jimblairo

Was justice served?

$250 Fine For SUV Driver Who Deliberately Plowed Into Cyclist During Road Rage Incident: Gothamist

Chris516

Justice definitely was NOT served.

howsteepisit

To me, that was assault with a deadly weapon and should not be plead down to a trivial fine.

Digital_Cowboy

Chris,

Agreed, the DA should never have offered a plea. At the very least they shouldn’t have done so without first talking to the victim.

HSTII,

I have to agree with you that at the very least that it should be assault with a deadly weapon. If you ask me it should have been attempted murder. As I think that any reasonable person would know that if you intentionally run into someone with a car that there is more than a better chance that you are going to end up killing them.

Mark Stone

I wonder if "Michael", the cyclist that was hit, can pursue civil action?

howsteepisit

According to the article or one of the linked ones there was an unspecified civil settlement

but you should not be able to buy your way out of violent criminal acts

Mark Stone

Thanks, missed that.Completely agree.

jwarner

Not at all right, but unfortunately, the world we live in.

kickstart

Personally if I was the victim, I would rather take the jerk to the cleaners in a civil settlement than to put him in jail.

The victim gets retribution, and society doesn't foot the bill, seems like a win-win to me.

jwarner

I hear you, and am no lawyer, so don't know if this possible, but I would like to see both.

IMHO, we really need more vulnerable user laws, far stiffer penalties for drivers (as well as fair usage taxation, which is a whole 'nother matter), and a long-term onslaught of PSAs with a positive message about how cyclists are helping everyone (reducing traffic, parking crunch, healthcare costs, not really causing drivers a noticeable delay, etc.) that shows cyclists and drivers as people, not as bikes and cars. There is a whole bunch of evidence that these types of PSAs work, as opposed to scenes or reports of death and destruction, which seem to be so common (FYI -- these may be happening, I don't know as I haven't watched TV since the late 80s - no time for it). I also think that we are far too polarized as a society, and that such a message will take awhile to bring about meaningful change.

As it sits right now, I think the message a lot of people are getting is that they can get away with murder, or at least suffer very small consequences.

Not sure if I expressed this too well, in this format. It is a complex problem, one that I often think on.

howsteepisit

But then after the first victim of a violent criminal takes them to the cleaners, there is nothing left for the second, third, fourth etc victim. So after the first offense, the incentive to not go off and run some guy over goes to near 0. No thanks.

While I am normally not in favor of the haul them off to jail crowd, in cases like this of violent attacks for no reasons other than being dissed through a one digit salute, I am more in favor of punishment over rehabilitation, or simple compensation to the victims. To be clear, I support the victim being made whole via civil suits in this context, where possible, I favor additional punishment for out of control behavior.

kickstart

But isn't that already true of our criminal justice system?
In today, out tomorrow..............and back to the same old behavior.

howsteepisit

Yes sadly, but I don't have a better solution that works. And it in this case there is almost no penalty for repeat offenders if its simply a civil solution, where as with criminal actions we can remove the only thing they have, namely freedom. Of course there is anger management but I am not convinced that people like this need anger management or just don't really give a crap about hurting other people, which is not a anger issue at all.

mconlonx

Driver has permanent record of road rage vs. cyclist; aggrieved cyclist received assumed agreeable settlement.

Win-win.

bikemig 

Road rage that led to injury should have led to a prosecution and jail time. This jerk may be incapable of changing his behavior but it sends a signal to others that they cannot attack cyclists.

Clyde1820

$250 fine, for what would be considered at least aggravated assault in any case of a pedestrian?

Nope, justice was not served, IMO.

KD5NRH

More to the point, if he had done that to a cop, it would have been handled as attempted murder, with no plea deal. We need to start electing officials who will push for real equal treatment under the law.

mconlonx

Cyclist accepted settlement agreement, why do we think we know better...?

rydabent

I can only hope the driver's ins company had to pay well into the area of 5 figures. That means the idiots insurance rates will sky rocket too.

phoebeisis

If there was a settlement
Before the plea deal
Part of the deal-unspoken unwritten- was to not demand a trial
Yeah the cyclist's lawyer -was probably lying or dissembling a bit
And apparently the injuries weren't serious-no permanent damage
This is a NO BIG DEAL thing in big cities where folks are killed everyday(yeah NYNY doesn't have the homicide rate of NOLA-Chicago etc-but they do have murders-wife beatings etc)
And how in the world do you PROVE it was intentional??
The DA's are ALWAYS more concerned with their conviction rate than actual justice
Plus fair chance-cyclists aren't really sympathetic to most NYNY folks
Yeah they could have LOST this case-so settlement was
WIN WIN sorta-
Safe bet the driver didn't say "I did it" probably claimed his foot slipped off brake or some such lie.
Yeah this is probably a better than average outcome for a bike rider.

Clyde1820

All kinds of reasons for settling. Many reasons having little to do with justice.

Going by the scenario painted (car, deliberate strike), it could easily have gotten deadly ... though, obviously it didn't.

I figure we don't have all the facts as described in the basic scenario, somewhere.

mconlonx

Plea deal/settlement with cyclist is, officially, justice. Justice has been served in this case. We don't know the details as intimately as the aggrieved cyclist...

atbman

I've seena fair few idiot decisions in UK cases, but, compare and contrast:
Driver facing jail for seriously injuring CTC councillor | CTC

B. Carfree

At least he stopped and came back to render aid after the attack. The "fined" individual in the OP didn't even do that.

Digital_Cowboy

Kick,

I could be mistaken, but I don’t think that just because a person has been thorugh the criminal courts that doesn’t mean that they can’t be hauled into civil court.

Think of a certain high profile murder case where even though the defendant was aquited, the family of one of the victims still sued for wrongful death. And over the years I am certain that there have been other similar situations.