Apparently, no one is safe from idiots with engines.
According to a tweet from the Norwalk Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, a woman was killed in a collision with a motorcyclist while riding on the San Gabriel River Bike Trail a little over two weeks ago.
Yes, on an offroad bike path.
And yes, her killer fled the scene.
The victim was identified as 31-year old Carla Becerra, who was killed in the crash on Saturday, February 1st.
#HitandRun Arrest 2/1/20, Carla Becerra (31) was cycling on riverbed bike path when she was struck & killed by susp riding a motorbike. #RIP
2/13 Brandon Lindsley (29) was arrested for the crime.
Twentynine-year old Brandon Lindsley was arrested for the crime eleven days later, and charged with vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run last Friday. Since Becerra died, both should be felony counts.
Unfortunately, that’s all we know right now.
No word on exactly where or how the crash happened. And no explanation for what the hell someone on a motorbike was doing on a bike path.
Hopefully we’ll learn more on Wednesday, when the department is expected to issue a press release.
This is at least the seventh bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
Becerra was found lying unconscious on the path, with her bicycle several feet away. She was taken to Coast Plaza Medical Center, where she died.
Investigators identified Lindsley as a person of interest based on a distinctive tattoo seen by people who did not witness the crash itself. He was arrested after reportedly making incriminating statements to investigators.
Lindsley is being held on $105,000 bail in this case, as well as a no-bail hold on an outstanding warrant for assault with a deadly weapon.
Comments from Mike Wilkinson and Michael of CLR Effect say motorcycles aren’t unusual on the San Gabriel River Bike Trail, despite a prohibition on anything with an engine.
Maybe this will be a much-needed wakeup call to actually do something about it.
Update 2: Chris Klibowitz reports that the sheriff’s department gave the location as between Imperial and Firestone, rather than near the intersection, as KTLA reported, which makes a lot more sense.
Update 3: I received a message from Carla Becerra’s brother Quin, who offered a few details missing from previous reports.
According to Quin, the first call to 911 came around 6:45 pm on February 1st, as Carla Becerra was riding her bicycle south on the bike path, and Brandon Lindsley was traveling north on his motorcycle; he places the crash site roughly a quarter mile south of Imperial Highway.
Lindsley apparently fled because he had an outstanding warrant for a robbery assault with a deadly weapon.
Then again, he might have run anyway.
And still no explanation for why he was riding illegally on the bike path.
Adding insult to injury — literally — someone stole Becerra’s phone, earphones and ear rings while she was lying unconscious and dying on the bike path, sometime before the first responders could get there.
As a result, emergency personnel were unable to identify her for several hours, and her family had no idea where she was or what happened to her until they received the tragic news at 3 am the next day.
This is how Quin described his sister Carla.
My sister was a full time RN at UCI medical and at MLK hospital. She had worked her entire life, to buy my parents their dream home in Lakewood, even put her social and love life on hold to do so. She always put others before herself, just so her life can be taken away from someone so selfish. The messed up part about all of this is that if he (Brandon) was the one left unconscious then she would have stayed and made sure he made it. She had a huge passion for cycling and running. The only comfort my family and I take from this is that she left us while doing something she loved. It just wasn’t her time yet.
He concluded by noting that Brandon Lindsley will be arraigned on Tuesday, February 25th — the same day his victim will be laid to rest.
There are no words.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Carla Becerra and all her loved ones.
Which would be a big deal, if he actually follows through this time.
There’s a lot to like in the plan. Starting with a commitment to active transportation; according to My News LA, the plan would
— promote walking, bicycling and micro-mobility with a comprehensive citywide network of active transportation corridors, including protected bike lanes, paths along regional waterways and low-stress neighborhood bike improvements;
The order also calls for more cool streets and roofs, a congestion pricing pilot program, zero emission buses, and increasing transit speeds by 30% in the next ten years.
More importantly, it calls for reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled through expanded use of transit, walking, bicycling and micromobility.
I really like this part but it's the least specific when it comes to implementation—basically making sure that any changes to the right of way are made in a way that reduces VMT. This could be really big if the on-the-ground policies actually support it. pic.twitter.com/YtR3RS8pp2
And of special interest to many of us, more frequent open streets events.
Today @MayorOfLA announced a new executive order to speed the implementation of the Green New Deal plan to reduce emissions introduced almost a year ago.
The bike plan seems depressingly vague. We'll see if he has the political will to achieve any of it. So far he has not shown to care at all about safe bike routes. pic.twitter.com/8VI2s9L33r
— Let's Get Neighborhood Approval to Save the Planet (@ChrisByBike) February 10, 2020
It remains to be seen whether that implementation plan for an active transportation network means we’ll finally get around to building out the hard-won 2010 Bike Plan that was unanimously passed by the city council when Garcetti was still council president.
