Yummy Tree Sap

Short story even shorter, I was riding my bike earlier today along a four-lane road (two lanes each direction, median in the center). There was barely any traffic at this particular moment, and a guy (in a PT Cruiser nonetheless) came up next to me and tried to run me off the road while his passenger threw a bottle at me and laughed about it.

They pulled into a parking lot till I rode by, and then they stopped behind me at the next traffic light. Which was a stupid move on their part; I took down the plate number and stored it into my phone.

I'm contemplating reporting this, but I feel like the police won't care much. I wasn't hurt (though it was indeed damned scary), and I have no real evidence or anything. The bottle hit my back and I had a backpack on, so it didn't even hurt or anything. What do you think: Should I bother?

Shimagnolo

Here in CO the the State Patrol has a special number to call for that situation:

https://www.csp.state.co.us/dialstar.html

Check with your state.

FR4NCH1SE

nope, the only time you will see the police do something is when its the end of the month and they need to reach their quota. Police drive as bad as the rest of the jerks, they are the biggest bully of them all when you think of it. Not all but most cops.

urbanknight

Assault with a deadly weapon for the driver and assault for the passenger. Could you pick their faces out of a photo line-up?

tagaproject6

You just got assaulted, man! There is nothing to think about, do something.

dwc032

Here is Bend, Oregon if I get a call I will always try and take the calls and track down the aggressive driver. I am below a novice cyclist (if there is such a thing) and hate it when people treat cyclists like crap and dont yield to us and dont move over.

With that said if I do catch them I will always issue citations. IE Fail To Yield, Careless Driving and so forth and so on. So this Cop has your back and not all of us are bad.......

fishermansfly

Dude as a cop from TN, that's what we call aggravated assault! Which is a felony. Sometimes it takes one person to get the ball rolling, be glad your not hurt, report it, pick the ******s out of a line up which will be easy if you have a tag because your offender will likely be the registered owner.

Should be quick and painless on your end and make sure you follow through with prosecution. With a little help on your end after they have been jailed...a line should be dropped to the local press about the situation...It will not only make there faces appear on the big screen but word will get out for most to not do something as childish and reckless as what they did, which could ultimately prevent someone else from making such a dumb move.

State laws will differ...but in TN it appears to be reckless driving on part of the driver (misdemeanor, however the points alone added up on a drivers license should suspend it) and aggravated assault on behalf of the bottle throwing passenger (the bottle being a weapon). However, it will depend on the bottle (plastic or glass) as well as the speed you were traveling when the bottle was chucked...There are certain perameters you'll probably have to meet, in order for it to be agg. assault. You'll have to check into local laws regarding the definition of "weapon"

Good luck!

knobster

Probably nothing will happen if they haven't done this before and was reported. You should report them anyways which will provide a record and will prompt the police to do something the next time they do this to someone else.

gabdy

Nope.

DataJunkie

schnee

Reported to mods, jackass.

Quoted, in case you falter in your bravery and edit out your post later.

prathmann

Definitely report it. What effect it'll have depends on your local authorities, but the more reports they get the more likely that they'll start responding to them. And at a minimum I'd expect them to keep the report on record so if there are future incidents involving that driver they can see the pattern of behavior and prosecute more aggressively.

And there are options they can take even if there isn't sufficient evidence for conviction of assault. In a similar case I was told by local police that they would send an officer to the driver's home and inform him of the complaint and explain the rights of cyclists and the potential legal consequences of his actions. We also had a case where the driver was a minor and the highway patrol visited the home and reached an agreement that the vehicle was to remain parked for the next year and the minor would not drive without his parents during that time.

carpediemracing 

Only video/photographic evidence of any wrongdoing will get you a good response. Fact of life. I'll be riding (and driving) with a cam going forward (as soon as I figure out how to set up my helmet cam semi-permanently) - too many times something's happened and I didn't have proof.

cdr

Kai Winters

Hmmm if someone robbed you at gun point would you write down a description of the perp and think about calling the police?
You had a cell phone and didn't call 911...you get what you deserve.

Tundra_Man 

+1

At least this way when they succeed in killing someone the next time there will be a history to set precedence. It'll be more difficult for them to just say "Oops, I didn't see the guy on the bike."

kbtommy

Egads. Deserve? I agree that he has good reason to call the cops, but what's with all the lashing out at the OP? Given how much we know about cops ignoring cyclists, it's not an unreasonable question.

Mash Master

Where are you located? Someone was telling me a story about my area a week ago where a similiar situation happenned here in the Austin area. Apparently as these guys left they thought it would be funny to open the passenger door and hit the cyclist with it. Too bad for them my friend was in a car behind them and phoned it into 911. ****** bags are everywhere.

dguest

The others are correct about the assault. If you got the plate # and can identify the driver then you should report it, If the PD is unwilling to do anything go to the magistrate and file the charges yourself. You can swear out a warrant in most states.

As far as the below quote well all I can say is he must have a problem with law enforcement to stereotype them as he has.

JonnyV

This is similar to an incident I posted about a couple months ago. Some kids threw a CD case at my riding partner and I. I got the tag number and thanks to 2 other run ins with the same kid I got a good discription of the driver. After a few phone calls a state trooper was knocking on his door. I opted not to press charges, I just wanted him and the 2 other kids in the car to know that they won't always get away with random acts of stupidity that could get someone seriously hurt or killed. The police are there to help, just make sure you give them enough information so that they can do their job.

TysonCook

plus it shows a pattern, i.e. if they have a few reports, then finally hit somone, when they go to court or file a claim, the prosecution can show a pattern. Then they can't use the "oh, it was an accidental bottle flying from my car".

In charlotte NC they (law) are very good at cyclist rights, along with a phone hotline, and a website form to fill out when it happens. I got a personal response last week from the department thanking me and letting me know that they sent a letter to the offender.

https://www.charmeck.org/Departments/...ve+Drivers.htm

jonestr

kewl beans. I grew up riding in Bend and had a lot of confrontations with cars. I would have been more apt to call the police if I knew someone on the force might follow up.

You might think of getting in with one of the local clubs, sunnyside or Hutch's maybe, as you might be able to do a lot of good in the Bend are for keeping cyclists safe.

Thanks

dwc032

I have done the group ride with Sunnyside and have ridden with Damian a couple times. Damian is the local pro rider, very cool and does what he can with the newer riders.

cofgrn

In the main jurisdictions I ride in (Chicago and some suburbs), the police do not take these types of complaints seriously, and would not follow-up. Any justice exacted in these situations occurs outside the law.

calRider

While having a video of a crime would certainly be great, don't forget that cops are trained to extract information out of people (legally!), and they're really good at it. I could certainly imagine a cop going over to the driver's house and getting him/her to confess to the crime. With the confession, you'd have a pretty good case. Don't think you have to have a video or photo to report an assault...though, it certainly does make it easier.

carpediemracing 

Here in this area there's a truck, plate known, which regularly buzzes riders.There are a lot of reports (maybe 20? 30?) of the same truck buzzing cyclists. The riders even have his commute time down. So far no action due to no evidence ("he said she said").

I didn't mean to say no "good response", that was inaccurate and careless on my part. But it really helps when you have evidence of some wrong doing.

cdr