Advocacy & Safety - Man suspected of deliberate bicycle accident put in jail

I'm glad to see the Police at work. Read more:

http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&ArticleID=68176

Quote:
"SEASIDE - A man accused of deliberately hitting a bicycle rider with his truck on U.S. Highway 101 just south of Seaside in November is in the Clatsop County Jail.

Stephan Joseph Fox, 23, of Portland, was arraigned Thursday in Clatsop County Circuit Court on charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault and felony hit and run in connection with the incident, which severely injured Seaside chiropractor Seth A. Goldstein.

Judge Philip Nelson set bail for Fox at $250,000.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron Brown said Goldstein, 48, has been receiving physical therapy since the crash. He uses canes to walk and is likely to continue..."

BTW- I think "deliberate" and "accident", when used together, is somewhat of an oxymoron...

Good to see the guy charged properly - "attempted murder". Hope they get that to stick - that will be a wake-up for some folks (I know, some people will never learn even from their own mistakes, let alone others).

I wonder if he'd have been pursued by the cops and the D.A. as vigorously if he'd hit a working joe, or a homeless person, instead of a chiropractor?

I note that the guy has "mental issues" - so he probably will get off to some extent. However, I would hope that someone who has mental issues that have lead him to attempt murder in the past will not be allowed access to lethal weapons again.

BTW- I think "deliberate" and "accident", when used together, is somewhat of an oxymoron...

Yeah that happens as folks have assigned a new meaning to "accident." The reality is that few collisions are really accidents. Most collisions stem from someone clearly abusing traffic code in some manner... which is hardly an "accident."

But common use has lead to the use of the word "accident" when collision should be used.

BTW- I think "deliberate" and "accident", when used together, is somewhat of an oxymoron...

That's exactly what I thought when I read "Man suspected of deliberate bike accident put in jail."

I think what this shows is the pervasive bias, dare I say underlying hatred, of cyclists. The author of the article had clearly read the charges against the driver, which were attempted murder, yet he just cannot commit himself to say that someone tried to intentionally murder a bicyclist. This is not a case of a journalist trying to be fair, he's intentionally watering down an attempted murder charge because a bicyclist is involved. I think he's unfortunately a product of an overarching perception among the majority of people who don't bicycle, that bicyclists are always wrong and don't belong on the roads.

This is the prejudice that bicyclists have to overcome and I just don't see how to combat such a deep-seated resentment and misconception about bicyclists.

Email sent.

-Kurt

how did they find out it was intentional?

how did they find out it was intentional?

How did they find out it was an accident?

-Kurt

Lotsa drivers with "mental issues" out there, best to lock them all up ...

Along with the term "alleged" to describe perpetrators clearly seen committing crimes, perhaps "accident" is just the first word that comes into the journalist's mind. After all, they write about "traffic accidents", not "vehicle collisions".

You and I and a lot of others understand that "accident" should mean something that is "accidental". But, the language changes. Many people 'understand' accident = collision, now.

Good to see the charges. Wonder how much Oregon's vulnerable user law contributed to there being charges.

Wow, I was off-base -- I was expecting to hear about some fool trying to claim damages in a staged bike accident!

Sorry to hear about Goldstein; nobody deserves that. (well, except maybe Carlos B.,....)

Glad to see the system taking action on it, too. We ALL deserve nothing less from our own local judiciary.

which severely injured Seaside chiropractor Seth A. Goldstein.

If the driver is convicted in a court of law, he deserves to go away for a long time. But there is one thing I have noticed and I don't mean to start a fight but.....

Why is it only when someone who is upper-middle class or above cycling gets hit, the police take a real interest into punishing.

But had this driver struck a homeless guy, do you think he's in jail with a $250,000 bond? Do you think the police would even investigate more than just a basic report? Just something to ponder.

Auto drivers seem to think that since bikes are smaller, somehow they need to be run off the road. If you follow that logic, they shouldnt complain if a huge truck runs them off the road.

And yes when it is shown to be deliberate a driver should be charged with attempted murder.

blake, that (unfortunately) doesn't take much pondering; you nailed it. Homeless guy would barely be a blip on the official radar. There'd be all kinds of excuses -- swerved in front of me, riding the wrong way, didn't see him, it's not like I just tried to kill the pope, etc.

Sad... but true.

But had this driver struck a homeless guy, do you think he's in jail with a $250,000 bond? Do you think the police would even investigate more than just a basic report? Just something to ponder.

No need to ponder. Shortly following the Carlos B. incident, two more cyclists were killed in Miami. How much coverage? Zero. They were both working class individuals in their 60's.

That said, not long prior to Carlos B., a 17 year-old rider (Rodolfo Rojo) was rammed by a vehicle at high speed and killed on Biscayne Boulevard on a warm-up ride before CM - witnesses, his two friends, who were riding with him, and almost got creamed in the process. The friends were dismissed as witnesses, and far as I know, so was the case.

-Kurt

It was not until August 11, 1997 that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration decided that “Crashes are not Accidents.”

http://azbikelaw.org/blog/was-that-an-accident-or-a-crash/

That's exactly what I thought when I read "Man suspected of deliberate bike accident put in jail."

I think what this shows is the pervasive bias, dare I say underlying hatred, of cyclists. The author of the article had clearly read the charges against the driver, which were attempted murder, yet he just cannot commit himself to say that someone tried to intentionally murder a bicyclist. This is not a case of a journalist trying to be fair, he's intentionally watering down an attempted murder charge because a bicyclist is involved. I think he's unfortunately a product of an overarching perception among the majority of people who don't bicycle, that bicyclists are always wrong and don't belong on the roads.

This is the prejudice that bicyclists have to overcome and I just don't see how to combat such a deep-seated resentment and misconception about bicyclists.

And the irony in this case is (if I'm not mistaken) is that the cyclist wasn't even on the road but well off of it.

<quote>
Goldstein had routinely commuted several miles to and from his Seaside office by bicycle, according to Brown. On Nov. 18, Goldstein was riding his bike on the west side of Highway 101, well off the roadway, Brown said, when he was "struck and nearly killed" by Fox's 1990 blue Ford Ranger pickup truck.
</quote>

Which indicates (at least to me) that the driver had to really go out of their way in order to hit Goldstein. Of course what one person defines as being "well off the roadway" and what another person defines as being "well off the roadway" are likely to be two different things.