ifox

there will be memorial ride this Saturday:

robbyracer

Even though I'm down here in SLO I will think of everyone on the memorial ride while I'm on my Saturday ride. My heart goes out to all involved in this tragic accident. Ride well, ride strong and remember those that the cycling community lost.

jeffremer

A Paypal donation link is now available on our team site as well as Matt's memorial site. All donations will go towards cycling related causes in Matt and Kristy's names.

Thanks for your support everyone. We've gotten many kind nods, waves, and condolences even out on the road.

genman

It seems so much more likely the driver would have driven into a ditch or the side of the mountain rather than hit some cyclists. The cyclists were unlucky, indeed.

I'm from Seattle and visited California last year in March, and I happened to ride that road and it felt really safe to me. It was actually quite nice, a satisfying climb and view over the valley, and I hope to come back sometime and ride it again. And I recall meeting some nice local bicyclists in the area and they showed me the route back to my hotel.

Perhaps the local government could put a memorial sign there?

Reading the "Mercury-News" articles, I can't help but feel they represent the typical driver-centric, defensive attitude. I would think that drivers in the Bay Area would be accustomed to seeing bicyclists and wouldn't write articles like that. I don't remember see bicyclists in California doing anything particularly dangerous.

fsor

That particular section of the road is indeed very safe as far as can be expected given the terrain. One photo showed a bicycle embedded upright in the front of the cruiser as the cruiser sat completely off the road. These were top of thier craft cyclists, supreme athletes. I think it is pretty obvious that one cyle was hit after taking to the offroad to avoid collision. Otherwise the bike would not have been still vertical and perpendicular to the cruiser. Doesn't matter now as it is over and done with. As you note the letters and articles in the area papers are not supportive of cycling. This is an area where if a motorist kills four cyclists, she picks garbage for a year. A gravel truck driver did a year and then only because a coworker saw him washing blood and hair off his truck. The bay area is very auto centric. I do not see that changing anytime soon. Especially since even the cyclists seem to accept the situation. I mean the guy was a cops kid and he said he was tired.....he wrung his hands in agony over his career rather than rendering aid.....poor guy.

uspspro

Fixed.

I don't think the Bay Area is any worse than most of the US.

hrt4me

At the least, Deputy Council needs to be charged with 2 counts of vehicular/negligent manslaughter, for anyone else would be held to that standard.

DiabloScott

There are three agencies involved here.

1. The Sheriff's office of course - they seem to be handling this as well as can be expected and they're resigned to being found at fault. They're probably guilty of working their folks too hard though.

2. The Highway Patrol, who did the investigation - lots of allegations have been made about special treatment and things that didn't get done.

3. The District Attorney - they'll prosecute the case and they appear to be taking this as seriously as anyone here could ask. This weekend they made the news saying the CHP and/or Sheriff should have called them for a special investigator.

As far as legal outcomes, I predict some reasonably large wrongful death payments and mildly severe criminal charges for the deputy, who will plead guilty and do minimal time in jail.

fsor

Deputy Council said exactly the right thing. He fell asleep. That prevents a charge of negligent manslaughter and places the blame on the big pockets...the county. He is LEO they know exactly what to say. If he had been on the cell phone at the time (and no one has called the records, I bet) he would swing. The internal affairs "drug test" is not legally admissable for criminal charges...it has to follow direct accident investigation protocol and sample chain of custody. By getting him away from the scene the county mounties knew exactly what they were doing. Funny...don't they have video feeds from the dash camera? Well, it probably wasn't working. Look at it realistically. He had TWO counts of DUI and a count of street racing. Go to the yellow pages and contact any attorney that specializes in this and say you want to plea bargain off the TWO DUI's and do probation. This can only happen if the prosecuting attorney supports it. That only happens if daddy is LEO or a Judge. And you ONLY get hired, with that record, into a county dept. if daddy was LEO. The Sheriff Laura, cried for the camera so Council will have to quietly resign. She don't do that lightly. He will now be a small town LEO. And the county (I mean YOU) will pay through the nose. I have family that are LEO...I hear one cop's kid in twenty is truly born to the job...the others they cover for....In CA. the LEO's have CYA politicians for management...the good ones have a poor shake of it. I bet no charges, quiet resignation and big off the record payoff.

DiabloScott

False.



In Riverside County, California, a young man fell asleep at the wheel, crossed the center divider and struck a car carrying Gonyea's father, stepmother and sister-in-law. They were all killed. The driver of the other car pleaded guilty and was charged with three counts of vehicular manslaughter.

https://www.edmunds.com/ownership/saf...0/article.html

fsor

You have the point.. That is extremely rare and probably why the cop/author is using it as an extreme example. I still maintain that no charges will be filed. Council knew exactly what to say. He did not render aid, he was screaming about his career. The black box data will not be public. NEVER EVER should a cop serve on the same force as daddy. Any cop that removes an offending officer from the scene of a crime, before independent agencies respond, should be dismissed. The sheriff of any agency that permits such should be dismissed.

DiabloScott

I don't think it's rare at all for vehicular manslaughter charges to be filed in cases like this. I do believe it's common for offenders to plea down of course.

