.”
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Streets For All will mark my birthday with a beer-fueled Santa Monica meetup on the 24th.
Just added another meetup to our calendar: come party with us at Santa Monica Brew Works on 9/24. We'll have the LADOT Westside Mobility Projects survey on hand if you need any help filling it out!
More events at: https://t.co/UYRpGuUGXp pic.twitter.com/XRXniyCiDI
— Streets For All (@streetsforall) September 13, 2023
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Bike riders and pedestrians complain about drivers illegally using an Iowa bike path.
Toronto police are looking for a hit-and-run motorcyclist who appears to have intentionally struck a bicyclist while riding in a bike lane, leaving the victim with severe orthopedic injuries.
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Local
Santa Monica will conduct another bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operation today and tomorrow, so ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line.
Campus police at the University of Southern California gave out bike bells and safety brochures to students in an attempt to improve bicycle safety on campus. Then again, if the school was really concerned about student safety, they’d ban cars on campus, and improve the infrastructure on and around the bike-unfriendly school.
State
Encinitas and Solana Beach are cracking down on scofflaw bicyclists in an attempt to improve safety, particularly among younger bike riders. Although if they really want to improve safety, they should focus on the people in the big, dangerous machines, instead.
San Diego takes a major step forward to revitalize the Kearny Mesa area by resurfacing Convoy Street, adding bike lanes while removing over 200 parking spaces to create a “sexy street.”
The jury has begun deliberating in the Riverside murder trial of Sergio Reynaldo Gutierrez for intentionally ramming 46-year old Benedicto Solanga with his truck, as Solanga walked his bike with another person.
They get it. Sacramento is attempting to meet the city’s climate goals by installing more bike lanes.
National
New NASA-inspired airless bike tires promise to never go flat, using shape memory nickel-titanium alloy coils to create a ride as smooth as pneumatic tires. And they can be yours for the low, low price of $500 a pair, while promising to last as long as you do.
Speaking of bike tires, Pirelli is extending the recall of their P Zero Race TLR tires to the US and Canada, after a report of rapid air loss resulting in a minor injury. In other words, it suffered a flat.
Three of Portland’s five councilmembers rode their bikes in the city’s latest open streets event, even though the program is on the chopping block.
A kindhearted Bryan, Texas woman gave a man a new ebike after learning he had to walk nearly two hours to and from work because his bicycle broke down.
A Minnesota website highlights what they call the state’s most scenic bike trail.
A Kalamazoo, Michigan neighborhood is getting a new brightly colored, bicycle-themed mural.
New York councilmembers voted to create the first city-run trade-in program for ebikes and lithium-ion batteries, in an attempt to halt deadly battery fires.
A New York op-ed says congestion pricing will have the added benefit of creating more space for bicycles on city streets.
Amazon is letting its fleet of e-cargo delivery bikes sit idle on the rooftop of its New York building, apparently because of a desire to get rid of the building, rather than any problem with the bikes themselves.
DC protestors blame bike lanes for this summer’s decline in business — even though they haven’t been built yet. And somehow prefer having a dangerous “six-lane highway” in front of their homes to taking steps to improve it.
It takes a major schmuck to knock an elderly Georgia man off his bicycle in an effort to steal it in a strong-arm robbery,
A 13-year old girl became the latest bike-riding police victim, suffering critical injuries when she was run down by a cop while riding across a Tampa, Florida street. Police naturally blamed the victim for riding “75 feet west of the crosswalk,” as if she had any obligation to ride in a crosswalk, or somehow wasn’t allowed to cross mid-block even though drivers do it all the time leaving parking lots and spaces; a better question is why the hell didn’t the cop see a kid on a bicycle directly in front of the patrol car.
International
Bike Radar recommends the best fingerless bike gloves.
Momentum offers advice on how to dress for success while bike commuting. Or hopefully before bike commuting, but whatever works.
Momentum also says the new Brompton collaboration with adventure broadcaster Bear Grylls could be huge; the bikes start at a relatively reasonable $2,500.
The road leading up Montreal’s iconic Mount Royal will be closed to motor vehicles within six years, with the roadway replaced with trees, and bike and walking paths.
Bike-riding BBC broadcaster Jeremy Vine had a scary incident when a truck driver traveling in the opposite direction made an illegal turn, then started to reverse while he was behind it, forcing him to bang on the back for the driver to stop.
Authorities in Scotland’s Orkney Islands hope to ease tensions between local motorists and cruise line passengers who disembark to bike on the islands, often in large groups, in time for next season.
The British government is now considering laws to rein in dangerous bicycling, after an MP raised the issue in Parliament. But Cycling Weekly says the country’s Conservative government has its priorities wrong because the real risk stems from dangerous driving, not bicycling.
Competitive Cycling
Belgian cyclist Nathan Van Hooydonck is awake and remarkably, without serious injuries, just one day after he was resuscitated by paramedics and placed in a medically induced coma after falling ill and accelerating into traffic at a busy junction while driving with his pregnant wife.
Vuelta leader Sepp Kuss saw a lack of support and respect from his own teammates on Wednesday’s stage 18, after his fellow Jumbo-Visma cyclists Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard attacked, dropping his lead to just eight seconds.
Today’s stage takes the Vuelta into Spain’s high mountains one last time.
L39ion of Los Angeles co-founder Justin Williams will be forced to serve his 60 day suspension for causing a crash in a Colorado crit from April 13th through June 13th, causing him to miss a number of important races.
Finally…
That feeling when the overly cautious driver behind you isn’t one. And if you’re planning to steal a bicycle, make sure it’s not a bait bike — and leave the meth and replica gun cigarette lighter at home.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
USC is already pretty bike friendly. There aren’t any cars in the middle of campus. They do have a few garages on the perimeter like every college and university. Plus the My Fig bike track is on the edge of campus. Not sure what you are talking about.
USC’s administration has traditionally fought efforts to make the campus safer and friendlier to people on bikes, and moved to ban bikes from some walkways and areas of campus as recently as a few years ago. And the streets students have to use to get to campus are anything but safe.
The article on gloves touched a nerve. I have big hands. Trying to find gloves is a search. Doesn’t seem to be any standard for size. Some XXL are a joke. Articles with no information on sizing are worthless. Shoes for me are even worse.The
Articles with no comments available or contacts to the magazine or author aren’t helpful.
Rant over.