Or if they intend to re-invent the wheel yet again, with or without our input.
“Can we make this happen?” Garcetti asked Monday, speaking broadly about the city’s sustainability goals. “We don’t have a choice.”
But they added —
It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to achieve one of the key goals laid out in the city’s Green New Deal: A nearly 50 percent reduction in the number of miles LA residents drive daily.
The problem, of course, is that we’ve been here before.
Any progress on the bike plan, or the mobility plan that subsumed it, ground to a near complete and total stop after Garcetti took office as mayor.
And any real progress on the mayor’s own Vision Zero plan came to a halt the first time drivers complained about a road diet.
The result that not only have bike and pedestrian deaths not declined by 20%, as the plan called for by this year, they’ve actually gone up.
So this could be the beginning of the groundbreaking, tide-turning movement to re-invent the City of Angels into the more livable — and survivable — city so many of us have fought for.
Or it could be just another bold plan that will soon by gathering dust on the shelf.
It’s all up to Mayor Garcetti.
And whether he’s suddenly found the political will to see it through.
Police took the alleged drunk driver into custody three hours later in nearby Carpinteria. He was a passenger in a car, whose driver was returning from Ventura County after learning that Aguilar was a wanted man.
Authorities threw the book at him, and deservedly so.
According to the site,
Aguilar was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated causing injury, hit and run causing death or injury, fleeing the scene after committing manslaughter, and driving while intoxicated, with an enhancement for causing the deaths of more than one person.
He remained in custody Monday night, with bail set at $100,000.
Fortunately, the dog somehow survived the crash, and was turned over to a family member.
Let’s hope Aguilar gets the hard time a crime like this calls for.
But let’s face it.
As long as drunks continue to get behind the wheel, we’re not safe anywhere. And no amount of jail time can bring back the lives they take.
Remarkably, he found the car parked in a nearby apartment complex, with passenger side damage matching the details of the crash.
Police arrested the 85-year old driver, Tashiro Isa, on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter.
Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive.
Thanks to Ted Faber for the heads-up.
………
The LAPD is asking for your help to find the heartless coward who fled the scene after backing into a 92-year old man, leaving him bleeding in the street.
Or as we call it here in balmy Los Angeles, Friday.
Friday, Feb 14th might ring a bell as a holiday, but this year another special international event is happening. It's @WinterBiketoWorkday. Ride to work, ride to school, ride for our future. PEARL iZUMi is encouraging all employees to ride in … https://t.co/K4jlUdIfdbpic.twitter.com/9wF5AZSihw
After a British truck driver knocked a bicyclist off his bike in a left hook, the equivalent of our right hook, the driver refused to admit he was behind the wheel — and walks with just a fine and points against his license.
Palo Alto considers fixing a “terrifying” intersection used by around 4,000 cars and 20 bicycles per hour during the morning rush. Maybe more bike riders would use it if it wasn’t so scary.
An arrest warrant has been issued for an Aussie man who failed to show up for sentencing after pleading guilty to killing a bike rider; the victim frequently posted videos of close passes while calling for a safer passing distance.
New Zealand’s Georgia Williams is making a comeback to the women’s pro cycling tour after being knocked off her bike by the increasingly common Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, aka RED-S, which prevented her from getting enough fuel for her body while making her bones more brittle.
And apparently, Los Angeles used to be a lot better for bicycling.
I just remembered discovering this 1897 newspaper quote about cycling in LA: "There is no part of the world where cycling is in greater favor than in Southern California, and nowhere on the American continent are conditions so favorable the year round for wheeling." Hmmmm
Allyson Vought, the LA Bicycling Advisory Committee representative for Council District 15, forwarded this video to me yesterday.
It’s hard to see from the rear-facing cam, but the driver actually brushes her as he — let’s assume it’s a he — passes as closely as physically possible without actually sending her to the ER.
Or worse.
Which makes it hit-and-run. Not to mention assault with a deadly weapon.
And yes, she reported it to the police; what, if anything, they’ll do about it remains to be seen.
But one thing is clear.
In most cases like this, the driver would simply claim he didn’t see the person on the bike. That won’t work here, since he blared on the horn as he passed, indicating he not only saw her, but wanted her to get the hell out of his way.
And that makes it intentional.
………
If you live, work or ride in the San Fernando Valley’s 12th Council District, cancel your plans for tomorrow and attend this transportation town hall instead.
And yes, it’s that important.
Although something tells me regressive short-term incumbent John Lee may skip this one.
Alderete suffered a diffuse axonal injury, despite wearing a helmet; several studies have suggested that bike helmets can contribute to, rather than prevent, that kind of injury.
No bias here. The San Francisco Chroniclehighlights the suffering of Bay Area teachers, whose lives would be just dandy if it wasn’t for that darn bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Because apparently, there was no traffic on the bridge before they installed the bike lane as an alternative to driving. And induced demand isn’t a thing.
