Archive for Injuries and Fatalities

Allegedly intoxicated, lightless bike rider fatally shot by Sheriff’s deputies in South L.A.

May 20, 2013 / / 2 comments

Yes, it’s against the law to ride a bike under the influence.

And yes, bike riders are legally required to have both a headlight, and at the very least, a rear reflector.

But the first is just a misdemeanor with a maximum $250 fine. And the second is usually just a fix-it ticket, often dismissed if the rider can prove he or she has put lights on the bike in question.

Neither usually punishable by the death penalty.

Yet that’s what happened over the weekend as a 50-year old bike rider was shot and killed in South L.A.

The L.A. Sheriff’s Department reports that the man, identified by KACB-7 as Terry Laffitte, was riding without lights and appeared to be drunk when he was spotted by Sheriff’s deputies at 9:12 pm Saturday on Miramonte Blvd in unincorporated L.A. County.

When the deputies tried to stop him, he continued riding to his home in the 6100 block of Miramonte. The officers followed him to the back of his home, where he reportedly punched one of them in the face, leading to a scuffle that eventually included members of his family who tried to pull the officers off Laffitte.

During the fight, he allegedly pulled out a gun, leading both deputies to fire a single shot each; Laffitte died at the scene.

The L.A. Times reports that two guns were found on the man, one of which was a replica.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, both Laffitte and members of his family who lived at the house are known gang members.

However, according to the report from KABC-7, family members say the shooting was unjustified.

“My brother was on the ground. They had his hands behind his back,” said Laffitte’s sister, Sandra Cotton. “He didn’t have a gun. Why would you shoot him if he was already on the ground and you guys had possession of him?”

Laffitte’s sister said the altercation was recorded on a cellphone, but she claims the device was confiscated by the sheriff’s department. Detectives said no cellphones were confiscated.

Family members said Laffitte had turned his life around and did not carry guns.

Of course, claims like that are easy to make.

But sometimes, they turn out to be true. Kern County Sheriff’s deputies are accused of illegally confiscating cell phones from people who witnessed a fatal police beating in the Bakersfield area — and allegedly deleting a video of the incident.

So let’s be clear about one thing.

You have a 1st Amendment right to record anything that occurs in public, whether or not it involves the police. And without a subpoena, they have no more right to take your phone or camera, or confiscate any photos or video on it, than anyone else on the street.

Less in fact, since police are required to protect the rights of the public and adhere to legal standards that the general public isn’t.

And while it happens far less often than some would suggest, it is also not unheard of for officers to plant a gun following an illegal shooting. I once knew a cop in another city who made a point of carrying a cheap handgun to drop at the scene in case he ever shot an unarmed person — and according to him, had used it in at least one case.

Of course, there’s nothing to suggest that’s what happened here, other than the statements of family members whose credibility has already been challenged by the gang accusations.

But even gang members have rights. And clearly, the LASD has some questions to answer.

Like how a simple misdemeanor traffic stop was allowed to escalate into fatal altercation.

And it’s not the first time it’s happened.

Category: Bikes & the Law, Injuries and Fatalities, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , ,

Update: City of Industry cyclist killed in big rig truck collision; 15th L.A. County cycling fatality this year

May 18, 2013 / / 10 comments

Yet another bike rider has died in what’s turning out to be a horrible year for L.A. County cyclists.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports that a bicyclist was killed in a collision with a big rig truck in the City of Industry around 3:05 this afternoon.

The unidentified male victim was reportedly riding on the wrong side of Valley Blvd just east of Hurley Street when he was struck by the truck and pronounced dead at the scene. The driver stopped after the collision and was cooperating with investigators; no other details are available at this time.

If you haven’t gotten the message yet, let this be a reminder to never, ever ride salmon.

Drivers aren’t looking for cyclists coming towards them; even if they see you, they may assume you’re riding with traffic, rather than against it. It also reduces reaction times, while dramatically increasing the impact of a collision.

This is the 27th bicycling fatality in Southern California since the first of this year.

Remarkably, 15 of those collisions — 55% of all bicycling deaths in Southern California this year — have occurred Los Angeles County, which has averaged just under 24 cycling fatalities a year for the past several years.

Maybe it’s just a statistical blip that will average out before the year is over. But this is starting out to be an exceptionally deadly year for local bike riders, and we haven’t even reached the peak summer riding season.

Tthose numbers aren’t statistics, they’re people.

And far too many are dying this year.

My prayers and sympathy for the victim and his family.

Update: The Tribune identifies the victim as 55-year old Jose Munoz of La Puente. 

