Thread started by JB at 11.27.08 - 9:28 am

Be careful out there people.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jassy27-2008nov27,0,940420.story

Pianist's life lost during a walk home
John Osnes, a pedestrians' advocate, died in an alleged road rage attack by Swedish rapper David Moses Jassy. The performer, so far, faces charges of assault, battery and leaving an accident scene.

By Harriet Ryan
November 27, 2008

After midnight Sunday, John Osnes, a pianist who performed jazz standards and Beatles songs at piano bars in Hollywood, put an empty glass down on the counter of one of his favorite haunts, The Spotlight, and waved goodbye to an employee.

"He said, 'Benji, I will see you tomorrow for sure,' " bartender Benjamin Avery recalled.


An hour later, Osnes, 55, lay dying in a crosswalk a few blocks away, the victim, police say, of a violent road rage attack by a Swedish hip-hop artist.

The rapper, David Moses Jassy, also known as Dave Monopoly, 34, made a brief appearance in Superior Court on Wednesday. His arraignment was postponed a week to allow him to hire an attorney.

According to authorities, Osnes, who did not own a car and was a stickler for pedestrian rights, was crossing a street near his residence when Jassy's rented SUV drifted into the crosswalk. After Osnes struck the front of the vehicle with his hands, Jassy allegedly got out, punched Osnes, kicked him in the head when he stooped to recover his glasses and then ran over him with the vehicle. Bystanders, including an off-duty Anaheim police officer, witnessed the assault and tried unsuccessfully to detain Jassy, according to authorities.


Osnes was pronounced dead at a hospital, and Jassy was arrested Monday after investigators traced the license of his rented vehicle.

He faces charges of assault, battery and leaving the scene of an accident, but the district attorney's office is mulling additional counts depending on autopsy results and further investigation.

Although he identifies himself as the "CEO of Jassy World Entertainment" on his MySpace page, Jassy is a minor music industry player whose biggest accomplishment to date is rapping on an album track for "High School Musical" actress Ashley Tisdale.

Avery, the bartender, came to court for the short hearing, in part, he said, to see what sort of man would hurt Osnes, who he described as rail-thin and "frail." Jail records show that Jassy outweighed Osnes -- who friends say weighed about 150 -- by 50 pounds.

"I guess I was expecting someone who was really gangster or homeless, but he doesn't appear that way," Avery said of Jassy, a trim man with light eyes and a shaved head.

Before the short hearing, Jassy huddled in a holding pen with a public defender, an interpreter and a representative from the Swedish Consulate. When he spotted a contingent of journalists from his homeland, some armed with video and still cameras, he pulled his blue jail-issue shirt over his head and kept it there as Commissioner Henry Hall asked if he agreed to the postponement.

"Yes," he shouted through the shirt.

The public defender said Jassy planned to meet with a private attorney in jail after the hearing. If he makes his $1-million bail, Hall said, Jassy will be required to turn over his passport and wear an electronic tracking device.

Osnes never owned a car, and friends and relatives said inconsiderate drivers were his pet peeve.

"He was a very strong advocate for pedestrians," said his sister-in-law, Darcy Bushnell.

Bushnell attended the hearing on behalf of Osnes' father and sisters. Her partner, Osnes' sister Kris, is in "end-stage" emphysema and is awaiting a lung transplant at their home in Albuquerque, Bushnell said. She said that despite his piano gigs and part-time work as a travel agent, Osnes made time every day to speak with his ailing sister.

"He was instrumental in keeping her from feeling lonely," Bushnell said, her eyes reddening. She said Kris Osnes is trying to balance her grief with her illness, because "if she cries, she can't breathe."

Ryan is a Times staff writer.

harriet.ryan@latimes.com

Times staff writer Geoff Boucher contributed to this report.

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such a horrifying story...
be careful out there people... no matter how much of an asshole somebody is on the road, don't provoke them. we've clearly got some insane people behind the wheel in our neighborhoods.



canadienne
11.27.08 - 9:39 am

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Sad story. :-(

I identify far more with pedestrians than drivers on the streets. This could just as easily been a rida too. Hope the fucker does 40 years!

If anyone sees anything on services, I would like to see about possibly attending.



User1
11.27.08 - 2:22 pm

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If I were on the scene, I would've had this fucker in a chokehold that a cops taser wouldn't have broken!!!

Or, had his ass thrown in the river.

Clowns like this punk deserve no trial, swing from a tree, then into the furnace with them!!!



bentstrider
11.27.08 - 4:30 pm

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Any idea why they haven't charged this d-bag with murder or at least manslaughter yet? "pending an autopsy"... is this always done before they charge someone with murder?

Either way... this guy should be forced to ride nekked through a rose garden with a salt lick around his neck.



BentChainring
11.27.08 - 4:40 pm

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I didn't cry until the last line.

I hope that miserable fuck never pulls his face out from his blue shirt. What a fucking coward.

I hope he gets thrown in the pokey with some real gangstas that teach that wannabe a little something about life.

Then of course I hope he gets deported back to Sweden never to return, with his greatest career accomplishment being that he had a bit part in a song for high school musical.

What a fucking idiot.

Remember (and I am saying this to myself as much as any of you) it isn't worth being right, if you get hurt and injured.

Sometimes drivers need a good shouting at when they do stupid shit ... but just be careful ... there are stupid dickheads out there that will thow their pitiful lives away to act tough. dont be a victim.








trickmilla
11.27.08 - 7:38 pm

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unfuckingbelievable, alot of motorists seem to have a hard time imagining life without a car and the kind of frightening situations one can find themselves in when out on the road at the mercy of those big fat fucking wheeled coffins!

that guy deserves nothing less than a couple years in prison for pulling that macho bullshit.



infiniteawesome
11.27.08 - 8:51 pm

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FUCK a couple of years. a lifetime. death penalty should be the just call.

HEY WHAT ABOUT WE CONTACT THE BAR we last worked at and do a memorial ride in in his honor. we can also walk the cross walks in continous circles in the closest intersection in solidarity holding up traffic for a while before we ride? what do you say?



Eddie GOpez
11.27.08 - 11:13 pm

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"the bar where he last worked at" sorry



Eddie GOpez
11.27.08 - 11:14 pm

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I woulnd't wanna make benstrider mad.



rayrayray
11.27.08 - 11:17 pm

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think about it. HUMAN CHAIN across all four crosswalks followed by a memorial ride in this wonderful man's honor. yes?

we contact his friends at the bar and the l.a. times. this is just what we need to make the media and these idiot drivers aware of our rights as pedestrians and cyclists. this would be great way to honor this guy and the toronto cyclist who lost his leg to road rage too. we can contact the toronto rider n the toronto press too.

do we wanna make this happen???



Eddie GOpez
11.27.08 - 11:22 pm

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I not sure stopping traffic does anything useful ... but yeah, I'm down for solidarity.



trickmilla
11.28.08 - 2:06 am

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The fuckhead got 15 years unfortunately his victim got a death sentence.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/verdict-to-come-in-on-swedish-rapper-trial.html



trickmilla
02.1.10 - 4:38 pm

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