The victim, identified only as a man who appeared to be in his 50s, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver fled the scene, apparently without stopping.
There’s no word on whether the victim had lights on his bike in the early morning darkness. Then again, there’s no word on whether the driver was using his.
The fact that the victim was riding his bike in this weather suggests he had no other option, possibly just trying to get to work in the rain.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Pomona Police Department at 909/802-7741 or 909/620-2048.
This is at least the 14th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
Six of those SoCal deaths have been hit-and-runs.
Sadly, the overwhelming majority of hit-and-run drivers get away with it. But in the unlikely event they do catch the driver, California’s lenient hit-and-run laws mean they will likely face just four years behind bars, at most.
Even then, prosecutors usually bargain down from that low level in order to get a guilty plea.
Which means most drivers just get a slap on the wrist for making the conscious decision to flee the scene, and leave an innocent victim to die alone in the street.
You may notice that each of those people have a “D” after their names.
That doesn’t bode well in the newly Republican controlled House, where any environmental or bicycle bill is likely to be met with extreme skepticism, to put it mildly.
Let alone a financial incentive to buy one.
So unless they can get a few Republicans to co-sponsor the bill, it’s likely to be dead in the water.
Yesenia Bibriesca pled guilty to felony hit-and-run causing death, as well as misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, and destroying evidence in the death of 43-year old Christopher Jones as he rode his bike in July, 2020.
Police were able to track down her damaged Lexus sedan, and take her into custody within days.
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Back around the turn of the century, I was brought on board to help save one of the most innovative company’s in the music industry, a company that literally invented home studio recording.
I worked 80 hour weeks for over four months to develop a marketing campaign to would reposition the company, and introduce a number of groundbreaking new products, in an effort to save them from bankruptcy after years of mismanagement.
It was a huge success. We brought in over $6 million in new sales in just three days after the new products dropped and the ad campaign broke.
But it wasn’t enough. The banks cut off funding, the brand and patents were sold off to another company, and they shut down in a matter of days, putting over a hundred people out of work.
The company I was with was a victim of the dot.com crash, when banks retrenched and stopped lending money.
Kitsbow appears to be one of the first victims of today’s financial retrenchment, as higher interest rates and financial instability lead investors to become more conservative with who they fund, and how much they’re willing to risk.
A man with a history of DUIs faces 15 years to life behind bars, after he was convicted of killing a 76-year old man while driving on a Sacramento bike path with a BAC over three times the legal limit; Armondo Moreno-Rodriguez drove four miles on the American River pathway before slamming into the victim, who would have had no reason to watch out for someone drunk enough, and foolish enough, to drive on a bikeway.
A British Columbia woman learned the hard way not to try to reclaim your stolen bike yourself, when she had a gun pointed at her after she spotted her bike on the street and tried to walk off with it; the man who threatened her was released the next day on just $500 bond, despite being a career criminal
Bicycling reports that there will be a women’s edition of Milan-San Remo starting next year, although it will be much shorter than the men’s race; UCI limits women’s races to a maximum of 170 kilometers, or just 105 miles, compared to the men’s 186 mile course. Just one more example of pro cycling assuming women are the weaker sex, and couldn’t possibly manage the same courses the men ride. Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.
A year and a half after Matt Keenan was killed while riding his bike in Mission Valley, Melissa Gonzalez was sentenced for misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Not the felony she should have been charged with for driving on the wrong side of the street around a blind curve. Let alone the distracted driving charge she likely deserved.
The kindhearted judge took pity — not on Keenan’s widow, or even his toddler son who will grow up without father, but on the woman who killed him.
In addition to four lousy days in jail, Gonzalez received a single year probation, 150 hours of community service, and had her license suspended for three years, as the judge bizarrely ruled she didn’t deserve a punishment that would wreck her life.
Never mind that she wrecked the lives of Keenan’s friends and family. Let alone literally wrecking, and ending, Matt Keenan’s.
If you ever wonder why people keep dying on our streets, this is exhibit A.
We can only hope San Diego voters will remember this one when the judge comes up for re-election.
Police are looking for a flatbed truck with a white cab, and a distinctive yellow logo on the passenger door. Not to mention the heartless coward behind the wheel.
As always, there is a $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
Thanks to KCAL-9 anchor Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.
