Niked

A Philadelphia law firm is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the rider of a mountain bike who struck a pedestrian who later died of his injuries.

https://www.kyw1060.com/Phila--Man-Di...yclist/5549696

Mos6502

A white kid on a white bicycle isn't much to go on...

genec

did they get license plate...

Bluetrane2028

About the only way they're getting the guy is if he turns himself in. Too little data, and nobody reports damaged bikes to the police (if there even was any real damage). I would be surprised to see this resolved.

Of course, this is unfortunately more ammo for the anti-bicycle folks out there.

CommuterRun

Hope they find him, but looking for is like looking for a gray haired fat guy on the golf course.

DX-MAN

I guess it's just so egregious that the hit-&-run perp was on a bike that they have to post a reward and get into 'law-and-order advocacy' -- after all, it's not something that that would happen with a car, would it? Ohh -- it happens so often, they couldn't afford to pay the REWARDS!

I also hope the punk gets caught, there's no excuse to run someone down with a bike, but the extra advocacy is misplaced. And oh yeah SURE -- he's just talking about the 'bad' riders....BUUUUULLLLLL-.............................. .

Cyclist0383

Huh? How could you possibly fault an employer for putting up money to find the person that killed their employee?

DX-MAN

The law firm, FIRST OF ALL, was ONE OF SEVERAL, which suggests to me that the victim was a cleanup worker with several accounts -- good on him for his enterprise. But MY POINT was that it doesn't happen with motor vehicles, why get so outraged about involving a bike?

Reading wasn't your best subject in school, was it?

Cyclist0383

It does happen with motor vehicles, and all manor of crimes, when an employee is killed and the perp isn't found. They aren't outraged about the fact it was a bike, they are outraged that someone who happened to be on a bike KILLED someone they know and got away with it.

Niked

That line is a hole in one.

The Human Car

That was my first reaction to the op.

Mos6502

Except, that it does happen with cars. All the time. You cannot honestly tell me you've never heard of a reward being offered for finding a hit and run driver.

Cyclist0383

But it does happen with cars. A quick google search will show this to be true.

Wow, look at one of the first google results! https://www.ocregister.com/articles/p...artinez-camino



Police are searching for driver who struck and killed Anaheim man who was riding bicycle home from work.
By LOU PONSI
The Orange County Register


ANAHEIM -- An anonymous donor has put up a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a hit-and-run driver who struck and killed an Anaheim man last month, police said.

Patrick Shannon, 55, a 10-year employee of the Anaheim Marriott, had gotten off work at 4 p.m. on April 24 and was going north on South West Street when he was stuck from behind by a Chevrolet El Camino.

When paramedics and police arrived, Shannon was unconscious and had severe head injuries, said Sgt. Rick Martinez, spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department. Shannon was taken to University of California-Irvine Medical Center in Orange, where he died two days later after being taken off of life support.

Within minutes after the crash, police found the El Camino with a shattered front windshield, abandoned in bushes on the side of Katella Avenue near Ninth Street.

Martinez said about a dozen officers with a bloodhound couldn't find the suspect after searching the surrounding neighborhood until about 10 p.m.

The day of the accident was Shannon's third time commuting to work on his bicycle after being told by his doctor to get more exercise, Hensley said.

Shannon is also survived by four brothers and a sister.

A "person of interest" was interviewed regarding the incident, but Martinez said there is still no description of the driver.

Police are asking witnesses or anyone with information to call investigators at 714-765-1900.

X-LinkedRider

Attention all White kids on white bikes. Don't let those coppers see you. They will probably waste so much tax money searching for someone who was probably on a bike they threw out after reading this.

CB HI

Um, any reports on how the collision actually occurred?
Does anyone even know for sure the collision was the cyclist fault?


Don't jump my case, because I do agree the cyclist was a criminal in leaving the scene and not rendering aid, but I really would like to hear the rest of the story.

Digital_Cowboy

Here is another article on this:

Man struck by bicyclist in Center City dies

<quote>
Initially, police reported the incident as a transport to the hospital. They later learned that several people in the area heard a loud noise, then saw Steed and another man on the ground. The other man had been riding a bicycle and apparently crashed into Steed. The cyclist got up, fixed the handlebars on his bike, and acknowledged that he had swerved out of the path of a car and hit Steed, witnesses said. He then fled the scene.
</quote>

Did anyone actually see the cyclist and pedestrian collide? The above paragraph says that several people heard a loud noise and then saw Steed and the other man on the ground.

And here's another article:

Comatose man apparently had been hit by bike

<quote>
His colleagues soon learned that police on the scene of the Oct. 15 incident found no witnesses who could explain what happened. Thus, there was no active investigation.
</quote>

It wasn't until the law firm got involved that they found two witnesses.

<quote>
Within days, they had two eyewitnesses ready to tell the police that they heard a loud crash, then saw two men on the ground, one of whom had been riding a bicycle. The bicyclist, according to those witnesses, indicated that he had hit Steed, then vanished from the scene.
</quote>

Here is a legitimate question. How do we know that the two witnesses really saw anything and that it wasn't the incentive of the reward money that prompted them to come forward?

