https://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/20.../14331881.html

I can't believe someone would think it's entertaining to see someone get injured and permanently disfigured. This guy better get a hefty sentence.

According to the link, they don't think it was done out of spite, but out of negligence. He was an idiot who wanted to fish further from the water and crossed his line across the path. Criminal negligence resulting in bodily harm, or something like that.

EDIT: And yes, he should get a hefty sentence.

He probably thought it was a hiking path. So, yea, criminal negligence sounds about right.

I thought it was gonna be an intentional thing on a paved path.

I'm thinking that anyone who was using that path would not have likely to have seen the fishing line. It wouldn't matter if they were riding a bike, hiking, walking or jogging.

And at 20k she was only going like 10 - 12 MPH that's not very fast.

I would think, depending on the local law, that she could probably bring a civil suit against him, too. Whether it would be worth the trouble is hard to tell from the article.

Did you read the article?

Throughout southeastern Europe (Romania was the best example, but elsewhere), throughout many parts of central America and Peru (Ecuador was bad in places), and a few other hotspots, one of the favorite pastimes of idle children and childlike adults (when the weren't throwing rocks or trying to snatch stuff out of your panniers) is to spread a rope across a roadway, block traffic, and shake down the stopped vehicles for small amounts of money. Most cars and trucks blow right thru them but for a bike it can be a nightmare. I am amazed this has not caught on in police no-go areas in American cities, though perhaps our 2nd amendment is a deterrent.

roughstuff

Perhaps a V-shaped cutting device mounted up front, in such a way as to be safe for others, but still capable of snapping a line placed above hub height?

-Kurt

Actually not entirely. I was in a hurry to get back to work at lunch.

Criminal negligence causing bodily harm seems about right combined with an appropriate civil action.

Aggravated assault. Negligence, my hairy ace.

Gotta love the way he tried to blame it on the victim.

My belief is that he only maintains he was trying to fish that far back because he was caught.

Let me see - the kid is 21, an adult not a kid; no concern for the injured cyclist, no effort to aid, blame the cyclist; and a claim of long distance fishing.

I call BS.

I say charge the adult with assault with intent to cause bodily harm.

Yeah, this was a total setup... the other end was tied to something i'd bet... if it's just a dinky lure the damage won't be so bad... plus kid can always raise the line up with the end of the pole OVER the head of the woman.

CB Hi and electrik see the likely truth. I also say the end of the line was likely anchored and this was largely premeditated, making it aggravated assault not negligence. Chris Rafuse should get to spend a few months with Bubba.

Except the article never said that's what he claimed. The police said that's what they think happened.

"Police charged Chris Rafuse, 21, with criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

"From what we can tell ... it looks as though this was set up as a way of fishing a long way away from the water and the line just happened to cross the bike path. And then the woman rode right into it," said police spokesperson Clair Seyler to CTV Edmonton."

Also, I would note:

"I walked back to the picnic site where there were four kids sitting with the fishing rod and said, 'Hey buddy, what are you doing?'"

Leads me to believe maybe they were wanting to fish from their picnic site. So while foul play may be possible, good ol' American stupidity and selfishness still seems like it's probably the case (or at least in the running!). With a good helping of gross negligence too, no less!

I dont buy that it was an accident, not by the way that kid behaved. There was a case I remember where something similar happened quite a few years ago; the idiot who did it got a proper beat down handed to him by firends of the injured biker (if I recall correctly), couldn't walk for 6 more months. That must have had something to do with the fact that he never did that again.

I've gotta agree with others when they say that this 21 yr old "kid" knew exactly what he was doing, and as with those others it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the other end of that fishing line was attached to something heavier and more permanent than a fishing lure. Likewise I find it hard to believe that he didn't know that it was a bike path.

I think that he should be charged and tried on attempted murder charges. As realistically that is what he was trying to do. His "I was just trying to fish from where I am sitting" doesn't ring true.

I was going to give the kid the benefit of the doubt, but the complete lack of remorse is what did it for me.

Blaming the victim doesn't help either.

You and I both know that's not what attempted murder is.

There is a crime called something like "criminal deviance resulting in serious injury" (that's not what it's called, but that's the effect - wish I could remember now) that could be applicable if it can be proved he was doing it on purpose. But until it can be proved, he's innocent until proven guilty.

Pretty obviously at least guilty of criminal negligence though, since he copped to it more or less.

That should definitely factor into it, but I still don't think this necessarily means he did it on purpose.


Funny/sadly enough, if he was just fishing from the picnic bench, he may not even think he did anything wrong and is getting defensive. I mean, we talk on here all the time of drivers who put our lives in danger convinced they never did anything wrong. Why could that not apply here as well? There's a lot of stupid people out there, man. I still say it could be either.

There is absolutely no way that a fishing line cast from the wrong side of the path into the water would cause that kind of damage when someone rides into it. It had to have been tied off like a clothes line.

Local law really has little to do with it -- she absolutely could bring a civil suit, and should have a good chance of winning if it goes to court.

As for if it's worth it, that all depends on what assets the kid has access to to pay the judgment against him with.

As for the claims that it was intentional ... maybe. But the police did investigate, and they probably would have considered the intentional angle as well and looked for evidence of it. And really, if somebody wanted to do this intentionally, the way to do it would be to tie it between two trees and skip the fishing rod entirely, and then be near enough to see what it does but far enough for it to be hard to pin it on you.

Don't forget that that this crime happened up in Canada, not down here in the USA. Canada may have a different threshold for attempted murder. And if as several of us think that it was done on purpose and was tied to something heavier than a fishing hook or lure that would support an attempted murder charge.

Plus given the injuries that the woman sustained supports the theory that the fishing line wasn't just in the water. If as the "kid" has said that he was just fishing from where he was sitting the fishing line shouldn't have been pulled tight enough to have inflicted the injuries that it did.

As I've said his story of just fishing from the picnic bench just doesn't ring true. I mean depending on how far said bench is from the water how is he going to know that he has a strike? If he get's a strike how is he going to set the hook? As he will have too much line out to really set the hook with. His I was just fishing story doesn't ring true, and I think most of us realize that.

Exactly, about the only way I could see it happening is if when she rode into it that the hook or lure got snagged on something. But no one has said anything about that having happened. Which makes his story sound well fishy. It is more logical to presume that he had the other end of the fishing line tied off to something in order injure someone walking, running or riding a bike on that trail.