From that thread you posted, she had a choice of charging the driver w/ either DUI or Reckless Homicide. With someone w/ an understanding of the law please explain how reckless homicide isn't applicable in this case?

What an idiotic comment by the attorney. How can this not be reckless driving??? Why can't she be prosecuted for manslaughter? The key point here is that she was not driving--she was downloading ringtones--while her 2 ton vehicle was traveling at deadly speeds on the roadways.

The only way it makes sense is if the attorney knows what's likely to happen in civil court. Hopefully the victim's family will set them back millions and create a message that way. That message has to be done with a big arse law suit--the family needs to sue with the best lawyers for as much as possible--for the sake of bike commuters like us.

I read her blog. Nothing is on there about the manslaughter that I can see. I see she's a Christian (I am, too). Well, I challenge her to get out and deliver a good message that only she can deliver--by being an advocate for new laws to bring awareness to this and go to HS's across the country to tell students to turn off their cell phone's while driving. Also, I challenge her to post her remorse and ask for forgiveness.

This attorney, by her inane actions, infuriates me.

Great point.

Rietz is the state's attorney here, not the judge. She's the one who made the decision to go with the improper lane usage charge instead of something more serious.

Was the guy single?

In many states, if a person is single, their life has no monetary value. Parents or girlfriends / boyfriends didn't technically loose anything financially (according to the law) so they have no right to sue for lost income.

This is the worst kind of wrong. Unmarried = worthless

I know this because my brother was killed on his bicycle in Indiana. There wasn't a thing we could do. The procecutor wouldn't file charges and we had no recourse in civil court. They have since changed the laws regarding minors and a parent's ability to sue for wrongful death but I think it still holds that there's no ability to sue for lost income on unmarried folks.

Thanks for the email address, I just sent this to her:

I’m appalled by the leniency you decided to use when pursuing Mrs. Stark who decided to download ringtones instead of concentrate on driving. Her DECISION to do so cost a man his life, this should not be taken lightly. “State's Attorney Julia Rietz made the call not to lodge any more serious charge than improper lane usage against Stark, saying that the legal definition of recklessness, to sustain reckless homicide or reckless driving, did not fit her actions.” If this is the best you can do please find a more suitable vocation.

Signed, a bicyclist who would like someone to defend my life if I were in this situation,

Jason Sanders
Flight Simulator Technician
Boeing C-17 ATS

Does anyone know - are the parents of the driver "somebody" in the community? Were they able to exert influence to make this happen (or not happen)?

It just seems so ridiculous that she got off with a slap on the wrist and then does the mySpace thing... she is obviously learning this behavior somewhere. Spoiled and entitled. Others don't even have the right to live but she can't be inconvenienced to pay attention while driving or bear the burden of her actions.

She reminds me of rich kid football heros when I was in high school. They would get caught DUI or with pot in the car, and the cops would let them go because of who they were or who their parents were. Then they would come to school and brag about it...

I can relate. I went to ISU in Bloomington/Normal just north, and there was little to no regard for cyclists. We did have a great bike trail that ran a long length that was an old railroad line. Aside form that, nothing. Pluls it didnt' go anywhere but you knew you wouldn't get hit!

This is so prevalent now. I say everyone get together, and get an old messed up wheel, and every anniversary, litter her front lawn with bent rims so she's reminded. People are so engrossed with their own needs, she'll put it out of her mind. I lost a friend the same way, and it still bothers me.

I was hit in 97, and I can no longer run. I'm lucky I can still ride. If I couldn't, I'd be destroyed. All for what? She was in a hurry, and couldn't wait. I'm 1.25 inches shorter because someone was a dumbass. I was lucky though. I made it.

I think if you can't pay attention to the job at hand, you shouldn't be able to drive. People abuse a priveledge they think is a right. So sad. I feel for the rider's family. This will affect many people for a long time.

That makes sense. The point of suing someone in this situation wouldn't be to punish the evildoer (that's the court's job, theoretically), but to compensate any other victims for the financial loss, of which there was none if the guy didn't have a family depending on his income.

That's why I didn't respond to "lost wages" when I replied that they (his family) can sue in civil court. They can still sue for wrongful death.

The blog entry seems to have vanished. Any chance someone saved the entire thing? I'm guessing someone told her it's probably not a good idea to post incriminating statements that can be admissible in later legal action.

Perhaps it would be good to take the blog entry and send to the Prosecutor - I suspect she and the family did a really good job of playing up that "anyone could make a mistake and she is only 19". It would be good for the prosecutor to see what kind of person she let pretty much walk away.

This makes the case even more that we need bike lanes, nation wide! I know people who are riding professionally. He had a 2500 dollar carbon bike, and went through a guys windsheild because he is an ******* and he had to fight with the insurance company just to get the money for the bike.
I was hit before too, people inching forward on stop signs with out looking to the left or right... what a bunch of idiots people have become

this guy was riding off to the side of the road. a bike lane would have done nothing to save him because the girl was so far out of her lane.

did she remove the blog related to this? i cant find it

I hope someone saved the text of that. After recovering from my initial revulsion, I had resolved to write an actual letter with EXTENSIVE quotes. However, with the blog removed...it makes it rather difficult since I didn't immediately extract the "incriminating evidence". Hopefully some industrious soul on this forum did...

I don't know the law but I doubt this is true.

Don't people sue regularly for punitive damages? The big buck kind for corporate mistakes, like silicon breast implants and asbestos. Why couldn't the dead man's parents sue for that?

Different states have different laws and I encourage you to check it out. Punitive damages might come from a wrongful death suit, if the state law provides for it, but that wouldn't have any connection to lost earnings, that's all.

There is a follow up story about the Wilhelms pushing for new legislation to create a new crime falling somewhere between reckless homicide and a slap on the wrist:
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/loc...riving_measure

Apparently, Rietz is on board and helping write the new legislation.

So does anyone have the blog excerpt for angry letter writers like myself to quote from? I would be very appreciative.

This whole thing reeks of the horrible direction society is heading in. Firstly, abandoning fundamental care and attention needed while performing a high demand activity. Secondly, total abandonment of self responsibility (which is really starting to show up EVERYWHERE in our society).

I figure everyone has a "my crap is more important than yours" situation happen, I'll duck inbetween pedestrians crossing a road if I have plenty of room to do so, rather than wait the 30 seconds.

Whoever this poor girl is, she needs to be appropriately punished for taking away someone elses life due to a incredibly selfish and irresponsible desire. I'm behind the whole cellphones in cars=evil school.

People often seem to act like they'd be dead and/or inable to function if they didn't have their cellphone/crackberry/whatever - doesn't anybody remember how the world functioned before the 90s? We seriously CAN live without checking our e-mail, our phones whatever.

I think this really says a lot:
Look at TV shows, they feel the need to tempt people into watching the next episode with a preview because (I'm guessing here) of the TV folk realising how drab and dull our programming is these days, so they bribe us with some candidly edited 30 seconds of action in an hour long crapfest. (I hate how TV is).

I really feel for the family and friends of the poor man who lost his life, just for riding a bike in the wrong place at the wrong time. WTF world, wtf should these people suffer so traumatically and the wrongdoing moron gets off free (whatever that was she got 'awarded', wasn't punishment IMO).

It irritates me so much, that I really think I'm starting to not care as much - I feel totally helpless against this kind of stupidity, and I'm having a really hard time with figuring out how I can try and help/contribute to a more positive role model for our future. (My current thinking is parents are largely idiots these days, and need a swift kick in the sack to take hold of their lives and stop letting other things/people/events explain your laziness away).

I looked at the blog post last night on my computer at home. It's probably cached on the computer somewhere. I'll see if I can find it tonight.

This whole affair makes me nauseous.

It's in the same titled thread in the Road forums.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...0&postcount=82

She was so far over that she hit him w/ the driver's side of the car. She might as well have been on the sidewalk if she wasn't already.

And what did she learn about this whole experience? "This accident has taught me a lot about judging to [sic] quickly."

This has nothing to do with judging her, from my standpoint. This has everything to do with fixing the law and changing driver's behaviors. She better understand that or she's going down a destructive path.

She admitted guilt. Is is our judgement that makes her guilty? No. It's a fact.