Tag Archive for court cases

Detailed update on court cases and killer drivers; deciphering a new study about, um, something; and reduced Metro Bike fares

July 2, 2026 / / One comment

As I mentioned yesterday, I plan to take tomorrow off to observe the legal holiday, and maybe even get a little sleep to make up for this past week. 

If SoCal’s semi-feral drivers let me, anyway. 

So get out there and enjoy the holiday. If you plan to attend the fireworks in person, a bike is the best way to get there and get back home without spending hours stuck in traffic. 

Personally, I plan to observe my usual 4th of July tradition, and spend the next few nights in the closet trying to comfort a cowering corgi as bombs burst in midair and everywhere else when Hollywood creates its own version of shock & awe. 

Just remember that a lot of people will be drinking and/or imbibing in various mind-altering substances before getting behind the wheel. And the World Cup viewing parties won’t help. 

Assume that every driver you encounter on the road this weekend is under the influence of something. And chances are, you won’t be far off. 

So ride carefully and defensively. I expect to see you back here bright and early Monday morning. 

And I don’t want to write about you or anyone else this weekend.

Photo from Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels.

………

I promised you an update on some outstanding court cases from our anonymous courthouse correspondent.

Make that outstanding, in the sense of yet to be concluded, as well as some of SoCal’s most unwanted. And yes, even I had to look some of these up to refresh my memory.

Fortunately, you have a three-day weekend to get through it all.

It seems updates on court cases are rather past due, so here’s a few. You might note that an inordinate number involve severe mental illness. If you’ve ever yelled, “Are you fucking insane?” at a driver, well, its highly likely they meet the DSM-5 (Ed. note: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition) criteria.

Buckle up, buckaroo! Gonna be a long ride email.

…………………………………………………………………

Since February 2023, when he ran down and then stabbed Dr. Michael Mammone to death on PCH in broad daylight, Vanroy Evan Smith has spent a lengthy, medicated stretch in a psychiatric hospital. This past January, he was ruled mentally competent to stand trial. Before you rage against his racist comments at the scene, remember that he is also Jesus, or at least he’s reiterated this claim several times while unmedicated. His next hearing is July 24th.

………………………………………………………

Six years ago, speeding in a stolen vehicle, Moises Iscaya ran down father Jorge Guerra & his young daughters as they rode their bikes; the injured kids survived. Naturally he fled the scene. Since his apprehension three months later, he has been held as a patient at the Metropolitan State Hospital, undergoing mental health evaluations on a regular basis, and showing little improvement.

On May 28th, all charges were dismissed due to lack of a speedy trial in violation of Isacya’s Constitutional rights.

The DA immediately refiled, and the case remains active.

…………………………………………….

Speeding down Arrow Highway a stolen vehicle on July 9th, 2024, Jonathan del Carmen Calixto killed Raul Casteñeda in the crosswalk at the intersection of the San Gabriel River Bike Path, just in front of the Sante Fe Dam. He, too, is being evaluated, at Paxton State Hospital, pending yet another six-month mental health report; the next one is due in November.

………………………………………………………………………………………

At Neil Storm Stephany‘s victim impact hearing, Shaun Eagleson’s mom told him that she will be present at every parole hearing he ever has. On Thursday, February 13th, 2025, he was denied parole, and Eagleson’s mama can rest until 2030.

……………………………………………………

Unrepentant Becki Lee James is now going by the name Rebecca Gadberry. Rebecca Gadberry, formerly known as Becki Lee James,https://bikinginla.com/2012/07/28/breaking-news-cyclist-killed-by-suspected-drunk-driver-in-sunset-beach/ killed Kenneth Deryl Prevatte on PCH in Sunset Beach. Rebecca Gadberry somehow managed to hit Prevatte, who was riding in the door zone of a 23-foot wide lane on PCH. Although Rebecca Gadberry had at least 12 feet of available lane space to his left that she could’ve utilized to pass safely, she instead hit Prevatte with her car. Rebecca Gadberry stayed next to her car as others ran to her bloody victim to offer help. Rebecca Gadberry was arrested at the scene for impaired driving; this charge was dropped, and I question whether a large amount of money was dropped to make this charge go away, perhaps as much as Rebecca Gadberry has spent to scrub her previous alias Becki Lee James off the internet. Rebecca Gadberry killed an innocent human being whose son is growing up without a father. Rebecca Gadberry created a widow. Rebecca Gadberry, formerly known as Becki Lee James, is a killer.

…………………………………………………………..

L’il Dylan Rand-Luby is also living a very private life. (Ed. note: Rand-Luby got a lousy one year behind bars for killing 55-year old John Greg Colvin in Laguna Beach in 2014.)

…………………………………………………….……..

Tommi Jo Meyer has another arraignment this morning. I expect she’ll double down on the ignorance defense (which has already been blown out of the water by bodycam video, showing the extremely humorless officer specifically informing her of the pertinent laws.) (Ed. Note: Meyer is the OC mom charged after her 14-year old son killed 81-year-old Vietnam vet Ed Ashman while riding an illegal ebike earlier this year.)

…………………………………………………………………

Hit-and-runner Edjan Edit Rocha has been arrested for killing UCI Professor Dr. Francois Primeau in Santa Ana on June 19th. He’ll be arraigned on July 9th for vehicular manslaughter, hit and run, and destruction of evidence.

………………………………………………

Last October, Ahkeyajanique Owens was arrested and charged with reckless driving for slamming in to bicyclist Raul Augustin Gallopa on Fourth St. in Long Beach. He died two weeks later, and she was charged with manslaughter. In early January, her speeding ass slammed into two vehicles, killing two innocent people and and hospitalizing three. She fled on foot, turning herself in later. For this, the DA added two counts of murder one, reckless driving, and hit & run. And at least she’s stayin’ locked up this time.

…………………………………………………………

Like Mr. Rogers’ mama said, “Look for the helpers.”

(Ed. note: My mom never said that.)

……………………………………………………………………..

September 11th, 2022. A gorgeous California morning. Randon Cintron was riding in the bike lane on Jamboree Rd in Newport Beach when impaired driver Adriana Bernal launched him quite a distance into bushes on the far side of the sidewalk. His bike was snapped in half.

As Bernal’s tire struck the curb, she might’ve been recalling the Watson advisement issued to her by the Monterey County DA years ago. The tire disintegrated as she continued, sparks shooting off the exposed rim. Eventually she made a right turn and clunked to a stop. She & her passenger abandoned the dented car (and its new decoration of what the investigator described as “biological matter”) to make their way to the bleachers at Corona Del Mar High School, where they were detained shortly thereafter. They told the first officer to make contact that they’d walked to the location, but officers took a set of keys they spotted mere yards from the couple back to the damaged car, where the keys fit the locks & ignition.

A witness had attempted to follow a vehicle with suspicious damage and a “panicked” female driver, but lost sight. When the witness saw a black-and-white responding with lights & sirens, he pulled alongside and alerted the officer. Just seconds later, the officer saw several Good Samaritans performing CPR on the victim’s lifeless body. (One Good Sam is a former trauma center nurse, currently a PA at Mission Hospital. The same hospital where Shaun Eagleson died. The same hospital where Dr. Michael Mammone practiced, and perished.)

Interviewed by the Newport Beach investigators, Bernal’s detained-but-never-charged accomplice/passenger sang like a canary, with unprompted rapid-fire rambling, telling the investigator that he once had a friend who’d died in a DUI crash. He & Bernal had discussed the friend, and acknowledged to each other that driving drugged is dangerous.

In her interrogation, Bernal said she’d smoked heroin about 3am that morning, but had given up IV use several months earlier— a statement contradicted by fresh tracks sprinkled among years of scarring.

The preliminary hearing had such delightful questions as, “How far from the bicycle was the location of the blood?” (A hundred feet south, by the investigator’s measurements.)

The speed limit along this stretch of Jamboree Road is 55mph. At this location, the Google StreetView bicycle is riding on the sidewalk.

…………………………………………………………..

Amber Kristine Calderon slaughtered Pastor Eric Williams on PCH in Huntington Beach last October. His friends Michael & Steve were hospitalized for weeks. Calderon pulled off PCH and blew past a Huntington State Beach parking kiosk before she was pinned in by a horrified Good Samaritan who’d followed her. The parking attendant radioed the state park rangers, but HBPD was already on the way.

That stretch of PCH has a 55mph speed limit and a bike lane frequently halved in width by the constant encroachment of sand.

Calderon bonded out, but in December the OCDA amended charges to reflect her lack of sobriety, which has more than doubled her potential prison sentence.

At his memorial service, with hundreds in attendance and his bike stage right, his daughter Alice read from a class assignment she’d written the previous year. The topic was “Best Relative Award,” and she was required to name three specific reasons for the award and describe how to emulate that relative. She chose her dad for the award: “To honor my dad being athletic, I’m going to be more into riding.”

