Security cam video acquired by KCBS2/KCAL9 shows Gonzales was riding against traffic with three other boys when he was struck by the driver of a speeding pickup, who kept going without slowing down.
His friends immediately dropped their bikes and chased after the driver, but weren’t able to catch him or get the license plate.
Police are looking for a black or dark-colored full size pickup. Anyone with information is urged to call Riverside Police Department Traffic Detective Jeff Derouin at 951/826-8722, or email Jderouin@riversideca.gov.
They note that this is the fifth fatal crash in the city in just six days. But the other drivers at least had the basic human decency to remain at the scene.
Ironically, the driver would have been unlikely to face charges in this case if he or she had simply stopped after the crash. Now they face up to four years behind bars for felony hit-and-run.
This is at least the 22nd bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
He served time for car theft in between — just one of his 17 other felony convictions, along with three misdemeanors.
Watson will have to serve at least 85% of that sentence before he’s eligible for parole, which means he’ll be at least 61 years old when he’s released.
Hopefully, he won’t be allowed to drive once he is.
The ordinance is intended to halt the bike chop shops that have proliferated in plain view around the city, contributing to the rash of bike thefts.
However, it would also criminalize legitimate bike repair services for homeless residents, and prevent them from earning a modest income by repairing and selling abandoned bicycles.
Hopefully the city attorney’s office will find a way to split the baby that halts criminal activity without preventing other legal activities.
A half-mile stretch of one of the two northbound lanes between Glendale and Los Feliz Blvds will be removed to calm traffic and make room for protected bike lanes on either side.
You can only imagine the shockwaves that would have resulted if they had tried to remove parking spaces, too.
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NBC’s LX site talks with the founders of the East Side Riders Bike Club the about using bicycles to cross gang lines and stop the cycle of hunger and violence.
As a child, East Side Riders Bike Club co-founder John Jones III was told there were lines he couldn’t cross in the neighborhood of Watts, Los Angeles. Today, he and his organization — co-founded by his father — regularly cross those gang lines by bicycle to deliver meals to anyone struggling with homelessness or food insecurity.
Unfortunately, I can’t embed this one.
But take a few minutes to click the link and watch the video. And see how bicycles can do so much more than just get you from here to there.
No bias here. The Irish Timesreviews a Czech-built Toyota SUV from the perspective that “cities are no longer that welcoming to the motor car” so you need a “rough and tumble off-roader to survive the cyclists’ scorn and snide remarks.” And the higher view puts drivers at eye-level to bike riders and pedestrians, “so you can look your abusers in the eye.” No, really.
No bias here, either. A BBC host was under fire for discussing the recent bike and pedestrian friendly changes to the country’s Highway Code by asking her guests a series of highly slanted questions about why they hated people on bicycles.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Pasadena Nowtalks with State Senator Anthony J. Portantino about his new bill to improve bike and pedestrian safety by requiring local communities to develop a High Injury Network map, and commit to fixing it within 15 years.
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Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin has been appointed to lead the California State Transportation Agency, aka CalSTA, after less than two and a half years on the job; he’s credited with shifting the state transportation agency’s focus from widening highways to building Complete Streets. Which means Governor Newsom needs to appoint someone who will continue that shift.
San Diego will settle a lawsuit filed by an injured bike rider for $1.3 million, to compensate for the severe facial injuries he suffered when he crashed his bike due to a broken sidewalk in the Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood. Just the latest in a series of multimillion dollar settlements due to the city’s damaged sidewalks.
This is the cost of traffic violence. American Olympian Colby Stevenson took silver in the Men’s Freeski Big Air, after spending five years fighting his way back from a near-fatal car crash caused when he fell asleep behind the wheel.
A new petition calls for an anti-dooring ordinance, after a North Carolina man was killed when a driver threw their car door open in front of his bike. And as we mentioned last week, the local press immediately blamed the victim.
A heartbreaking story gets even worse, as the Florida woman who fell to her death when a drawbridge opened while she was walking her bike across has been identified as 79-year old woman. The obvious question is why isn’t there someone or something in place to watch for people so that doesn’t happen? Thanks to Mike Burk and Edward Rubinstein for the heads-up.
This is who we share the road with. After an English man drove a company van into the back of another car, his boss checked the in-cab video, and watched him swigging champagne strait from the bottle and rolling a cigarette while driving with no hands.
August 24, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Arraignment set for pickup driver charged with murder, Culver City opens Jackson gate, and San Diego debates bike safety
As we reported over the weekend, Gutierrez allegedly made a U-turn in his massive Ford pickup and deliberately slammed into Benedicto Solanga on July 29th, in an apparent road rage attack.
Solanga died three days later, while it took nearly three weeks for authorities to conclude Gutierrez had been behind the wheel, after finding his truck hours after the crash.
Gutierrez is expected to be charged with murder, along with a sentencing enhancement for using his truck as a deadly weapon.
He remains in custody on $1 million bail.
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Chalk this one up as a win for people on two wheels or feet.
For anyone who’s wondered why one of the easiest and most convenient entrances to Ballona Creek has long been closed to everyone but maintenance workers, the Culver City Council just voted to change that last night.
And better yet, to keep it open.
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Meanwhile, the city also voted to support extending the Ballona Creek bike path the full length of the creek from where it emerges from underground.
A retired business owner says the region’s bike lanes are too costly and little used, pitting neighbor against neighbor and government against business.
Just wait until someone tells that last guy what it costs to keep building more traffic lanes.
A writer for Singletrackstries racing a then top-of-the-line 1990’s mountain bike, surprisingly finding that it held its own against more modern bikes. And ends up selling it to a collector who promised to give it a good home.
Officials in Dorset, England are defending a road makeover that narrowed traffic lanes while installing a spacious 11-foot bike lane, saying the bike lane has to accommodate wobbly riders traveling in both directions, while the traffic lanes are more than wide enough if drivers just obey the speed limit.
According to reports, 31-year old Sergio Reynaldo Gutierrez briefly drove off after getting into what police termed a “brief interaction” with 46-year old bike rider Benedicto Solanga late last month.
Gutierrez then made a sudden U-turn, and came back to slam his Ford F-250 pickup into Solanga’s bike, before fleeing the scene.
Solanga died a few days later at a local hospital.
Gutierrez was arrested nearly three weeks after police found his damaged truck, and charged with using it as a weapon to murder Solanga.
He’s currently behind bars, being held on a whopping $1 million bail.
Let’s hope he stays there for a very long time.
Let the be yet another tragic reminder to be careful out there. And just who we share the road with.
Police are required to enforce traffic laws equally against all violators, without bias for or against any particular group. If they accepted a grant under these terms, they’re breaking the law.
Correction: Oops. A comment from Matt points out that the comment probably refers to Chicago’s Highland Park neighborhood, as a opposed to the Highland Park in Los Angeles. One more to add to a long and growing list of SoCal cities and neighborhoods that might not be.
But it’s still selective enforcement, and should be illegal wherever it is.
New York’s leading alternative transportation advocacy group is looking for help, for anyone who lives out that way. Or wants to.
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This is what happens when people are considered more important than cars.
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GCN goes bike riding with a two-year old.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
You’ve got to be kidding. A Las Vegas TV station reports that 19 people are being held at a local detention center for bicycle violations, including a lack of lights, in the wake of a man who was killed by Las Vegas cops after trying to flee when they tried to stop him for not having a light. Since when do police make an arrest for a simple traffic violation? Would they actually arrest a motorist who forgot to put his or her lights on?
Santa Rosa police busted a pair of bike thieves who tried to make off with a bait bike, which was valued at over $1,000 to ensure the thieves would be subject to felony charges. Los Angeles police still can’t use bail bikes, after the city attorney’s office bizarrely concluded it could constitute entrapment.
In yet another example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the roads, a 63-year old woman from Florida’s The Villages, the nation’s largest senior’s community, had her license suspended for ten years for driving with a BAC nearly three times the legal limit, but won’t spend a day behind bars despite two previous DUI arrests. But as long as she gets to keep her car, there’s nothing to stop her from driving anyway. Thanks to Victor Bale for this one.
Which sound like a bad euphemism for a road rage dispute.
Gutierrez drove off, then made a sudden U-turn and allegedly aimed his massive pickup at Solanga’s bicycle before slamming into him.
Solanga was rushed to the hospital in grave condition, where he died a few days later.
Police found Gutierrez’s Ford F-250 later that night on the 3200 block of Iowa Ave in Riverside, leading to his arrest on Tuesday, nearly three weeks after the crash. He remains jailed on $1 million bail.
Let’s hope he gets used to it.
This is at least the 44th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Benedicto Solanga and all his loved ones.
Just over two weeks into the new year, a second bike rider has been killed in Riverside County, both the victims of hit-and-run drivers.
But at least this time, the killer was caught a few hours later.
According to My News LA, the victim was riding through the intersection of Goetz Road and Mapes Road in Perris around 8:30 pm Thursday when he was struck by a car driven by 28-year old Perris resident Nathan Craig Rogers.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, died at the scene.
At last report, he was being held on $75,000 bond on suspicion of felony fatal hit-and-run and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence.
It’s unknown if drugs or alcohol played a role in the collision.
Sadly, California’s lenient hit-and-run laws mean Rogers is looking at just four years behind bars, with another year in county jail for the misdemeanor manslaughter charge.
And that’s only if the judge rules the sentences should run consecutively, rather than concurrently.
Anyone with information is urged to call Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Kiebach at 951/776-1099, or the Perris Station at 951-210-1000.
This is at least the 4th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 2nd that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
Half of those SoCal bicycling deaths have ben the result of hit-and-run drivers, both in Riverside County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
The suspect vehicle is described as a 2002 – 2008 Mini Cooper, with the driver’s side window and mirror missing, as well as several pieces of side trim.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Lin Tae Kim and his loved ones.
According to My News LA, a bike rider was killed in a collision with a motorcyclist in Riverside Monday night.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was attempting to cross Magnolia Ave just east of Jackson Street around 10:25 pm when he allegedly rode directly out in front of a man riding west on a Harley.
He was killed instantly.
The motorcyclist and his passenger were taken to a hospital with unspecified injuries.
A police sergeant appeared to blame the crash on a lack of crosswalks in the area. Yet a street view clearly shows the intersection of Magnolia and Jackson controlled by a traffic signal, with a crosswalk in every direction, suggesting the crash may have been significantly east of Jackson.
Magnolia is a four lane divided street in a residential neighborhood, with bike lanes and a wide planted median, and a 40 mph speed limit.
The question is why the victim would ride out in front of such a loud motorcycle, even if he or she didn’t see it.
It’s possible they were under the influence or distracted in some way, or that the 54-year old motorcyclist may have been traveling at a high rate of speed.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Riverside Police Department’s Traffic Bureau at 951/826-8720.
This is at least the 29th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
It’s also the fourth bicycling death in the county in the past 30 days.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his or her loved ones.
Yet another Southern California bike rider has been killed by a cowardly hit-and-run driver.
According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Riverside police found the 53-year old victim lying in the westbound bike lane on Victoria Avenue, just west of Myers Street, around 7:45 Saturday morning, after receiving a report of a bicyclist down.
Police initially thought the man, who has not been publicly identified, had fallen off his bicycle. However, hospital officials reported his injuries were consistent with being hit by a motor vehicle.
Unfortunately, no witnesses have come forward, so there is no description of the suspect or the vehicle used in the crime.
Video from the scene shows a black road bike and silver helmet lying on the side of the road.
Screen grab from KTLA report
No other information is available at this time.
Regardless of how the crash may have happened, there is simply no excuse, ever, for leaving a crash victim bleeding in the street. The driver should face a murder charge for making a conscious decision to let the victim die, rather than calling for help and providing assistance as the law requires.
We’ll never know if he might have survived if he’d gotten help right away.
Anyone with information is urged to call Detective Zach Fishell at 951-826-8723, or email zfishell@riversideca.gov.
Let’s hope they find the coward responsible for this crash. And that prosecutors treat this needless death with the seriousness it demands.
This is at least the 14th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first I’m aware of in Riverside County.
Yet another bike rider has been killed by a heartless hit-and-run driver, left to die on the side of a road just outside San Jacinto in Riverside County.
She was identified as 57-year old Hemet resident Vivian Thomas.
There’s no word on how long she may have been there, or if she might have survived her injuries if the driver had stopped and called for help, as required by law.
Let alone basic human decency.
If and when the hit-and-run driver is caught, he or she should face a 2nd degree murder charge for making a conscious decision to let the victim die. But probably won’t.
This is the 49th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth in Riverside County.
Seventeen of those SoCal deaths have been the result of hit-and-run.
Update: The Press-Enterprise reports Thomas was struck from behind by a Chevrolet or GMC truck or SUV. She had been dead about six hours when she was found, placing the time of the crash sometime around or before midnight.
Anyone with information is urged to call the CHP San Gorgonio Pass office at 951/769-2000.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Vivian Thomas and all her loved ones.
