OneTinSloth

I just got off the phone with Torrin. He heard from the doctors last Thursday that his blindness isn't going to get any better. He says he has limited peripheral vision, and no vision straight ahead. Basically, no more bike riding for him ever.

This is the San Rafael District Attorney's webpage. Call, write, fax, email this guy letting him know that letting the perpetrator of a hit and run off with a misdemenor charge is utterly ridiculous and won't play too favorably in the court of public opinion. seriously guys and gals. Torrin is a good friend of mine, he was a poster here until the blindness got so bad that he couldn't read, and riding his bike was a huge part of his life. Anyone who has any media connections, especially in the SF bay area, anything you can do would be much appreciated. We can't let this scumbag get away with this.

If anyone else has any ideas about how we can help him, please post them. If it's cool with the mods and Joe, I'd like to cross-post this to the advocacy forum as well.

Mod Edit:

This is not a cross-post, but moved from Singlespeed and Fixed Gear -forum. For background on what happened to lucklust, see post number 11 by OneTinSloth below.

--J, a Forum Mod

wangster

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear that. I will do my part and write this guy as soon as I can. This sort of sh*t cannot go unpunished. That guys needs to learn a lesson for life. Because he can't control his temper, someone's life is ruined. I'll ask around with the peeps I know in San Fran and see if they can do something. Give Torrin my best regards and that I hope everything will turn out well in the end. I'm a firm believer in karma and so I know that everything will be righted. Good luck to everyone and a safe ride for life.

endform

To call in I think it might be important to be able to know lucklust's name since I'm guessing that is what the DA does not know him by that. Or perhaps the name of the perp would be better.

fixedpip

Have you tried talking to the SFBC and Marin Bike Coalitons for help in getting letters etc out?

https://www.marinbike.org/
https://www.sfbike.org/

Seems I've read about a lot of hit and runs, where no-one gets prosecuted or help responsible for their actions. It really makes me bloody angry to see this not being taking seriously by the Justice system.

Thoughts are with Torrin on this.

G-Unit

I thought he was going to recover??

Looks like some old school Sicilian style justice is what the doctor ordered. (Not that I'm volunteering)...

I hope Lucklust is going to do OK, the human will is a mighty force.

BlastRadius

I just shot an email to SF Bike and Marin Bike to see if they can help with some advocacy.

ostro

This is horrible! I dont understand how someone can get away with it. I am trully infururaited!

I dont have any bright ideas to make it all right, but maybe we should organize some sort of awareness ride to increase the publicity of this incident. If we make a big enough stink about it and do it right, we can raise media awareness and perhaps they will take the charges more seriously.

Even if Torrin wasnt our friend, fellow forum member, cyclist, etc., we should all realize the fact that this kind of crap can happen to any of us!

Terror_in_pink

Poor Torrin. He called me a few weeks ago and said something about getting hit again... was this walking?

charlesw

Can you give us a news report or something I can read? I want to help you but I need more than just the name Torrin. Do you have more details, facts, etc. that were taken down by a reporter?

To make our case known we need to look together and somewhat official.

BlastRadius

Here's the thread with more info...
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ghlight=torrin

OneTinSloth

I was thinking about doing some type of form letter and then having it available to print out for people to mail in. I just found out about this tonight, so I haven't really thought everything out about what to do, which is why I asked for suggestions.

To summarize what happened in this thread:

Torrin was riding along a busy street, a guy in a truck swerved past him, almost hitting him. Torrin at some point got past him again. The guy then blows by him again, hits him, and speeds off. Torrin of course fell off his bike, shattering his helmet and hitting the back of his head. If he hadn't been wearing the helmet, he'd be dead. Witnesses then chased down the driver and forced him to turn himself in.

I'm going out to visit him tomorrow, and I'll work with him on a form letter, and get as many details as possible. I'm not very good at sounding all official and stuff, but I'll try to get one together and post it up tomorrow night and then whoever wants to can punch it up a bit as they see fit and then repost their version. I think, in order to make the largest impact on this situation, it would be awesome if we could get as many people as possible from marin county to write in, as their voices would be the strongest because they'd come from that community. I'll get dates, details and Torrin's last name, and perhaps a case number. I'll also give the various bike coalitions a call to see what they can do.