Naturally, his widow also spoke: ”He discipled to people around him, both on and off the bike. He never feared death.  Whatever Eric was to you — comfort, strength, laughter, or simply a steady presence — go and offer that to someone else. Walk, or ride, alongside of them, through their joy and pain, and do it without judgement.”

(The lack of any mention of forgiveness makes me wonder whether the victim impact statements will be as gut-wrenching as the ones presented by Fire Captain Mike Kreza’s little daughters, whose angelic faces spewed anger and resentment.) (Ed. note: Kreza’s killer Stephen Taylor Scarpa received 15-to-life behind bars.)

The whole family’s in their front yard on Google StreetView, on a sunny January Wednesday morning. Having noticed the Googly-mobile, Eric is standing with his arms raised in a strongman pose. Kids in helmets. Bikes everywhere. Great big smiles behind the Google corporation’s privacy blurs.

……

Also, the asshat who drove through that morning’s very clearly demarcated investigation scene was FTA (Ed note: Failure to Appear) for his arraignment.

……………………………………………………..

Douglas Morton Adams left Blake Ackerman’s bloody body lying on Fountain Ave in WeHo, and he clearly remains completely unperturbed by his single count of hit-and-run, which is must be a profound relief to him, since an accurate charge would be manslaughter. He was in the courtroom for a couple of boring hours on May 12th, chatting with a pal about Hitchcock’s delightful body of work. Clearly, expounding upon the aesthetic mastery of North By Northwest is of more importance than the opportunity to reflect on the somber reason for his presence in the courtroom, and a much better use of his time than contrition. His lawyer is disturbingly confident. (Ed. note: We’re just eight days from the first anniversary of Blake’s July 10th, 2025 death.)

(Also appearing before the same judge that very morning: Alex Kristopher Earl Kirksey)

………………………………………………………………..

Road rager Christian Diaz, who’d had to get his (now impounded) sexy red muscle car co-signed by his abuelita, remains charged with attempted murder, despite the defense’s attempt last month to have the charge reduced to assault with a deadly weapon. Porque no los dos, Mr. Spitzer?

One day last July, Mr. Diaz was engaged in something of a lover’s spat with his girlfriend/passenger, who disembarked at a red light. He was still yelling at her when the light turned green, so the bicyclist behind him smacked his trunk and bellowed, “Get the fuck out of the way!” Since Diaz did not, in fact, get the fuck out of the way, the bicyclist yelled again as he went around the vehicle. At this point, Diaz chose to focus his rage on the cyclist instead of his girlfriend.

When the cyclist realized he was being followed by an angry man operating two tons of deadly weapon, he attempted to evade, but Diaz maneuvered  across the roadway to hit him head-on. The defense argued that this was not possibly an attempt to murder, but the unconvinced judge allowed the charge to stand. The case continues.

…………………………………………………

Road rager Samir Weiss attempted to kill professional racers Luke Fetzer and Ben Byra on PCH in Corona del Mar last March, yelling during the assault that he was going to kill them. After his failure to do so, he stalked Fetzer on social media to challenge him to a fight. He also bragged about his expensive weapon sports car, which has since been impounded as evidence.

…………………………………………

Last February, Christopher Bryant blasted his rental car through a stop sign in a sleepy residential neighborhood, and slaughtered pediatric occupational therapist Lori Ann Carreon as she rode her bike home from work. The next morning, his first call was to the rental car company; they towed the evidence away from his dtla apartment. Later that day, he called the police to make arrangements to turn himself in with an attorney present.

A few days later, I took flowers for the ghost bike, and rolled into a small crowd awaiting the media’s arrival. Under an overcast sky, emotional neighbors and friends spoke at length — but so little of it made the news at all. Less than snippets, frankly. But there were multiple speakers, and uncontained grief, and tears, and impassioned pleas to the powers that be for better infrastructure, for more accountability, for consequences. For change.

So now that intersection has fresh, bright crosswalks, which magically prevent speeding, unlike that useless stop sign right there. Lori Ann’s ghost bike is almost invisible under dozens of bouquets. Velodoras still burn nightly.

At the scene, after shooting b-roll from catercorner, KTLA’s cameraman survived his walk back to the ghost bike, even though he was nearly mowed down by not one but two impatient southbound drivers. Yes, right in front of a goddamn ghost bike, other media members & a dozen witnesses.

The eastern terminus of this month’s Beach Streets is a short block away from Lori Ann’s ghost bike.

…………………………………………………..……..

On November 22, 2024, rager Jonathan Antonio Rodriguez slaughtered 16-year-old Jonathan “Junior” Flores, who was left to die in the middle of MLK Jr Blvd. The cops located and impounded the murder weapon, but Rodriguez remains on the lam.

………………………………………………………….

Speaking of fugitives, Juli Ann Brown (now Juli Ann Britton) is currently fugitive for a 2020 DUI. In 2013, after her impaired hit-and-run against Long Beach’s Lightning Velo, she’d been sentenced to 15 years in state prison, which of course she did not serve in full.

……………………………………………..……………………………………….

Repeat drunk driver 68-year-old Elias Madriz Gutierrez ran down Kristin Bellovich on Beach Bl. in Huntington Beach. It was just after midnight, and she had no helmet, no hi viz, no lights. No memorial went up for her in the days that followed, so I assume perhaps she was unhoused. I put up a little cross which disappeared quickly. Gutierrez was arrested in Fountain Valley, and he was driving after only having “a couple of beers,” which would’ve had to have been a couple of kegs, given his BAC. He’s facing charges of second degree murder and hit & run.

………………….…………………………

Unlicensed Kaleah Beasley killed 12-year-old Michael Kejuan Ramaun James Smith on 83rd Street last July. Kaleah’s passenger/boyfriend-at-the-time told an officer at the scene that Immediately prior to popping a wheelie, Michael had waved her to pass him, and then swerved right in front of her Charger.

A witness (a former Metro coach operator) barbecuing in her front yard told investigators she’d heard Beasley’s Charger accelerate, and then saw Michael’s body fly up in the air. A 12-year-old witness told an officer that ”the car didn’t want to stop” after hitting Michael. Beasley didn’t hit the brakes immediately, but the distance she traveled after removing her foot from the gas pedal was most likely due to her excessive speed of approximately 45mph, which is “only” about 20mph above the speed limit according to an LAPD investigator at the preliminary hearing, not the 75mph as reported by multiple news sources.

Beasley passed a field sobriety test, which was administered because her vehicle (which had her baby in the back seat) smelled like pot. She certainly dotes on that little boy of hers, who, during her preliminary hearing, threw a tantrum out the hallway; the judge had to order her to remain in the courtroom as she attempted to dash out, protesting to His Honor, “Bro, my baby out there!”

I hurt for Michael’s mama thinking about her baby out there, bloody and face down in the street, surrounded by panicked neighbor kids.

………………………………………………

Since  Reddit’s r/bikeLA  had asked a few weeks ago: On May 27th, a swerving speeding asshat flew off the 5 North and into the LA River at half past 1am, taking out that protective k-rail by the shoulder & the equally protective chainlink fence, and then the bike path railing as well. Didn’t leave too much debris on the actual bike path as it flew over, so no harm, no foul, right? Unfortunately, the driver survived.

Just hours later, puffed-with-pride officials held a presser & bike ride to showcase the new bike infrastructure on Crystal Springs Drive in Griffith Park.

Thanks for the flimsy plastic bollards, LADOT! Surely they would’ve stopped alleged murderer Jairo Martinez, who’s still locked up awaiting trial, and has his next hearing on July 14th (Ed. note: Martinez is accused of the speeding, hit-and-run death. of 77-year old Andrew Jelmert on Crystal Springs Drive.)

No, really. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Okay, it’s me. Even my hard heart weeps after reading all of that.

………

A new study published in Nature clearly shows that “context-sensitive shared space design can harmonize perceptions across diverse road users, with implications for transport policy and urban design.”

Hopefully, we can get that translated into English sometime so we have an idea what the fuck they’re talking about.

But as near as I can figure out, they’re trying to say that removing visual clutter and clearly marking shared spaces resulted in more positive responses from pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers.

Or something like that.

Seriously, I used to get paid to translate scientific gibberish into English. And even I can’t make it out.

………

Amidst all their World Cup viewing promotions, Metro Bike’s latest email also offers reduced fares for students, seniors and riders with a disability, among others.

Do You Qualify For Reduced Fare?

It’s easier than ever to get verified and enroll in a Reduced Fare pass for Metro Bike Share. There are 5 ways to confirm your eligibility:

  1. Senior (62+)
  2. Student
  3. Disability
  4. Golden State Advantage
  5. Reduced Fare TAP card

Eligible persons can get the Metro Bike Share 30-Day Pass for $5 and the 365-Day Pass for $50. Registered TAP card holders can select a Metro Bike Share 30-Day or 365-Day pass on taptogo.net/metrobikeshare.

Apply for Reduced Fare

………

Local 

Santa Monica started automated AI enforcement of drivers blocking bike lanes yesterday, with violators subject to a $93 fine.

