dougmc

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/201...y-hit-cyclist/

... people keep saying that if you want to kill somebody and get away with it, run over them with your car. I guess we'll see if that works, though I think a key part of that is to not cooperate with the police too much.

Interesting that they say he's facing assault charges -- not assault and battery, not attempted murder, not assault with a deadly weapon, etc. -- though I guess that could come later.

crhilton

No kidding. It definitely should be assault with a deadly weapon. And where's the DUI charge, the hit and run charge, failure to render aid, etc?

unterhausen

one of my daughter's classmates was hit by a car. The driver yelled "that's 5 points for me." I don't think she had her wits about her to get a description though

bmclaughlin807

The free pass is only good in conjunction with the "I didn't see him!" or "He just swerved right in front of me!" or "He was riding RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!" excuses.

electrik

From one cage to another hopefully.

Berg417448

Assault is just generic newspaper speak. In my personal experience, reporters often don't concern themselves with actual facts.
As far as "hit and run " charges go, it depends upon how their law is written. In my state you cannot charge someone with an assault with a vehicle and also charge leaving the scene of a accident (the official name of our state's charge) because an assault is an intentional act and not an accident.

dynodonn 

I find it frustrating, if the motorist got out of his car and physically beat the cyclist into the same condition as he did with his car, the motorist would have been arrested, and still be cooling his heels in jail.

dougmc

Not necessarily.

During the last Full Moon Cruise here in Austin (we ride the night of the full moon, starting at midnight, often hundreds of riders ride) the ride was going through a neighborhood and somebody came out of their house and tackled a random woman off her bike and then ran back into his house. (He was apparently bothered by the noise (though any noise that woke him up came from the people ahead, not her)). She had some scrapes and bruises, but wasn't hurt bad enough to require medical attention.

Police were called, came quickly, got him out and questioned him. He admitted what he did. And he sat in their police car for a few minutes with the cuffs on while they decided what to do with him -- and they let him go.

Anti-cycling bias? Possibly, though it would seem that this is standard procedure for such cases (when the officer didn't see it.) No idea if any charges have been filed since or what.

Digital_Cowboy

Surprisingly there are plenty of positive comments posted to the article. I can't help but wonder how long it'll be before someone posts that it was the cyclists fault for being a cyclist, or for making "disparaging" remarks about the drunks drunk girlfriend.

Digital_Cowboy

Doesn't that show some level of pre-meditation on his part?

nelson249

Yikes! I saw some yahoos intentionally force a migrant farm worker off the road and into a ditch. The the driver and passenger high-fived each other. Unfortunately, I wasn't driving the car and couldn't make out a plate. But I did stop and report a description to the police.