Tag Archive for Jonathan Flores

Cars — plural — seized in road rage murder of teen bike rider, and 21 bicyclists dead in LA this year as hit-and-runs rise

Just 34 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 
But so far, no LA city leader has even mentioned the impending deadline. Let alone done anything about it. 

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Let’s start with an update on yesterday’s lead story.

The CHP has identified, but not publicly named, a 28-year old Hispanic man as a person of interest (scroll down) in the intentional hit-and-run death of 16-year old Jonathan Flores in LA’s Exposition Park Friday night.

Investigators also seized two cars after serving a search warrant at a home in Los Angeles.

According to witnesses, a group of around forty teenage bike riders got into a verbal dispute with the driver of a blue BMW while riding south on Figueroa Street.

They rode into the parking lot at BMO Stadium to get away, but were followed by the driver of a second car, described as a Honda sedan. That driver plowed into Flores, who wasn’t involved in the initial confrontation, before fleeing the parking lot.

Flores died at the scene.

The cars seized by the CHP were a blue BMW, and a Honda Accord, corresponding with the witnesses description.

However, no arrest has been made, as the CHP is urging the person of interest to turn himself in.

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It should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following this site that hit-and-run deaths in Los Angeles continue at near record levels, accounting for nearly a third of all traffic deaths in the city.

According to Crosstown LA, 345 people were killed as a result of traffic violence in Los Angeles last year, including 108 who died as a result of hit-and-run collisions.

And things aren’t not much better this year, with just five fewer people dying in hit-and-runs through the end of October, compared to last year.

Also not surprising, people in DTLA and South LA bore the brunt of the problem, without a single neighborhood in the wealthy Westside showing up on a list of the 13 worst neighborhoods for hit-and-run this year.

Then there’s this.

Also increasingly at risk are bicyclists. According to LAPD data, nine cyclists have died in hit-and-runs so far this year; the recent annual high for bicycle hit-and-run deaths was nine in 2019 and again in 2023.

Altogether this year, 21 bicyclists have been killed in collisions, according to Traffic Division Compstat data. Another 130 people suffered serious injuries.

Michael Schneider, founder and director of transportation-focused advocacy group Streets For All, said bicyclists are “being pushed to the margins” of the roads. With streets in the city being designed like freeways, with wide lanes and synchronized traffic lights, the result, he said, is more speeding, which endangers cyclists and pedestrians.

That’s a whopping 14 more than the seven bicycling deaths I’ve counted in the City of Fallen Angels so far this year — exactly three times as many bicyclists actually killed as have been mentioned by the local media.

Never mind that a total of 151 people have been killed or seriously injured riding a bicycle in LA this year.

And you wonder why I’ve been warning that my totals were probably an undercount.

I’ve long called for taking the crime more seriously, including revoking, not suspending, the license of any driver who flees the scene of a collision, regardless of severity.

Along with impounding their cars as evidence until their case is settled, then selling them upon conviction, with any proceeds going to the victims.

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Failure continues to stalk the bike industry, with three more bike-related companies going belly up or suspending sales.

British bike distributor The Martlet Group, owner of i-ride and its bike brand Orro, went into receivership — the equivalent of bankruptcy — earlier this year, due to heavy discounting of overstock merchandise.

French sportswear maker Le Coq Sportif also went into receivership; the firm made all the yellow jerseys for the Tour de France for more than four decades, noncontiguous though those decades may have been.

And Swiss bikemaker Stromer is immediately suspending sales of its Stromer and Desiknio bike brands in the US and Canada, after it was unable to find a North American distributor willing to take it over. Thanks to Ellectrek for the heads-up. 

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Black Friday is once again rearing its ugly head. Although now it’s a week, if not a month, instead of a single day, making it much harder to ignore.

Bike Rumor is first out of the gate with a roundup of the best Black Friday bike deals, while Momentum makes their picks for the best Black Friday deals on bikes, cargo bikes and ebikes.

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It’s now 342 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

More than 30 Evanston, Illinois business owners decided to shoot themselves in the foot by urging city officials to drop plans to expand a protected bike lane, apparently not wanting the increase in foot and bike traffic, and higher retail sales and property values, that usually come with such projects.

No surprise here, as Ontario, Canada passed controversial legislation allowing the province to go over the heads of city officials to remove local bike lanes; making matters worse, the legislation also allows construction of a highway through First Nations lands without consulting Indigenous leaders. Schmucks.

Momentum explains just what cities give up by giving in to car culture — starting with an increase in traffic congestion and a decline in business revenue — aptly calling the Ontario bike lane dispute “hogwash.”

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Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Coronado is hosting a family friendly bike ride on Sunday, December 8th.

Hundreds of San Jose residents turned out for a bike-only ride through an annual holiday light display usually reserved for motorists.

Velo examines why San Francisco is ripping out the city’s most controversial bike lane, as the centerline Valencia Street bike lane is being replace with a more conventional curbside lane.

More bad news from Northern California, after someone riding a bicycle was killed by the driver of a massive Yukon SUV in Concord on Sunday. Although a collision with a vehicle that big is unlikely to be survivable, anyway. Which is why drivers of large vehicles should have a greater responsibility to drive safely, but unfortunately don’t. 

 

National

Hawaii celebrated the opening of a new bike lane through Central Oahu that was decades in the making. Which demonstrates the needless and ridiculous delays we face nearly everywhere in the US in getting much needed safety improvements on the streets.

Our former president isn’t the only one skating on criminal charges, after an Oregon judge granted a DEI agent immunity from prosecution on charges of blowing through a stop sign and killing a woman riding a bicycle in Salem last year. Although you’ll have to figure out a way around the Oregonian’s paywall if you want to read about it. 

A New Mexico researcher is looking into why the number of pedestrians and bicyclists killed on American roads has nearly doubled in just the past 12 years. Hint: Tell him to look at the rise in distracted driving, and the massive bloat in motor vehicle size.

The legacy of the Fayetteville, Arkansas “Bicycle Man” lives on despite his passing in 2013, as the program prepares to give away more than 1,000 bikes to kids in need next month — although that’s just a fraction of the actual need, since they receive over 3,000 requests each year.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A friend gave a Knoxville, Tennessee Korean War vet a new bicycle to replace his worn out bike, so the 86-year old man can continue his daily 22-mile bike rides.

New York responded to complaints of double parked drivers and blocked bike and bus lanes by opening more than 500 new loading zones throughout the city. Although if New York drivers are anything like their SoCal counterparts, they’ll continue to block the bike lanes, rather than drive another 30 or so feet to get to an open loading zone.

My hero. A Huntsville, Alabama radio host is staying up on a 40-foot outdoor tower, exposed to the elements, until a local campaign receives enough bicycles to give every foster kid in the city a new bike for the holidays.

 

International

An English driver proves there are still good people in the world, giving stranded bike riders a lift across flood waters in his 4 x 4 pickup.

No bias here. A British man complains that police are “completely unwilling to prosecute drivers” who hit bicyclists, after getting knocked off his bike a couple weeks ago..

A Philadelphia op-ed writer says bicyclists are treated like traffic in Northern Europe, making it safer for everyone, unlike here in the US where bicycles are considered obstructions for drivers to squeeze by.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australia has banned 25-year old track cyclist Matt Richardson for life, after he switched teams and won three Olympic medals at the Paris Olympics competing for Great Britain. But he won’t be banned from international competition for his new team.

 

Finally…

Kick ass on a BMX bike, and maybe one day, you too can get your very own line of “Bike Air” Jordans. And if wanting to ban SUVs makes you a communist, just call me a pinko.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Update — 16-year old bike rider allegedly murdered by road-raging driver in BMO Stadium parking lot; police seize 2 vehicles

Once again, a bike rider has allegedly been murdered by an apparent road raging driver.

This time, right here in Los Angeles.

According to KCBS-2, a 16-year old boy was killed when he was deliberately run down by a driver who chased a large group of bike-riding teens into the parking lot at BMO Stadium in Exposition Park a little before 4:30 pm Friday.

The incident began when a group of around 40 kids were riding their bikes south on Figueroa Street, north of Martin Luther King Blvd, and an “altercation” began with the driver of an unidentified sedan.