After gutting a bill mandating helmet use for bike-riding children, the Indiana legislature revives it to allow a state public safety fund to purchase and distribute helmets to kids. Proving that there are other ways to encourage helmet use besides fining people who ride with bare heads. Hint: The same thing works for bike lights, too.
Dutch pro Jakob Fuglsang says he ain’t done nothing wrong, despite reports he’s been hanging out with Lance’s preferred doping doc, and the good doc asserts he’s never been convicted of anything. Which is not the same as never being implicated.
Cycling Tipsreminisces about the chaotic 2005 Sun Tour, which marked the start of Simon Gerrans rise as a pro, but nearly marked the end of the then 53-year old stage race, which is still going strong.
January 30, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Driver charged in fatal El Cajon hit-and-run, who we share the roads with, and get the damn location right, already
Police found him hiding in the bushes after abandoning his car, possibly to avoid being taken into custody for a number of probation violations for previous convictions.
Didn’t work.
But that’s just one more example of the penalty for hit-and-run not even coming close to matching the severity of the crime in this state.
The jury also ruled there was malice in the case, considering that after running over the two women, the driver pulled the mother’s body out of the road, then backed up her pickup and parked it on a side street, pretending to police she wasn’t involved.
Note to world — whatever else you may or may not think of them, cops aren’t stupid.
He then went home and refused to respond to sheriff’s deputies, later denying he’d been drinking, despite being found passed out in the bathtub the next morning.
Instead, he told the victim the next day that he’d had to rush home after the crash because he was suffering from vomiting and diarrhea.
Sure. Let’s go with that.
Deputies couldn’t enter his home to arrest him because a hit-and-run that results in property damage is just a misdemeanor.
Even if it destroys an entire car, and gives the driver plenty of time to sober up from his, uh, diarrhea.
Just another example of how California’s lenient hit-and-run laws don’t fit the crime.
No overreaction here. Police in San Angelo, Texas shut down an entire neighborhood because a man on a bicycle refused to pull over when they tried to stop him for the crime of…wait for it…riding salmon. After finally tracking him down, police searched him and found an empty baggie with drug residue and a pipe. Which any good lawyer should be able to get tossed as an illegal search and lack of probable cause.
Talk about not getting it. The same day Coral Gables, Florida declared a climate emergency, they shot down a proposed bike lane. Evidently, they’ve been mentored by the LA City Council.
International
The US isn’t the only country where bicycle and pedestrian deaths remain high, despite an overall decline in traffic fatalities. Pedestrian deaths are on the rise in the UK, as well, while bicycling fatalities have shown a modest decline even as bicycling rates have remained stagnant.
Wilson was taken to San Diego’s Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Nelson reportedly veered his car into the bike lane, slamming into Wilson’s bicycle before fleeing the scene; there are no word on whether he stopped or slowed down before speeding away.
He abandoned the damaged car on Sloane Canyon Road, and was arrested after a police helicopter crew spotted him hiding in the bushes.
He’s being held at the San Diego Central Jail on $50,000 bond on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run, and expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon.
Anyone with information is urged to call the CHP’s El Cajon area office at 619/401-2000.
This is at least the third bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in San Diego County; two of those three deaths have been hit-and-runs.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Kevin Wilson and all his loved ones.
According to the LA Daily News, a man was killed riding his bike in the Arleta neighborhood of Northwest Los Angeles, in what appears to be the first fatal bicycling collision this year.
And almost needless to say, driver fled the scene, leaving his victim bleeding in the street.
The victim, identified only as a 30-year old man pending notification of relatives, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.
Police are looking for the driver of a light-colored Mercedes sedan. No further information was given for the car or the heartless coward who stepped on the gas instead of stopping and rendering aid, as required by law.
And no explanation was given for why the police asked for the public’s help in finding the driver, yet once again failed to use the hit-and-run alert systems established by both the City of Los Angeles and the State of California.
Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD Valley Traffic Division at 818-644-8022.
When they find this driver — or any other killer hit-and-run driver — they should be subject to a second-degree murder charge. Because the crash may have been unintentional, but the decision to leave their victim dying in the street wasn’t.
This is at least the second bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the first in the City of Los Angeles. That compares to at least 17 in the city last year, and 34 for the county.
And leaves us with a 100% hit-and-run rate for fatal bike crashes this year.
After a friend alerted me to a bill in the California legislature that appeared to lower the penalties for hit-and-run in the state, I went on Twitter to raise the warning like a digital Paul Revere.
Except in this case, the Red Coats weren’t coming.
While the marked-up text of AB 582 made it look like a number of assembly members had signed on to a bill to reduce prison sentences for hit-and-run causing injury or death, it was actually sort of the opposite.