You must assert your voice when you are talking to someone who approaches you in sketchy areas, because strangers don’t really come up to you to have a friendly conversation about the weather like we do in Australia. In America some people might come up to you to try to come up. #streetsmart#streetsmarts#safety#safetyfirst
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police arrested a Denver man who rode his bicycle into a car wash to fatally shoot a driver who had just pulled onto the lot, and injuring the car’s passenger; he fled the scene on his bike before changing clothes twice in a homeless camp, hacking off his hair, and hiding in a hole under the train tracks.
More on the Florida crash that critically injured Dartmouth football coach Eugene “Buddy” Teevens, who was run down by a driver while riding home from a restaurant with his wife in St. Augustine; police reports blamed the victim, saying he didn’t appear to have lights on his cruiser bike, and was crossing the state’s coast highway outside of a crosswalk or designated crossing area. Even though bike riders aren’t expected, let alone required, to use crosswalks.
March 20, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on 15 to life in HB DUI hit-and-run, MI cops accused of beating bike rider, and CA Sen. Portantino buzzed on bike by driver
Happy first day of Spring, even if it doesn’t look or feel like it here in Los Angeles today.
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An Orange County man could spend the rest of his life behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a man on a bicycle.
The wreck that killed MacDonald, a homeless resident of Huntington Beach, was just the second of three crashes in an alcohol-soaked crime spree that night.
Romero started off with a bar fight outside a local nightclub, following by crashing into the bar owner’s Caddy on his way out of the parking lot. He then slammed into MacDonald, before crashing into a tree, all without stopping until the tree stopped him.
He still had a blood alcohol content of .18 — over two times the legal limit — when he was tested hours after the crash.
Romero was subject to the murder charge after signing a Watson advisement following a 2012 DUI conviction, and admitted to police that he remembered signing it when he was arrested after running off from the last crash — after trying to claim that he’d been carjacked.
All three have been charged with misdemeanor assault and battery, while one of the officers also faces a felony count of misconduct in office for the incident that began with a simple traffic stop, for not having lights on the victim’s bike.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, attempted to flee by riding off on his bike on the sidewalk after officers approached him, likely because he allegedly had a small amount of suspected fentanyl and/or heroin on him.
A traffic stop was then conducted and the bicyclist was placed in to custody after “several physical strikes, taser deployment and OC spray deployment,” according to the report…
As the head of the state police said, excessive force against anyone by a police officer is “unacceptable and inexcusable.”
Especially for not having lights on a damn bicycle.
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Clearly, state senators — and Congressional candidates — aren’t any safer out there than the rest of us.
Twitter post
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Streets For All produced their own PSA.
Which in this case, stands for Public Safety Ad.
Twitter post
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After years of talk and wishes, extending the Ballona Creek bike path eastward from the current terminus at Syd Kronenthal Park could be on verge of becoming a reality.
Which is not to say they shouldn’t. But I prefer not to trust my safety to some motorist not having his or her head up their ass.
Then again, they should also stop after crashing into someone, unlike the jerk in the video.
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Celebrating 120 years of great bike art.
Twitter post
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The war on cares may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. A Menlo Park columnist says bike-riding councilmembers display their own bias through an unwillingness to preserve parking in a bike lane project intended to improve safety for school kids, arguing that there’s very little risk of a kid getting doored or hit by a driver backing out of a parking space.
No bias here, either. A Florida columnist and retired paramedic says no kid needs a $2,000 ebike, because he once saw a kid riding one roll through a stop sign while looking at his cellphone. And somehow uses the tragic 40-year old case of boy who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt to illustrate the dangers of ebikes.
A bike rider on the Isle of Man was stopped by police three times and ordered to put his bike in their van after drivers complained about being unable to see him in foggy conditions. Which means they should slow down and drive more carefully due to the conditions — not have someone on a bike kicked off the road.
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Local
A suspect could face charges for shooting a man who was riding his bicycle on the Expo Line bike path near the Sepulveda E Line Metro station, nee Expo Line. Police detained the bike-riding suspect after he was spotted by fire fighters responding to the scene; no word on what may have led up to the incident.
State
Calbike calls for passing AB 825 in the state legislature, which would legalize sidewalk riding anywhere in the state on streets and highways that don’t include a Class I, Class II, or Class IV bikeway.
Oregon’s ebike rebate bill received an extreme makeover in the state legislature, making the rebate program an extension of Oregon’s existing Clean Vehicle Rebate Program while modeling it after Denver’s highly successful program; general residents will now receive just a $400 rebate, while low-income residents will be eligible for up to $1,200 on the purchase of a new ebike.
