Ratkovic shot while riding
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Ratkovic shot while riding
Ratkovic shot while riding
Former professional cyclist and current professional triathlete/duathlete, Andrea Ratkovic, was shot on Monday October 10 while riding her bike. Ratkovic, who rode for The Bicycle Store team in this year's Redlands Classic was on a bike path when a car in the road lane closest to her opened fire with a small calibre (lead pellet) gun, firing several shots but only hitting her once in the lower back. "All I heard was TAT, TAT, TAT, TAT, and I knew what was coming. I was hoping I wouldn't get hit, but then I felt the fire and sting, and I knew that I'd been hit," said Ratkovic.
From that point on she tried to monitor her bodily functions. "Afterwards I felt like I was going to be okay and not pass out or something; I prayed for a red light up ahead, and I got it." Ratkovic then jumped off the bike path and rode up to the passenger side of the car which was stopped at the red light. "I was afraid I might get shot in the face, but at the same time I felt that I had to be able to identify the shooter." She said she yelled at the boys inside who were around 16 or 17 years of age. "I asked them why they shot me, and they said they didn't know. They apologised. I told them I was going to report them to the police."
Ratkovic got the car's registration number and filed a police report before being transported to the Norman Regional ER where she was treated and released. "Everyone there was so wonderful because my roommate told everyone what had happened. She works in radiology there, and so do I. We're like a big family up there, so when something like this happens it's pretty traumatic."
Ratkovic was told that her clothing helped to keep the bullet from entering her body. "I have a hole in my back over my left kidney, but the bullet itself I think glanced off of my jersey, plus I also had another shirt under that. If the bullet had hit an inch lower then it would have been a straight on shot - and there could have been problems as it may have penetrated me pretty good," said Ratkovic. "I'm just glad they didn't hit my neck or my eye!"
Ratkovic is expected to make a full recovery, and although she rides hard, she says, "It's funny because everyone was so surprised that I didn't yank those kids out of the car. I might race aggressively, but I'm not that way in my every day life."
Story can be found at https://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?...t05/oct12news2
Dusk
Former professional cyclist and current professional triathlete/duathlete, Andrea Ratkovic, was shot on Monday October 10 while riding her bike. Ratkovic, who rode for The Bicycle Store team in this year's Redlands Classic was on a bike path when a car in the road lane closest to her opened fire with a small calibre (lead pellet) gun, firing several shots but only hitting her once in the lower back. "All I heard was TAT, TAT, TAT, TAT, and I knew what was coming. I was hoping I wouldn't get hit, but then I felt the fire and sting, and I knew that I'd been hit," said Ratkovic.
From that point on she tried to monitor her bodily functions. "Afterwards I felt like I was going to be okay and not pass out or something; I prayed for a red light up ahead, and I got it." Ratkovic then jumped off the bike path and rode up to the passenger side of the car which was stopped at the red light. "I was afraid I might get shot in the face, but at the same time I felt that I had to be able to identify the shooter." She said she yelled at the boys inside who were around 16 or 17 years of age. "I asked them why they shot me, and they said they didn't know. They apologised. I told them I was going to report them to the police."
Ratkovic got the car's registration number and filed a police report before being transported to the Norman Regional ER where she was treated and released. "Everyone there was so wonderful because my roommate told everyone what had happened. She works in radiology there, and so do I. We're like a big family up there, so when something like this happens it's pretty traumatic."
Ratkovic was told that her clothing helped to keep the bullet from entering her body. "I have a hole in my back over my left kidney, but the bullet itself I think glanced off of my jersey, plus I also had another shirt under that. If the bullet had hit an inch lower then it would have been a straight on shot - and there could have been problems as it may have penetrated me pretty good," said Ratkovic. "I'm just glad they didn't hit my neck or my eye!"
Ratkovic is expected to make a full recovery, and although she rides hard, she says, "It's funny because everyone was so surprised that I didn't yank those kids out of the car. I might race aggressively, but I'm not that way in my every day life."
Story can be found at https://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?...t05/oct12news2
Dusk
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Let's just make this clear... this was not a firearm, it was a pellet gun.
Still dangerous of course, and I hope they put the fear of god in the lil' mongrels that thought it was a "cool" thing to do.
Still dangerous of course, and I hope they put the fear of god in the lil' mongrels that thought it was a "cool" thing to do.
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Modern airguns can develop very high velocities, they do kill people all the time.
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Originally Posted by kf5nd
Modern airguns can develop very high velocities,.
Originally Posted by kf5nd
they do kill people all the time
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It doesn't matter what you get shot with. I recall a rollerblader got shot from someone up on a hill. The fact that they fell and died from that makes it murder.
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Originally Posted by Bikepacker67
Well... about 1000fps for a airrifle but very little foot/pounds (the pellets are usually .177 - very small)
Now you sound like Ralphie's mother. ;-)
Now you sound like Ralphie's mother. ;-)
What's the deal with cyclist getting shot at all of a sudden?!?