 

State

Escondido has gone back to the drawing board, after residents complained the city’s proposed ebike ordinance was too restrictive.

A Bakersfield bike rider is in critical condition after being shot by a suspect who fled the scene Tuesday evening. Because most shooters just stick around until the cops show up. 

San Francisco-based dockless micromobility company Lime went public yesterday, with shares priced at $25. That was followed by immediate complaints about shares being left randomly blocking sidewalks.

He gets it. The ebike program manager for the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates says ebike panic is distracting California from legitimate discussions by not making a distinction between e-bicycles and electric motorbikes.

 

National

Bike Retailer’s Rick Vosper floats the idea of a Federal excise tax-funded campaign to encourage more people to ride bicycles, similar to the nearly 30-year old Take Me Fishing campaign, funded by an excise tax on fishing tackle and motorboat fuel.

A Missouri man is riding across the US 50 years after his father rode from Astoria, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia on the Adventure Cycling Association’s coast-to-coast bicycle ride, but going in reverse, from east to west.

Aerial footage shows a bike thief fleeing from a cop on foot after being caught stealing one of those Oregon bait bikes we mentioned yesterday. Maybe that’s why the LAPD won’t use bait bikes — they don’t want to pay for new sneakers so their cops can outrun the evildoers. 

The former state treasurer of the New Mexico Republican Party is being held without bail after her arrest for the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle last month, then changing license plate on her car on hiding it at another property in an attempted coverup; naturally, the political party disavows any current connection with her. Meanwhile, the victim’s family has filed a lawsuit against her for the death of the devoted father.

Tragic news from Denver, where a 13-year old boy was killed by a driver while riding a Veo bikeshare ebike, just six days after the company launched in the city; company policy prohibits minors from renting the bikes, but they rely on the honor system for age verification.

A 500-mile bike route developed by the Adventure Cycling Association takes you through Western Wyoming, from the spectacular Teton Mountains and Teton National Park, along the National Elk Refuge, through the Wind River Reservation and Sinks Canyon State Park, to the Saratoga Hot Springs and the Colorado border. We visited every one of those when I was a kid, and frequently camped on the Wind River Reservation, home to the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho tribes.

A Madison, Wisconsin magazine traces the city’s bicycling culture all the way back to the 1970’s, when “6-year old Andy Hampsten and a friend” drove to the city for the summer, and quickly found himself on Eric Heiden’s wheel. Precocious though he may have been, I think they meant Hampsten was 16-years old. Because it’s very hard to get a driver’s license at six, even in North Dakota. 

A 13-year old Wisconsin boy was cited for crossing the center line on his non-street-legal minibike and hitting a bike rider head-on; fortunately, neither the bike rider or the kid was seriously injured.

Opponents of a Chicago bike lane appear to have given up, after counter-protesters supporting the bike lane overwhelmed them.

A Massachusetts man faces multiple charges after running down a bike rider while under the influence of multiple drugs, including stimulants and narcotic analgesics, then backing up and driving over the victim’s bicycle, before abandoning the car and fleeing on foot; fortunately, the victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

The 70-year old great-great-great-great-grandson of flag maker Betsy Ross is in the midst of a 3,600-mile bike trip through the country’s original 13 colonies, repeating a ride he took 50 years ago.

 

International

Spike Fearn is one of us, as Interview Magazine talks with the rising English actor and star of the upcoming Finding Emily, who’d rather just ride his bike.

No shit. According to his step-daughters, a former contestant on the British survival show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! has anger issues, after he admitted to once kicking over an entire row of Lime bikes outside his London home — even though he uses them himself.

Shades of California’s ebike incentive program, as an Irish plan to encourage drivers to scrap their infernal combustion engine vehicles in favor of EVs, including ebikes, closed in just two hours after all 2,000 vouchers were claimed.

Cycling Weekly says the Tour de France isn’t the toughest ride in France, it’s Paris-Brest-Paris, which has been “humbling cyclists since 1891.”

A German company has built a bike path with embedded sensors to provide city engineers with “near real-time dashboards showing where bicycling peaks at rush hour, how fast riders are moving, and where the pavement starts to vibrate more, indicating roughness or early-stage cracking.” Los Angeles expects to adopt the technology sometime after hell freezes over.

Life goes on in Ukraine, even in the midst of the ongoing Russian bombardment, as nearly 2,800 bike mentors across the country continue to teach children to travel safely and responsibly on bicycles, scooters and other micromobility devices.

This is who we share the earth with. An Indian motorcyclist was lucky to survive when an entire rain-soaked mountainside collapsed onto the roadway he was riding on; he somehow managed to leap off his bike moments before the road was engulfed.

Chinese ebike brand Luyuan Group was forced to issue an apology after releasing a series of highly sexualized promotional videos depicting women in short skirts and stockings in suggestive poses. They should also apologize for calling their e-motorscooters bicycles, despite the Vespa-style design and apparent lack of pedals.  

 

Competitive Cycling

Six Americans will be among the 184 cyclists lining up for the start of the Tour de France on Saturday, all serving as domestiques for the stars of their teams, with little or no chance of making the podium.

Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel admits that time is catching up to him, and suggests he might retire after the ’28 Los Angeles Olympics. So get your tickets while you can, because it may be your last chance to see one of the great riders of our time. 

 

Finally…

You don’t have to ride your unicycle alone anymore. You won’t be getting your bikes from L.L.Bean anymore.

And your next bicycle may be half off.

The back half.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Mariah Kandise Banks, killer of Frederick “Woon” Frazier, finally sentenced; Griffith Park car ban is just the beginning

August 22, 2022 / / 3 comments

Before we get started, the LA City Council will consider the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposition at Wednesday’s 10 am council meeting. 

This is an all hands on deck announcement. We’ll have more on this tomorrow, but clear your schedule if at all possible to be there and make every voice heard in support of this vital measure. 

Now buckle in, because we have a lot of ground to cover today. 

,,,,,,,,,

Today’s photo shows a happy corgi enjoying a pedicab ride at yesterday’s CicLAvia, more proof that a good time was had by all. 

Even the four-footed attendees. 

………

Friday finally saw justice served for the killer of Fredrick “Woon” Frazier, as Mariah Kandise Banks was sentenced to four years behind bars for hi hit-and-run death.

She has so far shown no sign of of remorse, and has reportedly been living the high life in the four years since is death, regardless of the impact it had on those left behind.

Woon’s friend Edin Barrientos forwarded the impact statement he wrote on behalf of the Chief Lunes bike crew.

Words To The Judge

I’m here on the behalf of the victim

Frederick Frazier and all the other cyclists /pedestrians killed by reckless drivers. I want to make it clear that the driver who took away Fredericks life back in 2018 was NO accident.

These speeding and reckless drivers who are out on the roads always use their cars as a means to intimidate and run us off the streets.

Every week we here news stories of people getting killed by violent drivers in our city.

It is a big injustice to the victims families and communities like South LA that harsher punishments aren’t being served to these mindless drivers. They don’t see us as equals on the roads and I feel that the Justice System sympathizes with drivers who kill the innocent.

Frederick left behind a loving mother and a baby boy behind who need his emotional and financial support.

Words for The Driver

You took away a father figure, you took away a loving son and a beloved cyclist in a welcoming community.

You deserve to be in jail for 10 years at least.

You tried running away with murder.

You’ve been free for 4 years, having the time of your life while knowingly having blood in your hands.

You’re a monster and monsters don’t deserve any freedom.

  • D.A fought for maximum sentence and was able to get the medium term
  • Charges: Vehicular Man Slaughter & Hit and Run
  • 4 years in State Prison
  • Moriah Banks was handcuffed and taken away by Sherrifs

Meanwhile, our anonymous courtroom corresponded had this to say.

This morning is Mariah Kandise Banks’ sentencing and the victim impact statement hearing. I don’t want to be there. I spoke with Woon’s mama in June and she was on the fence about speaking in court. What good can it do, she wondered. Nothing will ever bring her son back to her. She forgives Banks. I don’t, because I’ve attended her appearances and haven’t seen an iota of remorse. None. She’s just sorry she got caught.

Please pray for Woon’s family today.

………

Our anonymous correspondent goes on to offer updates on multiple cases working their way through the courts.

On June 27th, a woman walking her three dogs was struck by a hit and run driver just two blocks from the site of AJ Brumback’s slaughter. (His little ghost bike and the large memorial are still there on Google Street View). This collision site is also two blocks southwest of Anita Sue Cherry’s last known address, on the corner of Seneca Dr. and Shawnee Rd.

The victim was hospitalized; the dogs are okay.

This echoes the Ali Zohair Fakhreddine case (going to trial next month), in which repeat drunk driver Fakhreddine killed a Newport Beach woman and her dog, then fled. I “watched” his arrest play out across two counties via the continuously updating CHP Live Incident page. Although Fakhreddine led police on a chase in his bloodied car, he was apprehended.