There’s no word yet on the identity of the victim, or how the crash occurred.
The only description of the suspect vehicle is a possible GMC truck, no year or model given. And no word on the heartless coward behind the wheel, who left an innocent victim to die alone in the street.
Anyone with information is urged to call 877-LAPD-247, 877/527-3247.
This is at least the 13th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it also appears to be the second in the City of Los Angeles.
Five of those deaths have been hit-and-runs.
Yet no one in any level of government seems concerned about the mounting toll from hit-and-run drivers, or the increasing frequency of drivers fleeing crash scenes.
Let alone willing to do anything about it.
Update: The LAPD has released security video of Friday morning’s fatal crash.
The bike rider, who still has not been publicly identified, was the victim of a left-cross crash from the truck driver turning from Lankershim onto Tuxford while riding in the crosswalk on Tuxford.
Police are looking for a work truck with a white cab, and a distinctive yellow logo on the passenger door.
As always, there is a $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
Thanks to Johnson Attorneys Group and KCAL-9 anchor Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.
March 17, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Motorcyclist gets 4 years for killing Carlsbad bike rider while fleeing cops, and tales of an Entitled Cyclist in Los Angeles
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This is the amateur Olympics of drinking, so ride defensively. And assume every driver you see on the road after lunch this afternoon is under the influence.
Twenty-nine-year old Eric Monte Burns pled guilty to a single felony count of evading an officer causing death, with an allegation of causing great bodily injury to his passenger, for the death of 69-year old Solano Beach resident Brad Allen Catcott last August.
Burns was fleeing from a park police officer for speeding and reckless riding at Carlsbad State Beach, with a 22-year old woman on his bike, when he slammed into Catcott as he merged his bicycle into a turn lane.
Catcott died at the scene, while both Burns and his passenger were seriously injured.
Prosecutors dropped charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI, with up to ten additional years in prison, in exchange for the guilty plea.
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One of the stars of Los Angeles Bike social media has caught the eye of the LA Times.
Tom’s online moniker formed as he got more involved in Bike Twitter and noticed a widespread “attitude that drivers have towards cyclists as being entitled.” Then his penchant for sarcasm kicked in.
“I’m trying to turn the idea of entitled around to mean: ‘Yes, I’m entitled to be able to move around the streets without getting run over by you.’”
Fonseca goes on to describe the sensation of watching Fonseca’s nearly daily videos of close calls, blocked bikeways and overly aggressive drivers from the comfort of his desk chair.
Watching Tom’s videos can be a harrowing experience — and I’m viewing them safely from my office chair. The number of near-collisions he’s faced due to speeding, inattentive driving and sometimes deliberately aggressive drivers is all the more shocking as I remind myself that this is one person’s regular commute in a county with millions of people and tens of thousands of miles of roads.
On top of the multiple tons of speeding metal that Tom has to watch out for, his feed is full of parked vehicles and trash cans blocking designated bike lanes and sidewalks. He also regularly documents the conditions of bike lanes and other safety infrastructure as he navigates L.A. and neighboring cities.
It’s a good read, and well worth a few minutes of your day to read the whole thing.
And if it gets some drivers to recognize themselves and reconsider the way they operate behind the wheels, that’s a win for all of us.
This is who we share the road with. A “recidivist reckless driver” has been offered a plea deal of nine years behind bars for driving against traffic on a New York street before crashing into another vehicle, and sending them both onto the sidewalk where they killed a three-month old girl and gravely injured one of her parents; the wrong way driver has nearly 100 previous red light and speed cam violations on his record. Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until they kill someone.
Speaking of New York, the city is planning a makeover of dangerous Delancey Street, from the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan to the Bowery; 38 people have been killed or injured in the area directly below the bridge in just a five-year period.
No bias here. A London columnist is shocked! shocked! to discover a price tag for the equivalent of nearly $4,900 for a new cargo bike, while noticing the disparity between cargo bike-riding affluent parents and non-affluent delivery workers. But he probably wouldn’t think twice of people paying ten or twenty times that much for a motor vehicle to haul their kids, or deliver takeout. Or takeaway, as they call it.
Bicycling Australiareviews World Bicycle Relief’s single-speed Buffalo Bike; Trek has named the bike, designed to provide transportation for people in underdeveloped countries, as their Bike of the Year for two years running.