According to the Diamond Bar-Wlanut Patch, Munoz was riding east in the westbound lane of Valley Blvd when he was hit by a truck pulling out of the Alta Dena Dairy. Under those circumstances, it’s likely the driver would have been looking towards oncoming traffic as he exited the lot, and may not have looked back to his right before pulling out. 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

Update — More bad news for Bike to Work Day: Bike rider killed by driver fleeing a shooting

May 16, 2013 / / 4 comments

The L.A. Times has just reported that a 34-year old bike rider was hit and killed by a driver fleeing the scene of a shooting in Florence last night.

According to the paper, the driver had just fired a gun into his girlfriend’s car when he hit the bicyclist at the corner of East 84th Street and South Central Avenue around 10:45 pm. The rider was dragged across the street by the driver’s vehicle, and pronounced dead at the scene.

Something tells me that relationship is probably over. The driver was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

This is the 26th Southern California cycling fatality I am aware of this year, and the 14th in Los Angeles County. This has been a horrible year for L.A. County, which usually averages around 24 cycling fatalities each year.

My deepest prayers and sympathy for the victim and his family.

Update: KABC-7 reports that the incident began with a domestic dispute around 10:30 pm, when the driver argued with the mother of his baby. After smashing and shooting the woman’s car, the suspect attempted to flee when a police helicopter arrived on the scene. 

According to Fox-11, the car became airborne before striking the victim, who has not be publicly identified, before hitting a street sign and coming to rest against another vehicle. The man attempted to flee on foot, but was captured nearby.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities, Violence & Crime / Tags: , ,

Breaking news: Bike rider killed in Valley hit-and-run

May 16, 2013 / / 6 comments

It’s happened again.

A bike rider has been killed killed by a heartless coward who left him to die on a San Fernando Valley street.

According to a release from the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division, 44-year old Van Nuys resident Max De La Cruz was riding west on Roscoe Blvd east of Balboa Blvd around 11:30 pm last night when he was struck by a pickup truck.

The driver fled the scene; De La Cruz was transported to a local hospital where he died of his injuries.

Police are looking for a white truck with cargo in the back, possibly a Chevrolet or GMC, with damage to the front end. More information as it becomes available.

If you have any information, contact Valley Traffic Division Officer Fuentes at (818) 644-8022. During non-business hours or weekends, calls may be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800)-222-8477).

This is at least the 25th cycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 13th in L.A. County; there was another death that occurred in West Covina while I was offline last week, more on that later. It’s also the fourth fatal hit-and-run involving a cyclist in Southern California since the first of the year.

My heartfelt condolences and prayers for De La Cruz and his loved ones.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Bad week keeps getting worse — Cyclist killed in Santee Friday morning

May 3, 2013 / / 3 comments

This is a week that started bad, and just keeps getting worse.

News is just breaking from multiple sources that a bike rider was killed in a collision in Santee, northeast of San Diego.

According to the Southwest Riverside News Network, 48-year old El Cajon resident Erik E. Gilbert was hit by a pickup around 5:20 this morning at the intersection of Vomac Road and Mast Blvd. No word on how the collision occurred.

Emergency personnel found Gilbert suffering from head injuries; he was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:30 am.

This is the 23rd cycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth in San Diego County. Gilbert is the 3rd cyclist to die in San Diego County in just the last two weeks, and the fifth SoCal bike rider killed in the last six days.

My prayers and condolences for Erik Gilbert and his loved ones.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

Update: More bad news — 14 year old bike rider killed by school bus in Glendale

May 2, 2013 / / 16 comments

More bad news in what is turning out to be a horrible week for SoCal cyclists.

The Montrose-La Crescenta Patch is reporting that a 14-year boy was killed this afternoon when he was hit by a school bus.

The victim was riding his bike on the sidewalk around 2 pm when he was hit by the northbound bus at the intersection of Riverdale Drive and Columbus Ave, presumably when he attempted to cross the street.

The bus reportedly hit him at a slow rate of speed, pinning him underneath. He was pronounced dead at Glendale Memorial Hospital about an hour later.

The site reports his mother has been notified, but the victim’s name does not appear to have been released. He was a student at Theodore Roosevelt Middle School in Glendale.

This is the 22nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 11th in Los Angeles County — half the total for the entire seven county region.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his family and friends.

Thanks to Stephen Messer for the heads-up.

Update: The Glendale News-Press reports the victim was riding west on the sidewalk on the south side of Riverdale when he entered the intersection against traffic, and was struck by the bus headed north on Columbus.

Witnesses said he was riding at a high rate of speed, which suggests he did not stop at the cross street, despite the four-way stop. The driver, who would have been looking in the opposite direction towards oncoming traffic, told police he never saw the boy coming.

Another tragic reminder that riding on a sidewalk is far more dangerous than it may seem. 