Next Thursday, Alexis Marvin Garcialopez, who killed 80-year-old Ernest Adams, will be arraigned for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Former bank robber Richard David Lavalle, who killed 12-year-old Noel Bascon as he biked in a crosswalk with his dad, has noir dire set for September 30th.

In regards to the recent hit and run death of the cyclist in La Habra, suspect Mario Poppop (the media gave the name as Popsuc, but jail & court records say Poppop) was released on the 15th. He’s charged with a single count of being an accessory after the fact. Since his son, the accused killer, is a juvenile, I’m unable to determine his status.

Still no court date for Amanda Martin, suspected in the hit and run death of Liem Bui near Mile Square Park last January. (Incidentally, only a week after her arrest, there was another major injury collision involving a cyclist near Mile Square.)

Unlicensed drunk driver Johnathan Martinez Aguilar, who fled after he ran down two female bicyclists (one a doctor) on PCH in Newport Beach in 2019, was sentenced on August 9th to 1 year in jail, 5 years of probation, restitution, and a First Offender Alcohol program.

Nicole Lorraine Linton, who killed six on South La Brea, isn’t the only killer driver with substantial mental illness. Ronald Earl Kenebrew, Jr. and Moises Iscaya, both remanded, remain under continued mental health evaluation.

My Favorite Lawyer™ Christien Petersen, the All-American Freedumb Fighter, will be arraigned on his assorted weapons and kidnapping charges on the 26th, and then the Court turns its attention to his drunk driving matter.

Anyway I have more updates than time to write.

………

Evidently, the permanent ban on cars on Griffith Park Drive is just the beginning.

According to LAist, the closure of nearly a mile of the street in Griffith Park to stop commuters from using it as a dangerous cut-through route is just the first phase of the coming safety improvements.

The next phase will involve installing speed humps and speed feedback signs to slow speeding drivers.

That will be followed by creating a road buffet on Crystal Springs Drive, removing a car lane in each direction for new dedicated bike and pedestrian lanes, as well as buffer space for drivers.

This is the street where Andrew Jelmert was killed by an alleged speeding, DUI driver. Whether that would have been enough to keep him alive is questionable, but it’s a good start.

In addition, plans call for bike lanes to Zoo Drive, which is where Finish The Ride and SAFE founder Damian Kevitt was riding when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver, and dragged a quarter mile underneath his van onto the 5 Freeway.

As you can see, the street closure is already creating smiles.

Twitter post

https://twitter.com/abikeist/status/1561188204463529984

………

This is who we share the road with.

The son of a 67-year old Azusa man has filed suit over the death of his father, who was killed by an Azusa motorcycle cop who somehow ran him down when he was just crossing the street; it’s unclear whether he was walking or riding a bicycle.

A 17-year old was murdered when he was run down by one or more hit-and-run drivers following a dispute at a warehouse parking lot party in South LA, apparently intentionally; the driver ran him down, then jumped into another vehicle and ran over him again. A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $5,000 of the $14,000 goal.

A Vancouver woman in her late 60s mistakenly hit the accelerator as she was pulling out of a shared driveway, and plowed into a wedding party, killing two people and injuring ten others, two critically. But police say it was just an “oopsie.”

………

By all accounts, yesterday’s return of the Meet the Hollywoods CicLAvia was a big hit, with a huge morning turnout.

The Los Angeles Daily News offers a nice photo essay, if you can get past their paywall.

https://twitter.com/sumaleedotcom/status/1561499579798851584

………

This is a very detailed and insightful submission to Redondo Beach officials, and worth a read for anyone who rides the South Bay.

Twitter post

………

Bike Silicon Valley is looking for a new Program Coordinator/Manager who can speak Spanish.

Twitter post

………

Congratulations to Chicago, on finding a crappy new way to door bike riders.

Twitter post

………

If this doesn’t give you nightmares, you’re officially immune.

Twitter post

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A Washington man vows to continue riding, after a road rage attack while training for an Ironman triathlon left him confined to a wheelchair.

This is the harm a single determined NIMBY can do, as one neighborhood lawyer appoints himself to halt a fully approved and funded Chicago greenway.

No bias here. A British lawyer welcomes a proposal to require numbers license plates, speed limits and liability insurance for bike riders, saying “bikes cause harm.” Just wait until someone tells him about cars.

No bias here, either. A British paper blares a headline calling bike riders “Red light rats!” after counting 26 bicyclists rolling through a red light in front of Buckingham palace in just one hour — but fails to mention that the road was closed to cars, and police urged riders to keep going through the intersection, regardless of red lights.

A jury in the UK found two men guilty of murder for intentionally running down a rival drug dealer as he was riding a bicycle, and leaving him to die in the street.

A Spanish driver was arrested following ten hours on the run, after he intentionally drove into a group of eight people riding bicycles, killing two and seriously injuring three other riders.

Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Bike riders tragically found themselves on both sides of the gun in Los Angeles this weekend; a woman was fatally shot near Seventh Street and Central Avenue early Sunday morning, after arguing with a man who fled by bicycle following the shooting. Meanwhile, a man riding a bicycle was the victim in a Friday shooting in Echo Park, when another man walked up and shot him as he rode by.

………

Local

Streetsblog has more details on the “damning” report showing Metro’s highway building program more than offsets the climate benefits of all their bike, pedestrian and transit programs combined.

Streets For All urges you to complete a survey on LA’s Al Fresco Dining Program, which is currently under review; the program allows restaurants to convert parking spaces to outdoor dining areas, bringing more life to the city’s streetscape.

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton interviews CD11 candidates Traci Park and Erin Darling to get their views on transportation issues as they vie to replace outgoing Councilmember Mike Bonin.

Outside considers the case of 12-year-old Molly Steinsapir, whose family is suing Rad Power Bikes after the girl was killed while riding on the back of a friend’s ebike.

Automotive website MotorBiscuit concludes that the LA-based Cero One is worth the $3,800 price tag if you can afford it, calling it the SUV of ebikes.

Active SGV co-founder Wesley Reutimann writes about the new GoSGV program, calling it the nation’s first ebike subscription program.

 

State 

Maybe you can’t walk on water, but you can pedal across it. An Orange County man is attempting to break a world record by pedaling from Newport Beach to Catalina.

A nine-year old boy was seriously injured when he was struck by a driver in San Diego’s Mountain View neighborhood, suffering multiple fractures, a concussion and facial lacerations.

Kindhearted Fontana cops bought a new bike and birthday supplies for a seven-year old boy, after a thief stole his mom’s purse with the money she had saved for a birthday gift and party.

She gets it. A Santa Barbara op-ed says bikeways nurture cities.

A 45-year old woman was airlifted from the Santa Ynez Valley after suffering a head injury in a bike crash.

Apparently having learned absolutely nothing from the 2013 San Luis Obispo fiasco, Santa Rosa County is planning to refinish 50 miles of roadways with chip seal, making them virtually unridable for months afterwards

Prosecutors charged a 73-year-old Orinda man with felony hit and run for a July crash that left a 41-year old Oakland bike rider with a fractured pelvis.

 

National

Curbed’s Alissa Walker examines why it’s so hard to take a drivers license away from people who clearly shouldn’t have one. Thanks to Ted Faber for the link.

They get it. A Streetsblog op-ed makes the case that slow transportation should be a human right.

A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics sounds the alarm over decreased helmet use by children, as 52% of kids under 18 injured while skateboarding, snowboarding and bicycling weren’t wearing helmets.

Trek is recalling every existing 2021 and 2022 Emonda SLR and 2022 Speed Concept SLR bike over fears the carbon frame could break while riding.

A 60-year old man is in the midst of his 13th bicycle tour across the US to raise awareness of brain injuries; he’s been riding for 15 years and 37,500 miles, and is on his third bicycle and fifth bike trailer.

Redbook recommends nine bike friendly cities you can visit right now, without leaving the US.

State and federal leaders are teaming with bike advocates trying to save an aging bridge over the Potomac to use as a bike bridge when a parallel new bridge opens, despite the insistence of transportation officials that maintaining the bridge is not an option.

 

International

Winnipeg, Manitoba is painting murals on city streets in an effort to slow speeding drivers.

A Toronto paper discovers that some people are choosing to forgo planes, trains and automobile, and take trips by bicycle instead, often aided by ebikes.

The Guardian talks with Brompton’s “evangelist-in-chief,” who is trying to change the world one foldie at a time.

The news isn’t good for Welsh decathlete Ben Gregory, who is in a coma and on life support after fracturing his neck and skull when he was struck by a driver while riding his bicycle last week.

A former UK bouncer has turned himself into a bike-riding vigilante to fight crime, after someone vandalized his car, causing around $1,200 damage.

Doctors with Britain’s National Health Service will now be prescribing bike lessons, bike loans and long walks to improve their patients health.

A teenager appears to have set a new world record by riding his bicycle to 76 British castles in a single week, topping the old record of 67.

The Irish Times considers whether Denmark is Europe’s most bike-friendly country.