I was also thinking about putting together a flyer that we could post in bike shops, if anyone with some graphic design skills (if that's even necessary in this case) could help out with that, it'd be great. We could get copies to him to put at the shop he worked at, and of course, I'd put some up at mine, and distribute them to as many other LBSes too.

This is the first time i've tried to mobilize and get people to come together, so I don't really know what steps to take. I'll take all of your suggestions to heart, and so far they've all been good. Thanks to BR for linking to the original threads. I'm also going to be busy with work, as we've had some crap go down in the last couple of days that isn't going to be very good for us, and needs to be handled in a professional manner.

With regard to an awareness ride, the ride of silence is coming up on may 18th. Read more about it on that website, and if there isn't a ride in your area, i strongly suggest trying to organize one. I'm going to be calling people to find out about one in the east bay probably either tomorrow, or wednesday.

and yeah, he did get hit again a few weeks back while crossing the street. He had his guide stick with him and some dumbass ran a stop sign and rolled right into him...the guy isn't having a very good year.

I don't think there is a news article, but there might be a clipping from from the newspaper from the "police beat" section. I'll get as many facts as I can about what happened. I'll also tell him that there's a lot of support coming out of here. He'll like that.

Rancid

anything I can do, you got it. Just send me Torrin's last namr, date and location of thr accident(if you've got it) so I can get it in my letter to the DA.

MKRG

I'm in!

royalflash

thats totally sickening and depressing- you can do anything in a car and pretty much get away with it- I don't think the DA will take much notice of any interfering Europeans but just PM me if I can help

lala

Does Torrin have a lawyer and can he contact the witnesses?

It was a really bad idea to read this during breakfast.

Let's keep this thread alive and support Torrin however we can.

hella

Armed and ready with pen and paper. Let us know when you finish the form letter.

rusholme

this is soooo disgusting it makes me sick to my stomach.

losing torrin as a cyclist is punishment enough to our community, let alone having some remorseless jerk back out on the streets.

please post the form letter so we can copy and paste.
thanks

timmhaan

i'd be happy to help as well. OneTinSloth - i appauld what you're doing. just hope it makes a difference.

bostontrevor

That's absolutely terrible beyond words. Please post here or PM me with his last name and the case number. This is assault with a deadly weapon and probably a few others like reckless endangerment. There are witnesses to the incident, the driver fled the scene of the accident... This is no misdemeanor assault. Absolutely disgusting and Torrin's never going to be able to see properly again.

phidauex

Yes, give us the info we need to contact the DA with (name, etc), and we'll do it! That judgement is a farce, and the DA needs to know this. For those of us who are 'out of town', make sure you note that you don't feel safe visiting places that place so little value on life, and will NOT be travelling to that city.

peace,
sam

phidauex

Does torrin have a lawyer?? If so, can he persue this in civil court? I know in some places you can't 'double charge' someone, but you can hit someone in criminal court once, and then civil court once. He might get a sympathetic ear in civil court, especially since he has been permanently disabled.

-sam

OneTinSloth

hey everyone, i just got back from hanging out with torrin. we went to the beach and had a nice picnic. we also went to get him a talking clock and some more advice from the great folks at the lighthouse in san rafael.

he seemed in good spirits, and i'll be working on the form letter with him tonight. the great thing is, Torrin has connections, I have connections, and we all have connections too. Public opinion often has a lot more weight than anything else, so hopefully, we'll be able to work together to help send the right message to motorists by enforcing laws and handing down stiffer punishment to people who hit and run. that's what it's about.

we don't have a case number, because the guy hasn't officially been charged yet, but i got torrin's last name, and the date that of the accident. the letter will be coming shortly.

ivan_yulaev

This is terrible. I can't believe it, only on the roads can you get away with intentionally assaulting someone with a deadly weapon...

There seems to have been a lot of accidents lately. Be careful out there guys.

jeff williams

Wish I had resources or smarts to help.
+ thoughts for Torrin.

Dchiefransom

Let us know when you get the info, so we can put pressure on the DA to indict the guy with the proper charges. My bet is he doesn't only do this with cyclists, but with other motor vehicles as well. Time to get him off the road and out of polite society for an extended period.