As currently written, the bill would leave the penalty for misdemeanor hit-and-run — not resulting in serious injuries — just the same as it is right now, with up to one year in jail and/or a fine ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
The penalty for felony hit-and-run causing serious, permanent injury would also stay the same, from a minimum of 90 days in county jail to up to four years in state prison.
However, under AB 582, the penalty for a fatal hit-and-run would go up slightly, ranging from 90 days in county to up to six years in state prison, rather than the current four.
Which sounds good. But it’s a big drop from six to eight years in prison, as the bill was originally written.
So while it’s nice to see the legislature finally address the hit-and-run epidemic, AB 582 won’t do a damn thing to keep drivers from hitting the gas after a crash, and leaving their victim bleeding — or dying — in the street.
LA Councilmembers “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo and Paul “Killer” Koretz once again demonstrate that they have apparently solved all the real problems in Los Angeles, and have nothing better to do than tilt at Major League windmills.
Redondo Beach may not be the scene of a Women’s March this Saturday, but it will be home to a bike and pedestrian safety enforcement operation, so ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits line.
This is what a Fresno ebike thief looks like. Note to Fox26News: If you’re going to do a story about a bike thief caught on video stealing an ebike, maybe you should, you know, actually show him stealing the ebike. Just a suggestion.
An Illinois man is suing Walmart for $50,000 after a tire on his new bike exploded, throwing him to the ground; the other tire had exploded before he even left the store.
Josh Quigley, the 27-year old round-the-world bicyclist who miraculously survived a high-speed crash in Texas last month, is finally preparing to fly home to Scotland.
Curbed examines how the City of Lights became an unlikely bicycling success story, setting an example American cities can and should follow. Especially Los Angeles, which doesn’t want to be embarrassed by the Olympic host city just before us. Right, Mayor Garcetti?
Nothing like marking the holidays with yet another fatal hit-and-run.
Even if officials are unlikely to call it that.
According to the Whittier Daily News, 64-year old Whittier resident Alfred Tiscareno Jr. was riding west on Whittier Blvd when he was struck by a driver near the onramp to the 605 Freeway in unincorporated LA County near Whittier, around 6:50 Monday evening.
He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.
There’s no explanation for how the crash occurred; hopefully, more details will be available after the holiday.
And even though he he failed to stop and render aid, as required by law — or presumably, even call 911 to report the crash — he probably never will be.
Especially since Bhakta is not believed to have been under the influence, which too often seems to be the only thing that matters.
The crash is still under investigation; anyone with information is urged to call CHP Officer G. De Luna at 562/868-0503.
Even though the US and Britain can’t even decide if she has diplomatic immunity.
Anne Sacoolas allegedly fled the scene after crashing into the 19-year old motorcyclist while driving on the wrong side of the road. Then promised to cooperate with investigators before fleeing the country under cover of darkness, claiming diplomatic immunity.
And has refused to return to the UK to face charges, despite still more promises to do so.
In other words, using her questionable immunity to avoid taking responsibility for killing a young man. And making her no better than any other hit-and-run driver.
Needless to say, our president has tried to turn the whole mess into a particularly messy episode of reality TV.
And written the whole thing off by saying “American drivers often get confused because motorists in Britain drive on the left side of the road.”
Thanks to John M, Tim Z, Robert L, Risers Music, John H, Anne K and Brian N for their very generous donations. In fact, we’ve already set a new record for the greatest number of donations, and we’re just a few hundred dollars short of our goal for this year.
So don’t let this last day — and the Corgi’s last days as this site’s official spokesdog — pass by unnoticed.
Wolfpack Hustle’s Don Ward, aka Roadblock, talks with vegan dietician, LA bike scene OG and founder of the famed Feel My Legs, I’m a Racer hillclimb Matt Ruscigno, as well as CD14 city council candidate Cyndi Otteson on this week’s Bike Talk podcast.
A new book tells the horrifying story of a Hawaiian woman who was apparently intentionally run down while riding her bike in 1991, then raped, beaten and murdered. Nearly a decade later, two men were convicted and sentenced to life in prison, though some still believe they’re innocent.
A coroner in the UK questions whether posted speed limits should apply to bicyclists, after a 79-year old man was killed when he stepped in front of a bike rider doing 38 in a 30 mph zone. Short answer, yes. Longer answer, absolutely. It’s up to you to ride safely when pedestrians are around. And your responsibility if you if you don’t.
This is at least the 75th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.
Update: The Victor Valley News has identified the victim as 50-year old Hesperia resident Armando Salinas.
The paper reports he was killed in a hit-and-run by the driver of a pickup traveling south on Seventh. Paramedics found his body lying in the southbound lane just below Cactus Street.
Anyone with information is urged to call Deputy D. Whitson or Deputy D. Caudle at the Hesperia Sheriff’s station at 760/947-1500.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the Armando Salinas and all his loved ones.