 

Competitive Cycling

British cyclist Dan Bigham set a new hour record of 54.723km, topping the 54.526km set by Bradley Wiggins in 2016 — the equivalent of 33,003 miles.

On Sunday, Austrian cyclist Marco Haller was a Hamburger, outsprinting Wout van Aert and Quinten Hermans to win the one Bemer Cyclassics in Hamburg, Germany.

Team leader Richard Carapaz gave his Ineos Grenadiers teammates a scare when the Ecuadoran crashed hard after hitting a cone on a tight corner in Sunday’s stage three of the Vuelta.

The news wasn’t as good for Canada’s Michael Woods, who crashed out of the Vuelta with a concussion.

Swiss mountain bike specialist Mathias Flückiger was suspended pending an investigation after testing positive for the anabolic steroid Zeranol. But the era of doping is over, right? Or are most cyclists just getting away with it?

 

Finally…

Once again, President Biden took a bike ride along the beach, and did not fall off.

And there are a lot worse things you can do with an old bike.

Twitter post

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Day one of Scarpa murder trial, tell LA to stop street racing and loud engines, and CHP responsible for East LA hit-and-run

September 1, 2021 / / Comments Off on Day one of Scarpa murder trial, tell LA to stop street racing and loud engines, and CHP responsible for East LA hit-and-run

Our anonymous Orange County correspondent is back to cover this week’s trial of Stephen Taylor Scarpa for murder.

Scarpa allegedly ran down popular Costa Mesa fire captain and father Mike Kreza in a drug-fueled crash three years ago, as Kreza was riding a bicycle in Mission Viejo to train for a triathlon.

Here’s what she had to say about the lead-up to the long-delayed trial.

Stephen Taylor Scarpa‘s jury trial starts on Monday. So far, Judge Patrick Donahue has decided to allow the video of Scarpa’s participation in his high school’s “Every 15 Minutes” event, as well as testimony from fellow personnel of the rehab centers he worked at. The People’s exhibits will probably also include the DMV’s letter of license revocation and a diagram (but no photographs) of the victim’s many injuries.

Since Scarpa has a long-standing association with drugs, his medical records might be presented as well. The judge finds that this is not in violation of HIPAA. Despite the lack of a previous arrest for DUI, there is sooo much other evidence, strong evidence, that Scarpa knew the dangers of impaired driving, the DA might not even bother to present these records. Scarpa had jaw-dropping levels of assorted drugs in his system, and his blood was not drawn until 4 hours after the collision.

His Honor has forbidden Kreza’s fellow firefighters to attend the trial in full uniform, and friends & family will not be allowed to wear clothing or badges with the deceased’s likeness. I am sorely tempted to get a T-shirt printed up with “It’s about time” in bold letters, because according to the arresting officer, these were Scarpa’s words as the handcuffs were slapped on.

And this is how she reported on the first day of public testimony in the trial.

Oh, man, I’m not hopeful.

The Scarpa trial began Monday morning. Deputy DA Michael Feldman began opening statements by thanking the victim’s friends and family for coming. As stipulated by the judge, no uniformed firefighters were present inside the courtroom. But they were out in the hallway to provide support for the widow and other family members. There was no mention that Mr. Kreza himself had been a firefighter.

In a PowerPoint presentation bannered by the misspelled name of the defendant, Mr. Feldman tersely listed the basic facts that support the People’s charge, among them Scarpa’s participation in his high school’s “Every 15 Minutes” program, his rehab stints, and his employment as a behavioral health technician. “He’s gonna be the one to tell you first hand,” insisted Mr. Feldman, pointing at the defendant, that he was aware of the dangers and consequences of impaired driving. To this end, the People played audio files of the interrogation, in which Mr. Scarpa tells the investigating deputy, “I do it, but I don’t condone it,” a tacit and unambiguous confession. Mr. Scarpa clutched tissues as the DA played his confession that he’d driven impaired with his own young daughter in the car.

Feldman then went on to use the word “accident” several times during his opening statement. AUUUUURGH. That is the entire premise of the defense. It’s almost like he’s trying to hand Mr. Scarpa an acquittal with a big red shiny bow.

Mr. Lowenstein, for the Defense, insisted that the collision had been an “accident,” and that Mr. Scarpa’s actions did not meet the legal definition of implied malice. He stated that the prescription drugs found in Scarpa’s system do not, as opposed to Feldman’s assertion, have warning stickers telling users not to drive. The defense asked whether Scarpa acted with “conscious disregard” (without underscoring the impossibility because Scarpa was, in fact, unconscious at the time of impact).

The Defense told the jury that Scarpa, though drugged up after a party, drove approximately 25 miles without incident, and there was no evidence that he was speeding. He went on to loftily praise Scarpa’s parking (“snug against the curb”!) after the collision, and reiterated several times that he did not attempt to flee afterwards. The collision was merely “a split second in time, a miscalculation, a perfect storm of events.”  Scarpa’s temporary inattention, “a fraction of a second,” and impaired state led to “a perfect storm of events.” (Lowenstein also mentioned something about a perfect storm of events.)

Both Feldman and Lowenstein brought up the words Mr. Scarpa uttered upon his official arrest: “It’s about time.” The People assert that this indicated Mr. Scarpa’s acceptance of a long-anticipated outcome. The Defense suggested that Mr. Scarpa had been expecting an arrest only for the duration of his lengthy interrogation.

First to testify was widow Shana Kreza, who identified a photo of her late husband, and briefly described the family’s Saturday morning, getting ready for their daughter’s soccer game. Mr. Kreza had left on his bicycle, but never arrived at the soccer field.

Next on the witness stand was the first responding officer, who described taking initial command of the scene, Mr. Kreza’s broken body, the agitation of the suspect, and the actions of the Good Samaritans.

The next two witnesses had been in the car behind Scarpa. Ragan Hill and her nephew, Cage Morgan, were putting up garage sale signs in the neighborhood. Hill saw Scarpa’s minivan leave the roadway. As it took out shrubs and saplings on the embankment to the right of the sidewalk (where Kreza was riding his bicycle, despite the adjacent bike lane), she saw a body fly off the top of the minivan.

Morgan described his aunt yell, “Oh my god, look at that car!” He diverted his attention from his phone to see Scarpa’s minivan returning to the roadway, with a trailing cloud of debris. He watched as a man fell off the minivan’s roof onto the road. Hill hit the brakes, stopping about 5-10 feet from Kreza’s prone, bloody body. Morgan called 911, and both exited the vehicle to assist.

Scarpa had parked by the curb and exited his minivan as well, but didn’t approach his victim or the witnesses. Instead, he sat on the curb, fidgeting. “My first thought,” testified Hill, “was that he was impaired.”

Both Hill and Morgan described the same aspects of the scene: Scarpa’s agitation, Kreza’s bone sticking out of his lower leg. Morgan was afraid to initiate CPR, fearing it would exacerbate Kreza’s injuries. Because Morgan was unsure the collision was accidental and did not know whether Scarpa was dangerous, he didn’t approach the suspect, but gestured questioningly from a distance, with palms up. He kept an eye on Scarpa, who appeared disoriented, because “I was afraid he would flee the scene.”

Deputy Christian Servin was called to the scene to perform a field sobriety test. He first approached the twitchy suspect and asked what was going on. He was apprehensive about asking Scarpa to perform some of the physical field sobriety testing tasks because his lack of balance and coordination might subject him to falls. Deputy Servin’s search found six 800mg gabapentin pills on Scarpa’s person, and Scarpa confirmed he had no prescription. Though Servin had difficulty with communication because Scarpa was “in and out” of it, he was able to determine that Scarpa had not slept for two days, had smoked .25g of meth 36 hours prior, had fresh tracks from injecting a fentanyl/meth mixture, had taken Suboxone at a party that morning, and had taken lorazepam. Scarpa stated that he had no medical conditions, and (and) that he was under a doctor’s care. (This doctor, perhaps?) Scarpa also stated he knew he should not have been driving, because he was “upset,” and he believed that he had crashed into a tree and several people.

At this point, court recessed for lunch, and I had to split ’cause I have graveyard shifts, but I’m all free for Day 2.

Meanwhile, the Daily Pilot says the case will hinge on intent, and whether Scarpa intentionally committed the act that resulted in Kreza’s death.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

………

Our anonymous correspondent also added this note.

EMT students are required to attend one rotation in a hospital emergency department. I did this.

The morning started off slow, and the nurses had zero interest in talking with me, so I poked my head into an exam room and announced to the patient that I was there to check her vitals. She consented and while I took her pulse, I asked what brought her to the ER. She stated that she had passed out while making a left turn (in a major intersection, btw) and had crashed into a fire hydrant. I sympathized with her awful morning, and then asked what she’d had for breakfast. Nothing. I suggested that it was always a good idea to fuel up to start your day. Then I asked whether she was on any medications. She had taken a prescription narcotic analgesic before she took her kids to school. “And you drove?” She confirmed this. I informed her that it was dangerous to drive under the influence, and her pill bottle even had a warning sticker added to the prescription label. She insisted there was no such warning, so we pulled the bottle out of her purse to look at it.

