Originally Posted by kalliergo

I suppose this is intended to imply that you think anyone on the street in Oakland at such an hour is "asking for it" or some such thing.

People have a right to use the public streets and highways without being assaulted.



Yes, it certainly sounds like it, doesn't it? Did you mean to imply that it isn't surprising to find such a driver at that place and time? Yeah, it's not.

So what? Surely you don't mean to say that people should just be expected to stay away from places known to pose risks?

If you follow that philosophy, you're going to end up with an awful lot of places where the only occupants are Mad Max loonies, people who can't escape, and cops acting like occupying forces.

Sounds like bad public policy to me.



Yup. These cyclists needed both better foresight and better self-control. They should have had better foresight than to pass the truck after being deliberately buzzed, and the guy should have had better self-control than is indicated by the allegaton that he smashed a window with his lock after having harmless liquid thrown at him.

But they have every right to be where they were when they were, and a society that accepts an alternative reality as "normal" isn't going to stay civilized for long.