Seattle Critical Mass deals with road ragey driver, go to jail.
Thread started by
JB at 07.27.08 - 9:21 am
Two cyclists are now in jail, the driver, who hit at least two people, and apparently drove off with one of them ON HIS CAR, is not under arrest.
"Police spokesman Mark Jamieson said the driver is not considered an aggressor, but a victim, in the chaos that broke out during the Critical Mass protest."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/372364_criticalmass27.html?source=mypi
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/27/hahn.car.bike.showdown.king
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008075512_reading27.html
http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/last_nights_critical_mass_melee
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WOW not the incident so much, but the reporting.
Notice the difference with Post Intelligencer vs. Seattle Time Vs the blogger. Lot of different facts presented different ways. The Intelligencer makes it sound like the police only see the driver as the victim, where the blogger talks about him apologizing after and his companion telling him to stop during the incident. The Seattle Times took a middle of the road stance with the different facts.
This is why I don't read the LA Times. I have seen reporting of situations and incidents that I was either involved in or knew what happened. The Times would get all the facts wrong. I realized I was chancing being influenced with bad information, so I have decided it better not to know at all, then to know think I know what the reality is, but actually have a false account.
sexy07.27.08 - 11:05 am
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EVery paper on the planet gets stories really wrong. I realized this many years ago when I was interviewed for a story that was about me. In the resulting story, which was maybe 800 words, I don't think a single sentence proved to actually be accurate. It was stunning to me just how little the reporter, who was taking notes and recording the interview, actually understood what I was talking about (which wasn't even remotely difficult to understand). One hopes that reporters who are good enough to be employed at a major national newspaper are maybe a bit better at it than, say, the local college paper, but I still wouldn't expect miracles from any paper.
ideasculptor07.27.08 - 11:18 am
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this pisses me off so much
violence doesn't solve shit. that driver should be punished but he won't be thanks to the tit-for-tat vigilantism of the cyclists
and now Seattle CM will be subject to more scrutiny and police action which will probably just engender more conflict
stevestevesteve07.27.08 - 12:47 pm
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Um, you'd have to be Gandhi or MLK to stand by and watch a fellow cyclist get run over and _not_ beat the living fucking daylights out of the cocksucker responsible. At least that's how I feel, some people think I'm extreme.
This is a culture war, and the bottom line is that we, the people with less metal around us have to be able to defend ourselves by any means necessary. I've thought about being that person that always takes the righteous stance and awaits for the law people decide on who is right or wrong, but common sense must prevail. What I mean to say is kudos to that person who slashed the punk's tires, now that's quick thinking.
jericho1ne07.27.08 - 3:46 pm
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Some random person in a red Escort accidentally ran over a parked bike at the "Find Steve" ride last night.
I thought there was going to be an all-out slugfest, but all I saw was the driver looking like he lost his lunch, and some ridazz giving him a man-to-man.
When cool-heads prevail, we all walk away unharmed, and the night goes on with more beer and jerky-sticks.
However, the little prick that tried to douse some ridazz with the window cleaner near the statue, now that should be answered with 50-100 rounds of .68 caliber paintball to the rear window.
Welt-city, baby!!!
bentstrider07.27.08 - 3:57 pm
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the irony in all this is.... there's a clash of 2 cultures, according to all these reports, but yet many of us drive cars still. we know what it's like to be on both ends, at least personally speaking, and thanks to that can respect everyone on the road. these asshole that get roadrage apparently never get on a bike and know how dangerous but also liberating it can really be. for some reason it reminds me of the race wars back in the 60's.
violence will only breed violence... there are other ways to make sure people own up to their actions, but attacking the driver was not the right way. i'm sure his car had a license plate... take it down. get a description of the driver and passenger, the car... etc etc. we all have cameras on our phones.... take a picture.
Jazzy Phat Nastee07.27.08 - 4:09 pm
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Readers and also the reporter doing the newspaper story should see that something isn't quite right. Something should click in each person if they read that the driver was fearing for his life yet his driver's side window was down. If I was fearing for my life, the first I would be sure to do is have the window up and the door locked.
User107.27.08 - 5:16 pm
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Ridazz Roulette!