I read the warning out loud: “Do not operate heavy machinery.”

She protested, with frustration at my stupidity, “I wasn’t operating heavy machinery. I was just driving my car.”

(Ed. note: Because evidently multi-ton cars aren’t, well, you know…)

There are warnings of “Don’t drive until you know how this drug affects you,” even though said drug impairs your cognitive abilities such that you cannot ascertain how the drug impairs you. In the absence of quantification and/or memory, your brain just lies to you: “Everything’s fine.”

Why appropriate phrasing hasn’t been legislated, I don’t know.

………

Streets For All is urging you to take action to support a couple of motions on the agenda for this afternoon’s meeting of the LA City Council Public Safety Committee.

Make your voice heard on two key issues this week.

There are two key issues being considered this week at City of Los Angeles Public Safety Committee.

1 – The first (Council File 21-0870) is a motion at the Public Safety Committee to consider re-designing streets to prevent illegal street racing. As much as we fight for lower speed limits, the best way to slow cars down is by redesigning streets all together.

2 – The second (Council File 20-1267) is a motion to reduce illegal exhaust noise in the City of Los Angeles. Modified mufflers disturb the peace and evenincrease our stress hormones and risk of heart disease. While we don’t want more armed officers doing traffic stops, we can solve this by clamping down on the shops that make these illegal modifications.

Here’s how you can help in 2 easy steps:

1) Make public comment using the council file system

If you are unable to make live public comment, the next best thing is writing a message in the council file management system. We have made this easy with a pre-filled template and links.

MAKE PUBLIC COMMENT IN ADVANCE

2) Make public comment live at the committee meetings

The Public Safety Committee is on Wednesday, September 1, at 330pm. Here is the agenda. Call into this meeting to comment on the re-designing streets to curb racing and the illegal exhaust noise issue.

CALL IN INSTRUCTIONS + TALKING POINTS

………

Speaking of Streets For All, the political nonprofit is calling on you to fill a vacancy in your local Neighborhood Council if you live in any of the following areas.

Twitter post

………

In a Twitter thread, the LACBC calls for accountability from the CHP for the hit-and-run that injured a 14-year old boy in East LA over two months ago.

Despite catching the crash on video, and multiple news reports, they’ve apparently done nothing to hold the officer responsible, or compensate the bike-riding boy for his injuries.

Twitter post

Click on the tweets for the full thread.

………

This is who we share the road with.

Twitter post

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Utah’s Zion National Park is looking for public input on new bike and ebike regulations that would allow bikes in groups of no more than six spread at least a quarter-mile apart, require riders to pull off to the side of the road for buses, and have a bell on your bike to warn people and wildlife. Because everyone knows cougars, skunks and bighorn sheep will politely move aside to let you pass if they hear the dulcet tones of a bike bell announce your presence.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

San Diego authorities are looking for a bike-riding arsonist who set a series of small fires in the city’s North Park neighborhood earlier this month.

Probably not the best idea to leave a “sanctimonious, passive-aggressive” note on a Portland driver’s car calling out the expired plates, and suggesting they get rid of it and start riding a bicycle.

Police in Lincoln, Nebraska busted a man who stabbed another man in the back in a dispute over an alleged stolen bicycle, then tried to break into an apartment using lock pick tools.

………

Local

Bloomberg considers UCLA parking meister Donald Shoup’s call to stop subsidizing drivers at the expense of everyone else, arguing that free parking is killing our cities.

Monrovia’s new “Biking for Bucks” program promises to reimburse people who live or work in the city up to $350 for the purchase of bikes and ebikes, whether for adults or children, as well as bicycle accessories, purchased between July 1st and September 30th of this year. So start shopping, already.

Active SGV teamed with Alhambra and SCAG to install a new popup bike lane, high viz crosswalks and curb extensions on Popular Boulevard in the city to gather public feedback. But hurry of you want to check ’em out, because they’ll be gone this time next week.

 

State

LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds teams with San Francisco Transportation Director Jeffrey Tumlin to pen an op-ed for CalMatters in support of AB 43, arguing that speeding drivers should not set speed limits.

 

National

It looks like Outside and VeloNews are joining Bicycling in hiding their stories behind a draconian paywall, on the mistaken assumption that preventing people from reading them will make more people want to. However, unlike Bicycling, the Outside and VeloNews stories don’t appear to be available on Yahoo.

Schwinn’s new I Am A Cyclist ad campaign focuses on marginalized members of the bicycling community to show what kind of people really ride bicycles.

Consumer Reports explains the steps they take to rate bike helmets, while InsideHook looks at the best commuter bike helmets for people who hate to wear one that won’t make you look like a total dork.

Best Buy is jumping head first into the ebike business by selling ebikes, e-scooters, mopeds and electric dirt bikes on their website, as well as in some stores.

A writer for Shape raves that her new Rad Power bike actually makes her comment enjoyable. And no, Best Buy doesn’t sell it.

Police in Colorado are looking for a hit-and-run driver who abandoned his SUV, then fled on foot before stealing a bicycle from a nearby school to make his getaway.

This is who we share the road with, part two. South Dakota’s killer Attorney General was hit with yet another speeding ticket — his seventh in seven years — just days before he was scheduled to go on trial for the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian while on his way home from a fundraiser last year. Yet he’s still allowed to stay on the roads to kill someone else, never mind that the $177.50 fine for a simple speeding ticket is nearly a fifth of what he was fined for actually killing someone.

A new Illinois law will require the state to pick up 100% of the costs for bicycle and walking infrastructure on state roadways; the state had previously required the local community to pay 20%.

A four-year old Michigan girl is able to ride a bicycle for the first time, after a fundraiser brings in enough to buy her an adaptive bike, and cover the cost to buy a bike for someone else, too.

Like drivers everywhere, motorists in Dayton, Ohio seem to have trouble figuring out how the city’s new parking protected bike lanes are supposed to work, parking in the bike lane next to the curb while leaving the parking lane empty.

 

International

Wired says Covid-19 means it’s finally time for the 15-minute city, where living, shopping and work are all within walking distance in the same neighborhood. Unless you live in Los Angeles, that is, where city leaders seem to be firmly committed to keeping everything within an hour and a half drive. Except at rush hour, of course.

Bosch says their new upgrades to ebike batteries and motors promise to make your new ebike ride smarter and farther.

Probably not the best idea to try to steal a bike from inside a British police station.

Life is cheap in Australia, where a driver was sentenced to seven years for the meth-fueled hit-and-run that seriously injured five bike riders last year — but with time served, he’ll be eligible for parole in less than a year.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-year old American cyclist Quinn Simmons refuses to limit his options, dividing his plans for next year between the WorldTour and American gravel races.

Red Bull talks with two-time European mountain bike champ Lars Forster about how he went from riding with his dad to riding with, and beating, the world’s best.

 

Finally…

When your status in the local bicycling community hinges on finding the right bike basket. Get your very own bicycle umbrella for your next rainy ride.

And you’ll have to wait another year for a zombie bike ride in Key West.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Justice grinds slowly in SoCal bike cases, reward in previously unknown hit-and-run, and DUI driver injures man on bike path

June 30, 2021 / / Comments Off on Justice grinds slowly in SoCal bike cases, reward in previously unknown hit-and-run, and DUI driver injures man on bike path

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from our anonymous legal correspondent.

She’s back today with a long list of cases that are slowly working their way through the court system.

Along with a few killer drivers scheduled to get out from behind bars too damn soon.

………

Mariah Kandise Banks, charged in the hit-and-run death of Frederick “Woon” Frazier, has yet another prelim reset date coming up on July 13th. This case is just so long and drawn out, and meanwhile, Banks continues to drive and has not ceased her harassment of Woon’s family, in violation of Judge Hobbs’ repeated reminders,

On April 10th, I attended a group march from Woon’s mama’s house to the site of his slaughter, where a new ghost bike was installed. It is really horrible to have to see his mama right there at the scene where a stranger held her son as he died.

In speaking to our group, she told us all she was thankful that so many people showed up and are still fighting to make things safer.

The DA’s office has not been very communicative. I feel that the DA’s office is in violation Marsy’s Law. My understanding is that the clerk has even outright hung up on Miz Beverly. I spoke with Edin (Chief Lunes) at the event, and suggested that perhaps a calm, independent liaison would be helpful in exchanging information. Naturally he volunteered. I spoke to Miz Beverly about this and I think it is a relief to her that she doesn’t have to pick up that phone herself to harangue the prosecutor, who’s really dropping the ball.

______

On the subject of long, drawn-out cases, Justin Scott German has his next appearance date on August 18th for the alleged drunken hit-and-run death of 41-year-old Binh Ngo in Huntington Beach.

 _____

Scuzzy Andrea Dorothy Chan Reyes, who told the mechanics who cleaned the blood off her dented car that she’d hit a dog, and subsequently fled to another continent, is eligible for parole in October. Yes, October 2021.