Shortly after I moved to the Bay Area in 1983 there was a case of a teen driver in an SUV who plowed down four riders down near Santa Cruz - she was looking for a tape in the back seat and drifted off the road and killed them all (I think). I remember she got off pretty light but that was because the kids of the riders wanted it that way. Anybody else remember that case?

fsor

I have to reject that the family had much to say about the above case. The prosecuting attorney has the sole judgement of what he/she feels they can go after and get a positive return. The PA is truly a politician and has a future in the system to look after so they will not let a really visible case that John Q cares about slide. Forgive me for perseverating. I did not know these cyclists but they accomplished something at a level that I can not ever equal. My family LEO connections tell me this will be covered up and it makes my heart scream. We cannot do anything for them, but we need to make LEO accountable at the same level as any other. That will not happen here. If a cop does long jail time, it might make they guy driving the black pickup with "Rodeo" on it that mowed several people down, and escaped, think twice. Remember him?...still out there. It might make john Q think twice. I do not support critical mass, and I try to ride with respect to the others on the road...I am being a hothead here because we really need to turn this accountability thing around. That won't happen here, i fear. Sorry for offending, but I am deeply offended by this.

BottleRocket

I believe that was in Gilroy on Hwy. 152 near the golf course on the Western edge of town. I think it was around '87 or so.........no? I don't remember the details of the case but I remember it happened at the time I was really into riding around there. Still think about it whenever I'm down there and drive by the spot.

The San Jose Mercury might have some archival information.

johnny99

In this interview, the deputy's lawyer said that she expects manslaughter charges. Is that lawyer speak for trying to work out a plea agreement?

https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../BAEVVIOS9.DTL

tprevost

yup, that was the little sister of my best friend in high school. happened in Gilroy on 152.

Dchiefransom

More recently, a woman reaching into the back seat for something for her baby killed a cyclist up near Santa Rosa. The thread about the D.A. not filing charges should not be very far back from the front.

Dchiefransom

It was near Redding.

https://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-safety/381752-da-explains-his-actions-not-prosecuting-right-wrong.html

Pheard

I think the only answer is to increase punishment and people need to be more aware of what can/will happen if they are careless and run over a cyclist. No one gives a **** about cyclists being heard, no one cares about sharing the road with us, no one cares about the fact we aren't protected by 2 tons of metal and an air bag. People are selfish, indignant, rude creatures. The only way to change things is to increase fear of punishment. When I see a cyclist, I try to be extremely careful around them, if possible I try to get past them or in a different lane as fast as possible. I try to be respectful. No one else does that, the fact of the matter is, some people have their heads so far up their arses they don't even know yet that cyclists actually have rights to be on the road, and this includes cops aswell. I think part of the problem is people who aren't cyclists don't understand the culture and attitude that comes with it. I don't think drivers notice or comprehend what cycling is to some people, how important it is, how serious it is to them to have safety on the road. It never crosses drivers minds. It's complete ignorance. People are too busy with themselves to care for human life.

SharpT

I found this statement from the DA on the Redding case, most intersting.

In this case, we can't prove where the collision occurred - in the roadway, on the shoulder or in the dirt. We cannot show that the driver ever left her lane or the roadway. For all we know, Ms. Mann turned into the driver or suddenly rode into the lane. Although I do not believe that to be the case, there is no evidence to preclude that possibility. This is critical evidence to making this event a crime.

Clearly the DA for this Cupertino case will have to come up with a different excuse.

Honestly, I feel the deputy should receive a harsher sentence than an average Joe, as he should be fully aware of the concequences of driving while tired through his training and on the job experience... if he continues that line of defense.

--
SharpT

jinws

Like drinking and driving, bad drivers needs to be hit where it really matters to them, their wallets. I believe it's very hard for someone to imaging killing someone. People think, how unlucky, that'll never happen to me. But make the police enforce 3 ft passing laws, track down people who harass cyclists when reported. It's sad that the thought of killing someone probably wouldn't make most people to be more careful around cyclist, but a large fine would.

DiabloScott

I guess you mean the driver. I think the victims were two married couples. Can you report on the legal outcome?
I'd like a name or something to gooogle on, can't find anything from the key words I've tried.

tprevost

For my life I cannot remember her first name (yes, the driver) ... last name is Miller. I tried to google it last night and found nothing... tried the mercury news archives and no luck there either. I was never privy to the legal outcome but I know she did hundreds of hours of community service among whatever other things came of it.

fsor

If the DA files charges it will be a social mollification. I do not believe that charges will be filed but if so, they will be quietly dropped when things cool down. The bottom line is we are as cyclists in a situation where the local papers will give a full page to Deputy Council's family to build angst for the poor guy who was wringing his hands about his career while the victims died. It took MADD a long time to make dui a liability (not for Council, obviously). It took motorcyclists a long time to make DA's prosecute drivers who killed them ("kill a biker, go to jail" bumper sticker...remember those?) We have drunk drivers killing four of us and doing a year's public service. We have a ways to go. We need to challenge the media and the DA's and we need to monitor these cases that the cops swiftly sweep under the carpet. I have toured in europe and scandanavia. Everywhere is car centric, as someone pointed out. But there they don't run over you because doing so costs them thier driving privledges for life. Here, killing a cyclist is regarded as a freebie. We need to quit accepting that. Council will never have his car's black box or video feeds accessed. His cell phone records will not be examined...he still has made no statement to investigators.....you would be in jail getting wrung out if it were you.....time to ask questions

BlastRadius

Would writing or emailing the DA be a good course of action so they don't try to sweep it under?