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The fact that they could be so calous, level a gun at someone and shoot,
not worried about blinding her or any thing else, they should get the same
jailtime as if it were a 'real' gun.
not worried about blinding her or any thing else, they should get the same
jailtime as if it were a 'real' gun.
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Originally Posted by EricDJ
It doesn't matter what you get shot with. I recall a rollerblader got shot from someone up on a hill. The fact that they fell and died from that makes it murder.
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How many foot/pounds when you get stabbed by a thin stilleto switchblade in a soft part of your abdomen? Very few, yet very lethal nonetheless.
If you don't think airguns are dangerous, why don't you post before and after pics of you taking a pellet to your temple ?
Case closed.
BTW, I'm a NRA Life Member and hold a Texas Concealed Handgun License... I take shooting sports safety very seriously, whether gunpowder or air powered.
If you don't think airguns are dangerous, why don't you post before and after pics of you taking a pellet to your temple ?
Case closed.
BTW, I'm a NRA Life Member and hold a Texas Concealed Handgun License... I take shooting sports safety very seriously, whether gunpowder or air powered.
Originally Posted by Bikepacker67
Well... about 1000fps for a airrifle but very little foot/pounds (the pellets are usually .177 - very small
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Originally Posted by timmhaan
do you know what happened? was there a trial or anything? it rasies a good question: for example, what if instead of a BB gun, they threw water ballons at her. and what if those caused her to fall and smash her head? then all of a sudden it becomes a very serious issue.
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This thread needs to up the quotient of praise for a righteous woman. She had the presence of mind not just to chase the car and get the number, but to get a good look at the kids so she could I.D. them. And she had the restraint not to kick the **** out of them ("It's funny because everyone was so surprised that I didn't yank those kids out of the car. I might race aggressively, but I'm not that way in my every day life.").
Let's see...brains, strength, courage, grace--and she reserves the aggro for competition. My hero. Ratkovic for President.
Let's see...brains, strength, courage, grace--and she reserves the aggro for competition. My hero. Ratkovic for President.
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Hopefully those kids spend the rest of their lives making license plates.
Yes a pellet gun can kill. Pellet guns are interesting, the original Daisy BB gun was considered fairly harmless and one of the original salesmen used to bend over and prospective distributors shoot him in the ass to show it wasn't *too* harmful. However, at the same time, Benjaman and Beemen pellet guns were sold, and used, as hunting guns since they were cheaper and ammo was cheaper, than even a .22 and they'd work about as well on rabbits, etc. Modern pellet guns range from as harmless as the old Daisy to almost as lethal as a .22 but parents are often treating them as the same thing as the Daisy they had when they were a kid.
**** like this is why a lot of gun advocates say we don't need more gun laws, we need to ENFORCE the laws we have. Those kids need to go down for attempted murder.
And yeah, Ratkovic for President!
Yes a pellet gun can kill. Pellet guns are interesting, the original Daisy BB gun was considered fairly harmless and one of the original salesmen used to bend over and prospective distributors shoot him in the ass to show it wasn't *too* harmful. However, at the same time, Benjaman and Beemen pellet guns were sold, and used, as hunting guns since they were cheaper and ammo was cheaper, than even a .22 and they'd work about as well on rabbits, etc. Modern pellet guns range from as harmless as the old Daisy to almost as lethal as a .22 but parents are often treating them as the same thing as the Daisy they had when they were a kid.
**** like this is why a lot of gun advocates say we don't need more gun laws, we need to ENFORCE the laws we have. Those kids need to go down for attempted murder.
And yeah, Ratkovic for President!
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My Dad's old pellet gun (korean war era target rifle) could shoot through quarter inch plywood without too much trouble if you pumped it up good.
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Originally Posted by Bikepacker67
Let's just make this clear... this was not a firearm, it was a pellet gun.
Still dangerous of course, and I hope they put the fear of god in the lil' mongrels that thought it was a "cool" thing to do.
Still dangerous of course, and I hope they put the fear of god in the lil' mongrels that thought it was a "cool" thing to do.
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I had a Crosman 760 as a kid and loved it, but I was taught to NEVER shoot at anything living, although I bent the rules a bit to except minnows, horse flies, and the neighbors' dogs when ours were in heat, with weak shots in the butt calibrated to sting not harm (the 760 could be varied by power, depending on the number of pumps you gave it - I swear it was a disguised exercise program for kids, you had to pay for each shot with several pumps and you learned to make each one count). I pumped that sucker up quite a bit and sank an inner tube that was floating in a local pond once, and innner tubes (car type) are tough. NOT a toy.
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Originally Posted by Bikepacker67
Let's just make this clear... this was not a firearm, it was a pellet gun.
Still dangerous of course, and I hope they put the fear of god in the lil' mongrels that thought it was a "cool" thing to do.
Still dangerous of course, and I hope they put the fear of god in the lil' mongrels that thought it was a "cool" thing to do.