(Chan Reyes was sentenced to seven years just three months ago for the 2017 hit-and-run death of Agustin Rodriguez, after dragging Rodriguez the length of two football fields under her car as she sped away — then fleeing to Hong Kong and Australia in an ultimately vain attempt to avoid prosecution. Evidently, seven years doesn’t last as long as it used to.)

_____

I remain furious that Brandon James Lindsley only got 7 goddamn years for the hit-and-run death of Carla Becerra while illegally riding a motorcycle on the San Gabriel River Trail, but at least he’s not eligible for parole until… February 2023.

Becerra’s ghost bike is still there next to the river trail, so I added some flowers for her birthday a couple weeks ago.

_____

Unrelated to bikes, repeat drunk driver Maritza Joana Lara, who killed a dad on Father’s Day and critically injured four other people, then fled the scene on foot before her arrest in Mexico, will be eligible for parole in 2033.

_____

Stephen Taylor Scarpa, who left Costa Mesa Fire Captain Mike Kreza’s three little girls fatherless, is still set for a jury trial in August. Scarpa is charged with murder for allegedly driving while stoned when he killed Kreza as the popular firefighter was training for a triathlon while riding in Mission Viejo.

_____

Richard David Lavalle, charged with murder in the death of a 12-year-old autistic boy as he rode bikes with his dad in a Costa Mesa crosswalk, wants to fire his public defender. If this doesn’t happen, his prelim will likely proceed as scheduled September 21st.

_____

Robert Calvin Mata, who killed John Crouch at PCH & 1st in downtown Huntington Beach late last month, remains under investigation for DUI (drugs, not alcohol).

A commenter on your blog said that the crosswalk on the south side of that intersection had been removed, but I remember being surprised that one wasn’t intstalled after the new development went in, given the great increase in pedestrian activity it’s brought to that location.

_____

Ronald Earl Kenebrew, Jr., who was already locked up awaiting a court date on charges of robbery & indecent exposure, was arraigned yesterday on charges of murder, carjacking, and hit & run in the death of Branden Finley as he rode to the Ride For Black Lives in Downtown Los Angeles last year. The court website hasn’t been updated, so I dunno the outcome of his hearing.

LA Superior Court opens back up this week, and I’ll be there to do some digging into a backlog of cases.

_____

School teacher Molly Jane Hoene had a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 21st, and no further hearings scheduled as yet, but her bail still stands, so I don’t think the charges were dropped. Hoene was arrested for the 2019 hit-and-run death of a homeless bike rider in Silver Lake that was caught on security cam.

_____

Moises Iscaya, who fled the scene after killing South LA father Jorge Guerra on July 8th as he rode bikes home with his two kids last fall, is likely to be declared mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Investigators found Iscaya three months later, already in custody on multiple unrelated charges, including murder.

_____

Jared Walter Anderson, who allegedly squished the life out of scooter rider Evan Dyer Faram at Sunset & Vine in 2019, faces the judge again on July 15th.

_____

On a separate not, last month, on Friday, May 14th, I was waiting for the bus at Fig & Pico about 11am, and a ride rolled by… and rolled and rolled and rolled… I thought the river of bikes was never going to end. I honestly started wondering whether they had just looped a few blocks and were going around in a circle. A young man yelled an invitation, so I jumped in and followed a guy riding backwards for at least a half mile. To this day I still don’t know what this ride was!!!!! All ages. Guys, gals. Fixie trash. Insta-girls. Geezers on trikes. BMX kids. Dogs in backpacks, dogs in baskets. Spandex, cargo shorts, hot pants, and a skirt or two… everybody and all their neighbors. Just an amazing encounter. Los Angeles, 2021. Wow.

………

The LAPD announced a $50,000 reward for the hit-and-run driver who killed Leo Dimeglio as he was riding his bicycle on eastbound Jefferson Blvd around 11:41 p.m on June 10th.

Unfortunately, this is the first we’ve heard of the fatal crash. It shouldn’t take nearly three weeks for the police to inform the public that an innocent person has been killed. Let alone ask for our help in apprehending a heartless, cowardly, killer driver.

I’ll have a more detailed story later today.

………

Once again, a driver has gotten onto a supposedly carfree bike trail — this time with tragic results.

An alleged drunk driver somehow got onto Sacramento’s popular American River Parkway and slammed into the Sacramento Wheelmen group ride, leaving one rider in critical condition with severe injuries.

Let’s hope the victim makes a fast and full recovery, and that they secure the trail to keep it from ever happening again.

And that the driver is never again allowed behind the wheel.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A Boston man is under arrest for slashing a food delivery rider on the arm with an “industrial-style pocket knife” in an apparent random attack. The victim was treated at the scene but refused further medical attention.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

San Francisco police are offering a $25,000 reward for the 2016 fatal shooting of a man in the Tenderloin District; a security cam captured an image of the suspect riding on the handlebars of another man’s bike; the bike rider has been cleared, but the shooter is still at large.

………

Local

For the first time since the 1980s, Los Angeles doesn’t has the worst traffic in the US. The Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim region was number two last year, behind the New York-Newark area. Which, oddly, is exactly what it feels like to ride a bike here.

Progressive news site Knock LA looks at the fight to form a union representing Metro Bike workers, who don’t actually work for Metro.

The new state budget includes $4.3 million in funding for a proposed walking path along the San Gabriel River.

 

State

Streetsblog offers an update on key issues that passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee yesterday, including a bill allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields, a bill legalizing jaywalking, and a third allowing cameras on buses to capture bus lane violations. So we can have cameras on buses, but no speed cams in school zones. Got it.

San Diego safety advocates are calling for drivers to pay attention after the recent rash of bike deaths in the county.

A San Luis Obispo paper say the transportation bill currently taking shape in the US House — as opposed to the recently announced bipartisan bill — contains $20 million for transportation projects in SLO and Santa Barbara counties, including a bike path connecting Morro Bay and Cayucos.

San Francisco Streetsblog calls out a deadly combination of reckless driving and unsafe street design for the needless death of a man riding his bike home from work in Hayworth last week.

 

National

Bike lawyer Bob Mionske examines the safety and legalities of modern roundabouts.

The Christian Science Monitor questions whether America even knows how to do infrastructure anymore.

They get it. The county surrounding Boise, Idaho is suddenly a national leader in protecting bike riders, committing to install protected bike lanes whenever they resurface any of the most dangerous multilane roadways in the region. Maybe the newly bike-friendly Caltrans can follow their lead. Let alone the ostensibly progressive LADOT.

Visions of cowboys on scooters, as e-scooters hit the streets of Cheyenne, Wyoming just in time for the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota is expanding its 35-mile network of bike trails to serve the area’s one million annual users.

A Minnesota bike rider calls on drivers to look out for people on bicycles after he was nearly run down while riding in a crosswalk with his girlfriend while crossing with the walk signal.

The carnage continues in New York, where a 71-year old man was killed when he was stuck by a postal truck in an apparent right hook.

A New York county approves its own three-foot passing law after concluding bike riders need more protection than the state’s “safe distance” passing rule.

That’s more like it. A University of Pennsylvania cop goes viral for her friendly interaction with an Instagram star, as she and her partner join him in passing out sandwiches after initially responding to a call of bike riders blocking the sidewalk.

The DC bike community is in mourning after 61-year-old Jay Moglia died of a massive heart attack while leading a group ride last Saturday; the former bike messenger, racer and cycling trainer was a renowned figure in the Washington area.

 

International

Treehugger rates the year’s best ebike conversion kits.

Pink Bike takes a spin on Earthbound’s high pivot bamboo-frame enduro bike. And likes it.

A British Columbia man questions whether the motorcyclist who ran down his bicycle-riding mother caught a break because authorities thought he was a “nice” and “decent” man.

A Clinton, Ontario website looks back to the “Victorian age of muscular Christianity,” when a group of itinerant American clergymen rode into town on their Penny Farthings under the banner of the newly formed American Wheelmen.

He gets it, too. A Montreal writer questions whether an accident waiting to happen that puts children, bike riders and pedestrians at risk is still an accident.

A British transport minister says no, there is no chance bike riders will be required to wear license numbers, regardless of the demands of “Mr. Loophole,” a lawyer who specializes in getting wealthy drivers off the hook.

Okay, so they weren’t on a bicycle. It’s still worth mentioning two Indian men sharing a motorcycle who escaped a charging leopard by feeding him cake. Although something tells me the big cat will be waiting to blow to the candles when they come back.

A new Australian study hopes to determine whether “excessive” recreational riding leads to heart problems in non-elite bicyclists.

 

Competitive Cycling

Spoiler alert: Skip this section if you still have yesterday’s stage of the Tour de France in your viewing queue. Still here? The news that aging Mark Cavendish won his first stage of the Tour de France in six years is just to big to hide behind a spoiler-free link; the win leaves the sprinter just three victories behind The Cannibal’s record of 34 Tour stage wins.