Also given that in the first article it's said that the cyclist "swerved to avoid a car" how do we know that the car didn't clip the cyclist throwing him into Steed? And if that is the case it would:

a) explain the "loud noise" the witnesses heard
b) place the responsibility for the death on the driver of the car not the cyclist

Yes, it was wrong of the cyclist to ride off like he did. But he may not have realized the extent of the injuries that Steed sustained as a result of the collision.

Mos6502

Probably because so far as I can tell, they're only giving money to whoever finds the cyclist... Unless they offered an earlier reward for anybody who had seen anything.


It's exactly why he shouldn't have run off. Something tells me he may have been in a hurry to get out because he knew it was serious.
But then I have to wonder, if these people saw him and heard him say that he was trying to avoid a car - why didn't they stop him - and why didn't they say they saw him in the first place?

CB HI

Add to it that the "swerved out of the path of a car" implies that the collision was on the road and not a sidewalk. So why the lawyers rant against cyclist riding on the sidewalk, if that played no part in the collision?

Highly suspect that these witnesses are willing to talk when there is a reward, but were unable to pick up the phone and call 911 to save a life.

DX-MAN

The lawyers' rant was the point of my 1st post -- and nowhere did I say that rewards were never offered, I'm just outraged at the EXTRA attention given due to the bicycle being in the mix. They're promoting the stereotype, all the while IGNORING the truth that motorists are just as bad (in my experience), and using this tragedy as a forum for anti-cycling advocacy.

Some of us need to read the words written, and less between the lines.

Digital_Cowboy

Sadly that is too true. Which is why instead of offering a reward concentrating on the cyclist, it should have been broad enough to ask for any information. Instead of concentrating on just the cyclist.




It is possible that given that they were on the ground together that Mr. Steed told the cyclist that he was okay. And that could be why the cyclist "just took off."

And given that from what the witnesses have said about the cyclist having swerved to to avoid a car. IF the car and the cyclist came into contact that would explain the "loud noise" that's been reported. And as I asked IF the car impacted the cyclist sending it into the pedestrian doesn't that shift the blame for the collision to the driver of the car and not the cyclist? And also given that Mr. Steed is dead the cyclist can (and possibly) will say anything to try and cover his ass.

Until the cyclist is found or turns himself in all we can do is speculate on what happened. As there are only three people who know. The driver of the car, the cyclist, and Mr. Steed. Unfortunately Mr. Steed has passed and can't tell us anything.

Digital_Cowboy

A very good question. It almost sounds as if the lawyers are on a witch hunt.

And that's a very good point.

Digital_Cowboy

Good point, and as I have suggested it is possible the car that the cyclist "swerved to avoid" is the one who is really responsible for the collision and that the cyclist is just as innocent of a victim as is Mr. Steed.

Wogster

If you think there are no bad riders out there, I have a bridge for sale.

The cycling community doesn't need the kind of person in it, that will hit a pedestrian and run. Collisions between bicycles and pedestrians do happen, and when they do, the proper thing to do, is make sure that emergency medical services are contacted. If that means you have to stay on scene and make a statement to police, well, that's the way it is. Even if it means being charged with a traffic infraction.

Of course we don't have the whole story, the person on the bicycle (POB) -- I don't want to call them a cyclist at this point -- may have lost control after being tapped by a car, and that caused him to hit the pedestrian. The POB may have run a red traffic signal or stop sign, causing him to hit the pedestrian who was in a cross walk. The POB may have been on a sidewalk, or the pedestrian could have walked out in front of the bicycle, without looking, causing the collision. This last one is common, people don't look before crossing streets anymore, they listen for a car engine, and if they don't hear one, they cross. People on electric scooters and in hybrid cars (in electric only mode) sometimes have the same problem.

It's hard to tell which of these things happened, for all we know the POB may have been drunk, stoned or of interest to police for other things, and that's why they ran. It's also more and more common for a three way incident between a car, bicycle and pedestrian that the car and pedestrian can do no wrong and that is why they ran.

Cyclist0383

+1

There are some horrible cyclists out there. Some idiot actually hit my wife and cracked her frame. He saw flew out of a blind alley, hit her, looked at her on the ground, took off his headphones and said 'what?', and promptly rode off, leaving her and her broken bike on the pavement.

This idea of 'the cyclist is always right' is totally mind boggling to me, as you some people think cyclists are all of one mind. Urgh.

CB HI

I missed the part where everyone said the cyclist was right, in leaving the scene. In fact I did not note ANYONE claim that was OK.

Only one comment even gave a possible reason as to how that might occur and it would be reasonable.
And frankly, what if the cyclist and pedestrian both got back up, said they were OK and the pedestrian collapsed after the cyclist left. People with that type of head injury do think they are fine until they either have a severe headache or flat out collapse. Just as likely as all the other guesses flying around.

All the information we really have is from 2 paid witnesses who could not be troubled to call 911.