Update 2: KNBC-4 says that the victim was a 7th grade student, but that it isn’t clear if he attended the nearby Theodore Roosevelt Middle School. Thanks to gomerzed for the link.

Update 3: According to the Daily News, there were no passengers on the bus at the time of the collision.

Update 4: The Glendale News-Press identifies the victim as 13-year old Roosevelt Middle School student Jonathan Hernandez; Glendale police had initially said he was 14.

Reading between the lines, it would appear this collision occurred when the rider came off the sidewalk onto the street in front of the bus. The driver was likely focused on oncoming traffic, and may have pulled forward without looking directly ahead or to the right. Even if the driver had looked right earlier, she may not have seen the victim given the speed witnesses said he was riding. 

Whether or not this tragedy could have been avoided with more care on the driver’s part is debatable.

What is not debatable is that this was a slow speed collision, and was only fatal because the victim became trapped under the bus. If school buses and other large buses and trucks were required to have safety panels to keep victims from falling underneath in the event of a collision, this tragedy might never have happened.

Category: Bicycle Safety, General, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: ,

Update: Motorist allegedly murders cyclist in Downtown L.A.

May 1, 2013 / / 8 comments

Maybe they really are trying to kill us.

LAist reports a bike rider was killed in a hit-and-run collision in Downtown L.A. on Tuesday. And worse, police believe the driver may have deliberately targeted the victim.

The collision occurred in the 600 block of San Julian Street in the heart of L.A.’s Skid Row around 4:45 pm, when the rider was hit by a 1992-97 Mitsubishi Montero SUV. The vehicle will likely have damage to the right front end.

Needless to say, given the alleged deliberate nature of the crime, the driver fled the scene; he is described as Hispanic man with a mustache, around 45 to 55 years old.

The victim, identified only as a man in his 40s, died shortly later at a nearby hospital.

It’s long been a black joke among cyclists that if you want to kill someone, use a car instead of a gun to ensure you’ll get away with it.

We’ll soon see if there’s any truth to that.

This is the 21st fatal bicycling collision in Southern California this year, and the fourth fatal hit-and-run involving a bike rider. It is also the 10th cycling fatality in Los Angeles County, far beyond the totals for this time in both of the last two years, with four in 2012 and six in 2011.

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

Update: KCBS-2 offers a little more detail on the collision.

Witnesses reported that the suspect “appeared to intentionally point his SUV at the victim and accelerate at a high rate of speed,” according to a police statement. “Upon impact, the victim was propelled about 60 feet through the air. The suspect driver failed to stop and continued north on San Julian, then turned right on Sixth Street and headed west.”

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , ,

Update: Bike rider shot in Baldwin Park drive-by; four SoCal cyclists shot in three days

May 1, 2013 / / 3 comments

Maybe it’s time for bike riders to skip the helmets and start wearing body armor.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports that a 22-year old bike rider suffered critical injuries in a drive-by shooting Tuesday evening.

According to the paper, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding at Downing Avenue and Ramona Blvd at 5:16 pm when a white pickup, possibly a Ford Ranger, containing three to five men drove by.

Evidently, either someone was riding in the back, or they were sitting on each other’s laps.

One of the people in the truck fired multiple rounds, striking the victim in the back before fleeing east on Ramona Blvd. He was taken to the hospital in critical but stable condition, and reportedly didn’t see who shot him.

This is the third shooting of a cyclist in just three days, following shootings in Vermont Knolls and on the Rio Hondo bike path.

Fortunately, all the victims appear to have survived their injuries so far.

Update: It gets worse. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, a 17-year old bike rider was shot in Escondido around 5:15 pm yesterday in a suspected gang-related attack. The victim was riding on North Beech Street near East Lincoln Avenue when a man standing five feet away shot him in the arm; lucky for him, the shooter was apparently a crappy marksman.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities, Violence & Crime / Tags: , ,

Update: Anaheim bike rider killed by train; OC Register holds details for ransom

April 29, 2013 / / 10 comments

This is exactly what I’ve been worried about.

Ever since the Orange County Register announced their draconian paywall policy requiring even the most casual online visitors to subscribe to the paper to read a single article, I’ve feared what would happen the next time a bike rider died behind the Orange Curtain.

And tonight, those fears have been realized.

According to the brief introduction to the story the paper posted online, a man was struck and killed by a Metrolink train while walking his bicycle along railroad tracks in Anaheim. The collision occurred around 4:30 pm on the tracks south of La Palma Ave and east of Pauline Street.

If there is any more information, it is hidden behind the paper’s login page.

Hopefully, another publication will provide the details the paper is keeping to itself. Because as it stands now, the Orange Curtain has become as opaque as a digital Berlin Wall.

This is the 20th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second in Orange County. It’s also the second bike rider killed by a train since the first of the year.