The entire peloton stepped off their bikes for a silent protest at the start of yesterday’s stage to call attention to the dangerous conditions that have led to a rash of crashes in this year’s Tour, arguing that someone could be killed next time.

The woman who caused a massive crash with her sign in the first stage of the Tour has disappeared after fleeing France to parts unknown.

Now you, too, can wear the same kit as LA’s own L39ION of Los Angeles cycling team.

 

Finally…

A driver cuts out the middleman and runs down bikes before they even leave the shop. Nothing will test your relationship like riding 3,700 miles on a tandem.

And that’s one way to do a multimodal commute.

Twitter post

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Category: Legal Cases, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Court sticks LA and Caltrans for $9.1 million in PCH crash, and Brown signs e-scooter helmet bill

September 21, 2018 / / 4 comments

In the latest massive court case against the City of Los Angeles, a jury awarded $9.1 million to a man injured while riding his bike on PCH.

The Los Angeles Times reports Robert Jeffrey Watts suffered a severe brain injury four year ago, when he swerved his bike to go around rocks and debris on PCH in Pacific Palisades, and was struck by the wing mirror of a passing truck.

Watts came across a pile of sand and rocks on the pavement, and steered into the travel lane to avoid the debris. He was struck by a truck’s side mirror and lost control of his bicycle, resulting in a crash that left him with a “significant amount of brain damage,” according to a complaint filed in 2015 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Watts was an experienced bicyclist who rode to his office in Culver City for years to keep fit, said his attorney, Boris Treyzon. Watts, who ran a successful freelance camera company, was left unable to work.

The jury split blame for the case, finding Caltrans 40% liable for the crash, with Los Angeles responsible for the rest.

Caltrans, which owns the highway, had hired Los Angeles to sweep the pavement at least once a month and keep it free of debris, but jury testimony and records left it unclear how often the work was performed, Treyzon said.

During the trial, he said, two city street sweepers testified that at the Tramonto slide, “they would simply swing around … and ignore it,” rather than remove the sand, gravel and rocks from the roadway.

No surprise there to anyone who has watched LA City street sweepers in action. Or had to ride through the debris they left behind.

The size of these awards keep climbing. And those payments come out of your taxes.

Money that would be much better spent to fund quality bike infrastructure and safer streets to keep bike riders and pedestrians from getting injured.

Instead of paying out massive legal judgements after they do.

………

Go ahead and scoot without a skid lid.

To the surprise of some — okay, me — Governor Brown signed AB 2989, allowing adult users of e-scooters to ride without a helmet.

In addition, the law allows scooters on streets with speed limits up to 35 mph; current law limits scooters to streets with speed limits up to 25 mph unless they have bike lanes.

No word on when the law takes effect.

………

CiclaValley wants to know whether Decker Canyon or Westlake Blvd offers the scarier descent.

Although Phil Gaiman might vote for Tuna Canyon.

………

Cheetahs don’t pedal.

Just saying.

 

………

Local

Ride Metro Bike bikeshare free tomorrow for World Car Free Day.

A writer for City Watch takes a miserable walk down Fairfax Blvd, followed by a harrowing bike ride. And says Metro could fund trees, sidewalk improvements and bike lanes on Fairfax, as well as on Wilshire Blvd and all the major streets in the area that connect to Wilshire, for less than $50 million. Let’s hope someone is listening to him.

Downtowners weigh in on plans to remake LA’s Civic Center, calling for protected bike lanes and trails with bike and scooter parking.

Bicycling profiles the founder of LA-based women’s bikewear brand Machines for Freedom.

The third annual Gran Fondo Santa Clarita rolls next Saturday.

 

State

The Tahoe-Pyramid Trail is nearing completion, following the Truckee River 116 miles from the north shore of Lake Tahoe to Nevada’s Pyramid Lake.

 

National

A writer for Forbes explains in detail why you have a greater right to ride a bicycle than to drive a car, and proposes a Micromobility Bill of Rights giving you the same entitlement on smaller devices like e-scooters.

Bicycling looks at the “newest and coolest gear” from this year’s Interbike show.

Your next bike could be made of Super Magnesium.

No bias here. A Colorado columnist complains about “Bicyclist Entitlement Syndrome,” saying courteous bike riders are so rare you never see them. And the rest park their bikes on handicap ramps and run over kittens.

Omaha police agree to keep patrolling the city’s paved trails in response to bike riders’ concerns about “wrongdoers.”

A Chicago city alderman has proposed requiring bike riders to dismount and walk their bikes on the popular downtown Riverwalk, saying it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

The administrators of the bike-hating Northern Kentucky Facebook group we linked to earlier this week have turned it into a closed group after it got public attention, and changed the name to “Share the Road;” local bicyclists are worried it could incite violence against bike riders.

Police in Knoxville TN are the latest department to use an ultrasonic radar device to enforce the three-foot passing law. The LAPD, not so much.

A pair of Cleveland bike riders were brutally attacked and robbed in separate early morning attacks.

New York is closing a pair of key bike lanes, apparently for security reasons, in preparation for next week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting — but leaving open a car tunnel that runs directly underneath.

A DC Twitter bot instantly uncovers the unpaid traffic tickets for any license plate, including one driver with 84 tickets totaling $10,700. Can we get that here in LA? Pretty please?

 

International

The co-founder of Zipcar warns the changes autonomous vehicles will bring could be paradise, or it could be hell.

Bike Radar offers tips on how to take inexperienced bike riders out for their first road ride.

Now that it’s legal north of the border, Canada’s military says don’t drive for 24 hours after you toke.

The Guardian looks at the colorful reinvention of city intersections.

Now that’s more like it. After a driver in the UK tweets that she should have run over a bike rider, police tell her to return her license because she’s clearly not fit to have one.

A British ebike maker says restricting ebikes to 15.5 mph in the UK and European Union is too slow for riders to be safe in traffic.

A Brit bike rider blames Strava for leading thieves to his home, where they stole five bikes worth nearly $16,000.

Heartbreaking news from the Netherlands, where four children were killed when the daycare cargo bike they were riding in was hit by a train.

VeloNews takes a tour of Italian bicycle factories.

 

Competitive Cycling

Forty-three-year old Amber Neben continues to defy the calendar as she prepares to compete for her third road world championship.

But maybe you’d rather watch bike racers about 40 years younger.

Twitter post

 

Finally…

Forget bike polo, it’s Cycleball season. Now you can own your very own British bike chain; no, not that kind.

And maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think those are bike racks.

………

Thanks David D, and everyone who has contributed this week, for their generous donations to help support this site. 

One final reminder, if everyone who visits this site today donated just $10, it would be more than enough to keep it going for a full year.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia on September 30th!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Breaking News: No justice for OC cyclist Kenneth Prevatte; civil suit filed in Debra Deem case

September 16, 2014 / / 2 comments

Once again, there’s no justice for a fallen rider.

Late Tuesday, I received an email from the sister of Kenneth Prevatte, killed in a rear-end collision while riding in a Sunset Beach bike lane on PCH in Huntington Beach over two years ago. She informed me that Becki Lee James, the driver charged in the death of the popular Long Beach cyclist, was acquitted in a trial this week.

She reports James had been charged with vehicular manslaughter; she had originally been arrested on suspicion of felony DUI causing great bodily injury & gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

No word yet on why the alcohol charges had been dropped or why she was acquitted in what seemed like a clear cut case; hopefully we’ll have more information soon.

But at least the Orange County District Attorney should be congratulated for filing charges in a case with no guarantee of victory — unlike the LA DA.

And hopefully, Prevatte’s family will get the justice they deserve in civil court.

In an aside to the case, one of the potential jurors dismissed from the jury pool in the James trial was the brother of teenage cyclist Sean Severson, killed while biking to school in Fountain Valley.

Pity that those who would make the best jurors in cases like this are the ones who are automatically excluded.

……..

Speaking of civil court, I received a press release from Torrance-based law firm AgnewBrusavich, the firm behind the CalBikeLAw.com website, announcing they had filed a civil suit in the death of cyclist Debra Deem.

Deem, the wife of former Olympian cyclist and Cycle Werks bike shops owner Paul Deem, was riding in the bike lane on PCH in Newport Beach when she was right hooked by a driver turning onto Newport Coast Drive.

The suit alleges that the State of California and the City of Newport Beach were both negligent in the design and maintenance of what has been described as a very confusing intersection by cyclists who ride there. Unlike other intersections in the area, the bike lane reportedly disappears prior to the highway-style interchange, leaving riders with no clear pathway to the other side, and no guide for drivers on where bikes are likely to be positioned.

According to the release, Paul Deem filed the suit, at least in part, in hopes that it will bring much needed safety improvements to this section of PCH.

Meanwhile, I’m told that the case against the driver, 84-year old Robert James Anderson, ended in a mistrial on Friday; no word yet on why or if the case will be refiled.

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Legal Cases / Tags: , , , , , , ,
 
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee