Tag Archive for Randon William Cintron

Repeat DUI driver busted in fatal Newport Beach hit-and-run, and stoned distracted driver charged in killing of KC father of ten

Before we get started, our old friend Walt Arrrrr discovered a ghost bike installed in Baldwin Park.

After tracking it down, he discovered the victim was killed in a collision that barely made the news last month.

I’ll have more information later today.

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The driver who killed 44-year old Costa Mesa resident Randon Cintron as he rode his bike on Jamboree Road in Newport Beach was arrested shortly after the crash.

Thirty-six-year old Anaheim resident Adriana Rivera Bernal was taken into custody a couple miles from the crash site.

Bernal was reportedly high on an undisclosed drug at the time of the crash, and held on $1 million bond on suspicion of murder and hit-and-run.

She reportedly has a long history of drug abuse, petty theft, ID theft and auto theft, as well as multiple DUIs, which explains the murder charge.

A crowdfunding campaign to pay Cintron’s funeral expenses has raised over $29,000, easily topping the $20,000 goal.

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For anyone who, like me, has been following the case of the Kansas City teacher and father of ten children who was killed by an allegedly stoned hit-and-run driver, a crowdfunding campaign has raised over $204,000 of the $250,000 goal.

Meanwhile, the 27-year old driver has been charged with felony counts of hit-and-run resulting in death, and tampering with a motor vehicle; she reportedly admitted to police she was texting and high on Percocet when she ran the victim down, and allegedly set fire to her car afterward to coverup the crime.

She was also uninsured and driving on a suspended license.

More proof that taking a driver’s license away doesn’t necessarily stop anyone from driving. Officials have to impound the car, too.

Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

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Sometimes, you just have to save drivers from themselves.

Even if they don’t thank you for it.

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1570134505763278848

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No car, no wilderness for you.

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People for Mobility Justice is hosting a ride to examine bike and pedestrian safety improvements in Wilmington .

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Any LCIs want to help out in Menifee this Saturday?

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Walk ‘n Rollers is heading to Culver City to celebrate my birthday host a Walk & Roll Festival on the 24th.

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Mark your calendar for next month.

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Here’s another one to mark your calendar for.

https://twitter.com/NYC_SafeStreets/status/1570101221150846977

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There’s just something about this one that draws you in.

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Sure, go to Australia to train for the Worlds.

But watch out for flying ‘roos.

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That feeling when one little missing letter changes the whole meaning of the headline.

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

No bias here. A candidate for West Hollywood city council comes out in favor of keeping Fountain Ave dangerous, as John Duran says he’s running to “kill Council’s dumb ideas,” like replacing traffic lanes with bike lanes — even though the city estimates it will reduce crashes 35% to 40%.

A New Orleans public radio station examines a proposal to remove protected bike lanes from the usually neglected Algiers neighborhood, because some local residents find the bollards the “most intrusive, visually unappealing design available.” Because evidently, aesthetics matter more than saving human lives. 

A British transportation planner argues against taking the lane, suggesting that it just pisses drivers off.

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

56-year old Long Beach man faces charges for stabbing a couple outside a gay bar following a dispute, killing one man and seriously injuring another, before fleeing on his bicycle. A crowdfunding campaign to help pay the victims’ funeral costs and medical expenses has raised $37,000 of the $50,000 goal.

Multiple cars were hit with rocks thrown by a Portland man riding a bicycle and pulling a bike trailer; police cited the homeless bike rider for criminal mischief, adding to the 42 other citations he’s received recently.

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Local

A man riding his bicycle in South LA was struck twice with bullets after hearing multiple gunshots, but was apparently unaware of where the shots came from.

That’s more like it. A 136-unit apartment building planned for LA’s Sawtelle neighborhood will feature 103 bicycle parking spaces, and just 93 spaces for cars.

Pasadena approves a list of 19 priority transportation projects using money Metro saved by not building an overpass on Colorado Blvd; half of the projects involve multimodal uses. Demonstrating that funds can actually be put to good use — a lot of good uses, in fact — instead of wasted on expensive, demand-inducing highway projects. 

Santa Monica made the list of eight small cities with bike friendly cultures, joining more established locations like Wisconsin’s Mad City, Boulder, CO and my Colorado hometown.

Long Beach’s Beach Streets carfree open streets event returns this Saturday, after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus.

 

State 

Streetsblog is urging Gov. Newsom to veto AB 371, which would make bikeshare and e-scooter providers solely responsible for the negligent or reckless behavior of riders.

Electrek is teaming with Irvine-based e-bikemaker Super73 for a ride through Orange County Saturday evening. Even though the website uses a very expansive definition of Los Angeles.

Nice gesture, as Orange County residents contributed over 200 bouquets to continue the charitable work of eight-year old Bradley Rofer, who was killed riding his bike in Coto de Caza earlier this month; he donated the money he raised selling bouquets to support young cancer patients.

San Diego’s Blind Stoker’s Club is in the mix for a grant of up to $15,000.

Goleta will host a public meeting on September 20th to consider the San Jose Creek Bike Path Project, following the completion of the environmental review.

The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition is hosting their Bike to the Future annual fundraising ride on Sunday.

Oakland police still haven’t made an arrest in the hit-and-run involving an impatient driver during the monthly East Bay Bike Party, even though the department was presented with eyewitness accounts and the driver’s license plate number.

 

National

Writing for Outside, bike scribe Joe Lindsey makes the case for why you should buy an ebike instead of an EV.

The National Law Review examines the high cost of bicycle crashes, and the obvious cost-effectiveness of avoiding crashes in the first place.

A British boy features in a typical Facebook scam, as photos keep popping up saying he was struck by a driver September 4th in several different US towns; the boy was actually hit by a car in Grimsby, England three months earlier, while an accompanying photo of a bicycle comes from a 2021 crash in Santa Rosa.

How Google Maps could tweak their algorithms to make bicycling safer and more appealing.

Tomorrow’s Dateline NBC season premier will examine the murder of gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas, and the arrest of her accused love triangle killer Kaitlin Armstrong.

A former St. Louis drug dealer turned his life around by designing and building custom lowrider bicycles.

A Kentucky bike ride will take participants past several distilleries. Which seems like one hell of a wasted opportunity.

Sharing a bike lane with ebikes and scooters is one thing; sharing a New York bike lane with motorized lawn chairs is another.

A new study shows Philadelphia bikeshare use crossed geographic and socio-economic lines during the pandemic.

Drivers continue to blow through a DC stop sign, a year after a five-year old girl was killed while riding her bike in the crosswalk.

 

International

World Car-Free Day is one week from today. So how do you plan to celebrate?

Now you, too, can start your own bike brand.

Treehugger’s Lloyd Alter says America’s ebike revolution is in trouble, because too many supposed ebikes aren’t.

No surprise here, as a new study from Chile finds that income inequalities affect the presence and quality of bicycling infrastructure.

A Vancouver researcher uses her bike as a scientific tool to map the area’s bats.

More proof that government officials are the same almost everywhere, as Northern Ireland’s new infrastructure minister reneges on his pledge to introduce legislation to support safer bicycling.

British Cycling has removed a restriction on not riding bicycles during the queen’s funeral, in response to a significant backlash. Although they still would prefer your didn’t.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a man was sentenced to 30 months behind bars for the drunken, wrong way crash that nearly killed a 13-year old boy; he was so wasted the pub he was at cut him off, so he was driving to another to keep drinking when he hit the kid head-on while on the wrong side of the road.

Seriously? A London writer says you’re better off dealing with the city’s traffic than trying to ride a bike in Amsterdam.

Cycling Tips explains how East Africa’s Team Amani became the unlikely stars of Meta’s new ad campaign.

Tragic news from Thailand, where a British couple riding their bikes around the world were killed Wednesday when they were run down by a pickup driver outside of Bangkok.

 

Competitive Cycling

USA Cycling has added six riders to the US team for the Worlds, after fatigue, injuries and the fight for WorldTour teams to avoid relegation have taken a toll of the previous roster.

Cycling Tips debates whether cycling team relegation is a good idea. I’m all for it, myself. 

Our friend Peter Flax travels to Idaho to discover the myriad joys of gravel racing.

As you can see below, not all competitions involve spandex. Or two wheels, for that matter. (“Triporteur” translates to tricycle.)

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to train a replacement after your bike-riding parrot dies. When you steal a tow truck, maybe don’t return to the scene of the crime to reclaim your bike.

And bike-riding cats are nothing new. But not many have their own helmet.

https://www.tiktok.com/@heyitsgingerandpepper/video/7142957087075749122?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7142957087075749122&refer=embed&referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2F&referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fcat-helmet-bike-ride-viral-tiktok-video-1742860&referer_video_id=7142957087075749122

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Update: Man killed riding road bike in Newport Beach hit-and-run; 3rd fatal OC bike crash this month, and 15th this year

News broke late Sunday morning that a bike rider had been seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver in Newport Beach.

It was this evening before we learned that the victim didn’t survive.

Although as video from the scene makes clear, he never had a chance.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding on the 3000 block of Jamboree Road near Camelback Street when he was struck by a driver around 8:30 am.

The driver fled the scene following the crash.

Initial reports suggested that the victim had suffered major injuries, with a watch commander with the Newport Beach Police Department stated his condition was “not real good.”

As it turned out, that was quite an understatement.

Raw video from the scene shows the coroner arriving and removing the victim’s body from a tent alongside the road, making clear he had died at the scene, and was never even taken to a hospital.

A black road bike can be seen lying in the bike lane with a shattered rear wheel, suggesting that the victim had been run down from behind. Meanwhile, the police tent where his body had been secluded sat a couple dozen yards up the road, making it clear he had been hit with significant force.

The posted speed limit on the street is 55 mph, making the crash almost impossible to survive. There is simply no excuse for speeds that high on any surface streets.

Police were looking for a white sedan with a cracked windshield, no make or model given. However, the Orange County Register reports a driver has been detained for questioning, though it was unclear if they have been arrested.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Newport Beach Police Department at 949/644-3681, or Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855/847-6227.

This is at least the 64th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 15th that I’m aware of in Orange County. That equals the county total for all of 2020, which had been the worst year in recent memory.

It’s also the third fatal bike crash in the county just this month.

Twenty-one of those SoCal deaths have been hit-and-runs.

Note: I’m not embedding the video, since it shows the victim being loaded into the coroner’s van, and his loved ones don’t need to see that.

Update: The Daily Pilot has identified the victim as 43-year old Costa Mesa resident Randon William Cintron. The paper reports a woman was taken into custody two miles away from the crash site; however, she has not been publicly identified. 

According to the website 2urbangirls, the alleged driver was found with her car on the 2100 block of Eastbluff Drive near Corona del Mar High School, where she was detained and arrested. 

Commenters to this story indicate the crash occurred on the uphill side of Jamboree Road, with no driveways or connecting roads that would justify merging into the separated bike lane

A crowdfunding campaign has met the $20,000 goal in just one day. 

Update 2: The driver has been identified as 36-year old Anaheim resident Adriana Rivera Bernal. She was reportedly high on an undisclosed drug at the time of the crash. 

Bernal reportedly has a history of drug abuse, petty theft, ID theft and auto theft, as well as multiple DUIs. She’s being held on $1 million bond on charges of murder and hit-and-run, and faced arraignment Tuesday on two previous Orange County arrests. 

Anyone with information is urged to call Newport Beach Police Investigator M. Keyworth at 949/644-3746.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Randon William Cintron and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Oceanside bike lawyer Richard Duquette, Mark Herda, Bill Sellin, Christian and an anonymous source for the heads-up.