My prayers go out to the victim and his loved ones.

Update: A comment from Calwatch below identifies the victim as Andrew Powell of Fullerton, and places the time of death at before 3:30 pm, rather than 4:30.

Another comment from Carlos P offers a second-hand eye-witness report:

my brother was in the number 1 lane going east bound right up front and a white van was next to him in the number 2 lane. when a pedestrian tried to cross the tracks west bound after the arms were down. my brother and the van both saw the train coming and blowing his horn over and over again and the pedestrian never even looked up. my brother honked his horn as well to get the pedestrians attention but to no avail. instead of running and leaving his bike there, the pedestrian was hit by the train. my brother saw him fly through the air and land up against a chain link fence. sad situation.

Update 2: A source reports that Powell was actually the victim of another train collision, and that the victim of Monday’s bike-involved collision has not yet been identified.

There’ve been two Metrolink fatalities in OC in the past week. The first was a pedestrian on Friday afternoon; that was Fullerton resident Andrew Powell, who would’ve turned 21 next week. That collision occurred between the Fullerton & Buena Park stations.

Monday’s fatality occurred about 3 miles down Metrolink’s Orange County Line. Southbound Metrolink train 686 had just picked up speed after departing Fullerton station. This section of tracks, between an industrial area & a flood control basin, has a very slight curve, so it’s a crossing the engineer would have sounded on approach. On the south side of La Palma Avenue, it struck a guy pushing his bike on the tracks.

According to Anaheim PD, the victim hasn’t been identified, so his next of kin haven’t been notified yet. There’ll be an autopsy, but the coroner is “kind of backed up right now,” says a clerk, so it may be next week before it’s completed.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

Exclusive — What really happened in the Mulholland motorcycle crash that took out two bike riders

April 29, 2013 / / 37 comments

You knew there had to be more to the story.

The video of the now infamous Mulholland motorcycle crash that took out two bicyclists is rapidly going viral around the world. Soon to be joined by this view of the same collision from the perspective of a motorcyclist trailing the rider who rear-ended the two bikes.

Area resident Chris Willig forwards word that the collision occurred at the aptly named Deadman’s Turn on a section of Mulholland called The Snake by the motorcycling community, and the Rock Store Climb by bicyclists. According to Willig, and another comment from Richard Masoner of Cyclelicious, it’s common for photographers and videographers to position their camera’s there to capture the action.

As Willig put it,

Photographers are there every weekend to capture the parade of cars, motorcycles and cyclists on this particular turn since it approaches 270°. Things happen at this point because drivers aren’t use to negotiating a turn like this.

Speculation has centered on a phenomenon known as target fixation as the cause of the collision, in which riders are unable to avoid whatever they are most focused on.

However, Byron of Bike Hugger points out the camera flash clearly visible in the trailing bike cam video, suggesting that the rider was looking for the photographer rather than focusing on the road ahead of him. Putting the best possible spin on it, it’s also possible that he was distracted by the camera flash, causing him to be out of position on the curve.

According to a source with inside knowledge of the situation, who prefers to remain anonymous, the bike riders were part of an informal ride of roughly 20 to 25 people, including retired pro cyclist and bikewear manufacturer George Hincapie. Hincapie was reportedly some distance ahead when the riders were hit, and may not have been aware of the collision.

This person was following the riders in a sag wagon when they got a call about the collision, and informed two nearby law enforcement officers who were having a car towed from a previous collision. They also stopped to pick up a participant in the ride who was between them and the scene of the collision approximately a quarter-mile ahead.

Good move on their part, since the rider they picked up happened to be the Chief Medical Officer for the Amgen Tour of California, who got right to work moving the more injured of the two riders to a safer position across the roadway.

The first rider to get hit was not part of the ride; he was an unlucky Brit who happened to fall in with the other riders at the wrong place and time. Word is he was not seriously injured; he was taken to a local hospital as a precaution and released the same day.

He may have been fortunate that the motorcyclist hit him almost directly from behind, cushioning the fall as he can be seen landing in the leather-clad rider’s lap.

Amazingly, the second rider, who was part of the riding group, walked away with just a few bruises. I’m told he was riding again the next day, albeit on a borrowed bike.

The motorcycle rider did not have registration for his bike with him, which is why it can be seen being towed at the end of the video.

No word yet on whether charges will be filed; however, my source reports that the police officers on the scene conducted a thorough investigation, including viewing the video of the collision.

But if charges aren’t filed, police will have a lot of explaining to do.

Update: The second video has been removed from You Tube, undoubtedly after realizing that it can, and most likely will, be used as evidence in a both criminal and civil court cases against the rider’s friend; thanks to Caritta for the heads-up.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , ,
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