randya
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/150156p-132371c.html
NY STATE SPARES ROD FOR THOSE WHO KILL WITH CARS
-> According to a Dec. 29th New York Daily News article, "Killers don't need a high-priced team of lawyers to avoid serious jail time in New York. They just have to make sure their weapon of choice is a car. Fewer than one driver in five involved in a fatal auto accident in the city faces serious criminal charges. And in the rare cases that killer drivers are prosecuted and convicted, the average minimum sentence is 16 months, a Daily News investigation shows. The max? Just over three years. And sentences have gotten shorter in recent years.
"'They are getting away with murder,' said Vensa Trajkovski, who last saw her 10-year-old son, Stefan, leaving their Queens home in April. Stefan was run down and killed on Ditmars Blvd. by a sport-utility vehicle whose driver allegedly was drag racing. The 19-year-old driver, Emmanuel Kanios, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. But earlier this month, the Queens district attorney's office warned Trajkovski that the judge could let her son's killer off with no
jail time. Kanios' attorney maintains Stefan's death was a 'tragic accident.' 'It's nuts that he is out on the streets while my son is 6 feet under,' Trajkovski said..."
Ed Note: No one should see this as a New York-only story. It could happen just about anywhere. -JW
______________________________
The above news story is a repost from Centerlines. However, just this morning I was verbally threatened with death by vehicular homocide by a motorist that objected to the lane position I took for my own safety, see below. FYI, this happended on a relatively quiet side street, designated as a 'Bike Boulevard' by the City of Portland.
-Randy
I am sending this to all of you as an alert, as, in the course of this incident, this motorist threatened to kill lawful cyclists in general, and me in particular, if the cyclist's road position did not correspond to this motorist's erroneous interpretation of the law. This incident disturbed me enough that I'd be willing to press charges, if any of you are willing to help me pursue this matter.
When: 9:15 AM January 2, 2004.
Where: westbound on SE Ladd at SE Palm.
Description of vehicle: Dark gray late-model mid to full size passenger sedan; I think it was a Chrysler, but it could have been another make.
License number: Oregon XSC 547
Description of driver: White male, late 40's, overweight, bad teeth, ponytail, clean shaven; I would definitely recognize this guy again.
Description of incident: I was cycling westbound on SE Ladd, approaching the island/circle in the intersection of SE Ladd and SE Palm. Road conditions were wet with some slush and debris. There was an oncoming vehicle and a following vehicle. I moved left into the lane to prevent the following vehicle from either passing me too closely as a result of the presence of the oncoming vehicle, or squeezing me off the road by trying to pass me in the intersection adjacent to the island. The overtaking vehicle, described above, passed me anyway immediately before the island, with about one foot of clearance. I gestured at the driver in his rearview mirror, and he immediately pulled over beyond the intersection and rolled down his window and proceeded to engage me verbally when I caught up with him. We had a running conversation down SE Ladd all the way from SE Palm to SE Clay, and he attempted at least once to ram my bicycle by steering his vehicle into me, which I had to fend off with my foot. Among the things he said to me were that "bicyclists were only allowed two feet of road space to the left of the parked cars / parking lane" (e.g. 'the door zone' is where I was supposed to be riding according to this jerk), that "he had been told this by a police officer" (it sort of sounded like he had already been involved in a previous incident, in which he may have injured another cyclist) and finally, that "he hoped some bicyclist got in his way because he would kill them, and he hoped that it was me."
NY STATE SPARES ROD FOR THOSE WHO KILL WITH CARS
-> According to a Dec. 29th New York Daily News article, "Killers don't need a high-priced team of lawyers to avoid serious jail time in New York. They just have to make sure their weapon of choice is a car. Fewer than one driver in five involved in a fatal auto accident in the city faces serious criminal charges. And in the rare cases that killer drivers are prosecuted and convicted, the average minimum sentence is 16 months, a Daily News investigation shows. The max? Just over three years. And sentences have gotten shorter in recent years.
"'They are getting away with murder,' said Vensa Trajkovski, who last saw her 10-year-old son, Stefan, leaving their Queens home in April. Stefan was run down and killed on Ditmars Blvd. by a sport-utility vehicle whose driver allegedly was drag racing. The 19-year-old driver, Emmanuel Kanios, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. But earlier this month, the Queens district attorney's office warned Trajkovski that the judge could let her son's killer off with no
jail time. Kanios' attorney maintains Stefan's death was a 'tragic accident.' 'It's nuts that he is out on the streets while my son is 6 feet under,' Trajkovski said..."
Ed Note: No one should see this as a New York-only story. It could happen just about anywhere. -JW
______________________________
The above news story is a repost from Centerlines. However, just this morning I was verbally threatened with death by vehicular homocide by a motorist that objected to the lane position I took for my own safety, see below. FYI, this happended on a relatively quiet side street, designated as a 'Bike Boulevard' by the City of Portland.
-Randy
I am sending this to all of you as an alert, as, in the course of this incident, this motorist threatened to kill lawful cyclists in general, and me in particular, if the cyclist's road position did not correspond to this motorist's erroneous interpretation of the law. This incident disturbed me enough that I'd be willing to press charges, if any of you are willing to help me pursue this matter.
When: 9:15 AM January 2, 2004.
Where: westbound on SE Ladd at SE Palm.
Description of vehicle: Dark gray late-model mid to full size passenger sedan; I think it was a Chrysler, but it could have been another make.
License number: Oregon XSC 547
Description of driver: White male, late 40's, overweight, bad teeth, ponytail, clean shaven; I would definitely recognize this guy again.
Description of incident: I was cycling westbound on SE Ladd, approaching the island/circle in the intersection of SE Ladd and SE Palm. Road conditions were wet with some slush and debris. There was an oncoming vehicle and a following vehicle. I moved left into the lane to prevent the following vehicle from either passing me too closely as a result of the presence of the oncoming vehicle, or squeezing me off the road by trying to pass me in the intersection adjacent to the island. The overtaking vehicle, described above, passed me anyway immediately before the island, with about one foot of clearance. I gestured at the driver in his rearview mirror, and he immediately pulled over beyond the intersection and rolled down his window and proceeded to engage me verbally when I caught up with him. We had a running conversation down SE Ladd all the way from SE Palm to SE Clay, and he attempted at least once to ram my bicycle by steering his vehicle into me, which I had to fend off with my foot. Among the things he said to me were that "bicyclists were only allowed two feet of road space to the left of the parked cars / parking lane" (e.g. 'the door zone' is where I was supposed to be riding according to this jerk), that "he had been told this by a police officer" (it sort of sounded like he had already been involved in a previous incident, in which he may have injured another cyclist) and finally, that "he hoped some bicyclist got in his way because he would kill them, and he hoped that it was me."