The teens attempted to escape by going through a gap in the fencing around the BMO Stadium parking lot. They were followed by the driver in the sedan, who accelerated into the group and struck the victim, who has not been publicly identified.

The driver then fled the scene.

A report on KABC-7 differs on several key details, stating the victim was 17 years old, and riding a skateboard, rather than a bicycle. (Update: KABC has revised their story to indicate the victim was 16, and riding a bicycle.)

Police report several witnesses left before investigators could speak with them. Anyone with information is urged to call the CHP’s Southern Division Major Crimes Unit at 323/644-9550 or the Los Angeles Communication Center at 323/259-3200.

If the details are born out, it should result in a murder charge when the driver is ultimately identified and arrested. Anything less would be a travesty.

Assuming the victim was riding a bike, this is at least the 52nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 17th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the seventh that we know about in the City of Los Angeles, which is likely an undercount.

(Correction: According to Crosstown LA, the actual number of bicyclists killed in Los Angeles so far this year is 21, not the seven I’ve counted; nine of those have been victims of hit-and-run drivers.)

Eighteen of those SoCal deaths we know about have been hit-and-runs. And it’s the second time a bike rider has allegedly been murdered by a driver in just the past eight days.

Update: Fox 11 is reporting that one of the teenagers broke the car’s mirror during the altercation on the street, prior to the driver pursuing the group into the parking lot. 

He then intentionally drove his car into the victim, who reportedly wasn’t even involved in the initial confrontation. 

Read that last part again. The kid he killed had absolutely nothing to do with it. 

According to KABC-7, the victim was identified as John by some of the riders, who gathered at the site on Saturday to remember him. 

“It’s really hard to be honest, we’re just trying to ride and it’s really hard for the family too,” said Manuel Ramirez. “He didn’t deserve to die in the streets like that.”

Meanwhile, Fox spoke with a local pastor. and parent.

Pastor Mariela Madriz, whose own teenage son frequently bikes with friends in the area, described the tragedy as “heartbreaking and horrific.” She spoke to FOX 11 at her nearby church, Iglesia Jesucristo Fuente De Vida.

“As a mom, all I could think is — it could have been my son,” Madriz said…

“If you can get so angry over a broken mirror to your car to kill a child, you don’t deserve to be out and free,” Madriz said. “You deserve to be locked up for the rest of your life.”

The station also talked to a former detective, who said the car should be easy to identify. 

Retired LAPD Detective Moses Castillo echoed Madriz’s sentiments, calling the incident a “horrible tragedy” just days before Thanksgiving.

“This is the type of case that can be solved quickly with the public’s help,” Castillo said. “If you see a vehicle with a damaged side-view mirror and front-end collision damage, report it to authorities immediately. More than likely, that’s going to be our suspect.” 

Let’s hope someone spots it fast, before the driver can hide or repair it.

Because the pastor is right. This person shouldn’t be out on the streets, ever again. 

Update 2: We have a lot to catch up on in this case, starting with the identification of the victim as 16-year old Jonathan Flores

Not surprisingly, the LA County Medical Examiner ruled his death was a homicide caused by multiple blunt force injuries

Police have also identified, but not named, a person of interest in his killing, after serving a search warrant at a Los Angeles home Saturday night, and seizing two cars. 

The incident reportedly began with an altercation with the driver of a blue BMW, who argued with some of the teens on the street. 

They were then followed into the parking lot by the driver of second car, a Honda sedan, who slammed into the victim, killing him. 

It’s not clear at this time what the relationship was between the two motorists. However, the vehicles seized by the police were a blue BMW and the Honda Accord they believe was involved in the crash, suggesting that both cars were found at the same home. 

CHP investigators urged the driver of the Honda, identified only as a 28-year old Hispanic man, to turn himself in. However, no one has been arrested at this time. 

Update 3: CHP investigators have identified the suspect as 28-year old Jonathan Antonio Rodriguez, and issued a warrant for his arrest. 

Rodriguez is charged with murder, felony hit-and-run and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony, and a $2 million bail has been set pending his arrest.

He remains a fugitive at this time.

However, no photo has been provided to help identify him.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jonathan Flores and his loved ones.