My brother got into a silly BB gun fight when he was a kid. He made the mistake of taking on a kid with a CO2 powered bb gun. He got shot just below the eye and it bled a little but he was too scared to tell our mom and Dad. A few years later he fell out of a tree on his head and had to have Xrays. You could clearly see the BB imbeded in his skull.
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Originally Posted by oboeguy
I've been there. I was nailed in the side of the head with a water balloon this summer. Lucky for me there wasn't much going on in the vicinity (odd for that stretch, very lucky!) so I was able to stay upright, turn around and let the stupid kid who tossed it have it. In hindsight it wasn't a good idea, given the neighborhood... but the point is I could have been tossed and run over!
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Four guys in my club were coming through Niles Canyon when some idiot did the same thing to them. The Fremont police responded the same as if they'd been shot at with a high powered rifle. The charges here would be exactly the same. In riding position, that pellet can easily penetrate to a kidney and destroy it.
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The story is about shooting someone with a firearm. The caliber, intent, age of the boys, or if my dad liked BB guns is smelling around the issue.
To ask a tough question, when is OK to be violent to women?
and here is another:
If we can judge bicyclists clothes, urban riding, equipment and even punctuation and give them advice (we're men, they make us look bad, you should do this...) then how outrageous is young men (we're men, you make us look bad, you should do this....) to shoot somebody.
The real story, men, is it's sometimes acceptable to teach and tolerate violence because we do it. This is a masculine problem, not anything else, the longer we tolerate buddies, co-workers and public figures who beat up women, the longer we are part of the problem.
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Jason+Kidd.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Mike+Tyson.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Joe+Frazier.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/O.J.+Simpson.htm
https://endabuse.org/celebritywatch/index.php?Fame=N
To summarize, men commit violence, and some of us are ashamed.
To ask a tough question, when is OK to be violent to women?
and here is another:
If we can judge bicyclists clothes, urban riding, equipment and even punctuation and give them advice (we're men, they make us look bad, you should do this...) then how outrageous is young men (we're men, you make us look bad, you should do this....) to shoot somebody.
The real story, men, is it's sometimes acceptable to teach and tolerate violence because we do it. This is a masculine problem, not anything else, the longer we tolerate buddies, co-workers and public figures who beat up women, the longer we are part of the problem.
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Jason+Kidd.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Mike+Tyson.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Joe+Frazier.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/O.J.+Simpson.htm
https://endabuse.org/celebritywatch/index.php?Fame=N
To summarize, men commit violence, and some of us are ashamed.
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Originally Posted by lilHinault
[snip] Those kids need to go down for attempted murder.
Yeah, kids are dumb. Time will tell whether these kids were just really stupid, or genuinely malicious.
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Originally Posted by carless
The story is about shooting someone with a firearm. The caliber, intent, age of the boys, or if my dad liked BB guns is smelling around the issue.
To ask a tough question, when is OK to be violent to women?
and here is another:
If we can judge bicyclists clothes, urban riding, equipment and even punctuation and give them advice (we're men, they make us look bad, you should do this...) then how outrageous is young men (we're men, you make us look bad, you should do this....) to shoot somebody.
The real story, men, is it's sometimes acceptable to teach and tolerate violence because we do it. This is a masculine problem, not anything else, the longer we tolerate buddies, co-workers and public figures who beat up women, the longer we are part of the problem.
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Jason+Kidd.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Mike+Tyson.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Joe+Frazier.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/O.J.+Simpson.htm
https://endabuse.org/celebritywatch/index.php?Fame=N
To summarize, men commit violence, and some of us are ashamed.
To ask a tough question, when is OK to be violent to women?
and here is another:
If we can judge bicyclists clothes, urban riding, equipment and even punctuation and give them advice (we're men, they make us look bad, you should do this...) then how outrageous is young men (we're men, you make us look bad, you should do this....) to shoot somebody.
The real story, men, is it's sometimes acceptable to teach and tolerate violence because we do it. This is a masculine problem, not anything else, the longer we tolerate buddies, co-workers and public figures who beat up women, the longer we are part of the problem.
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Jason+Kidd.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Mike+Tyson.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/Joe+Frazier.htm
https://www.mugshots.com/Sport/O.J.+Simpson.htm
https://endabuse.org/celebritywatch/index.php?Fame=N
To summarize, men commit violence, and some of us are ashamed.
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Originally Posted by Dchiefransom
The story was about someone shooting at a "cyclist", not just a woman. If we really believe in equality, then being violent toward anyone else is unacceptable.
I agree but 80% -90% of violent acts are committed by men. My point is you are correct and it is unknown if they knew the cyclist was a woman. It is very predictable it was a male doing it.
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now we have the story, I want to hear what happened to the kids who did it.
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I'd like to know who those kids are -- too bad they're underage -- since my mom doesn't live far from Redlands.
Out in that area, I also call the Boonies, there's plenty of space to set up targets to practice shooting. Instead, these stupid-ass kids try to do drive-bys on people just for kicks.
Out in that area, I also call the Boonies, there's plenty of space to set up targets to practice shooting. Instead, these stupid-ass kids try to do drive-bys on people just for kicks.
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