This is the kind of crap cyclists have to put up with

[Ns1]

Unreal.

First hand account, verified by newspaper:

The 7 of us were riding in a paceline on ELR just west of Bouquet Cyn Rd when a car suddenly sideswiped all of us except Roger who just rotated to the back of the group. I was at the front of the paceline on my aerobars when (seemed like instantaneously) I was hit by something hard on my left cheek-bone, felt a car brush my shoulder, heard yelling and crashing sounds behind me. I don’t know how I didn’t crash. After the car passed me, it drifted further into the shoulder and kept going. We were doing about 20mph, the car about 40mph.

Roger saw the entire incident unfold. Javier and Randy went down hard (3rd and 4th in line). Randy slid a long way on his backside – lots of road rash. Javier went down hard on his hip – very fortunate that he was ok. Scott who was behind Randy was hit on his ass by the car’s mirror and the passenger’s hand and arm. He doesn’t know how he didn’t crash. Roger saw the passenger put his arm out of the window. The mirror broke off and remained at the scene of the accident. The car also hit the back side of Brian – he also didn’t crash.

I called 911 – response was very fast. The paramedics checked out Randy then took him to the hospital for observation. He was obviously in shock. Turns out Randy is ok and back home. The Sheriffs got all of our personal info and each of our accounts of what happened. We all said that it was a small black sedan like a Ford Focus or a Honda. Other Sheriffs came then left to look for the car. Javier got picked up by his mom who was rightfully upset.

Before all of our info and accounts were taken, the car was found at a house in the hills above Elizabeth Lake golf course. The sheriff came back and wanted 2 of us to go with him to officially ID the car (easy without the sideview mirror). Roger and Scott went. The perps were two 20-year olds and not too bright. One of the 20-year olds had a cut above his eye. The 1st question the officer asked him was “How did you get that cut?” The reply was a bicycle mirror. Not sure what the officer then said but essentially it was “say no more” and they were both handcuffed.

It took awhile for Roger and Scott to return to the accident scene where we were. The sheriff then wanted 2 more of us to go to the house for official ID so Bob and Brian went. We then found out that the passenger gave a full confession. After drinking all night they went to Palmdale to McDonalds for some food. On the way back they saw us and thought it would “be fun” to slap the back side of us cyclists. The driver being drunk swerved too close and wound up hitting us. Over an hour after the incident, the driver was tested at 0.16 – twice the legal limit. So, the driver is facing 3 felony counts: 1) Assault with a deadly weapon with injuries; 2) Hit and run; 3) DUI. The passenger is facing 1 felony – not sure if it’s assault with a deadly weapon or “hit and run”.

After more than a couple of hours, we finally headed home. Bob and Roger continued west to go down Munz; Brian, Scott and I turned around and rode to 25 St West to get back home on 30W. After Scott got home and took a shower, he noticed that not only did he get hit by the mirror but he had an arm and hand imprint (all 5 fingers) on his butt. He’s sending a picture to the deputy tomorrow.

http://www.theavtimes.com/2013/04/09/two-charged-with-assaulting-bicyclists/

“There was a group of bicyclists on a leisure ride out in the Lake Hughes area,” said Palmdale Sheriff’s Station Lt. Cory Kennedy. “The two suspects, who had been out drinking most of the night, came driving upon this caravan of bicyclists and decided that it would be fun to see if [they] could actually strike one of the bike riders and see what happens.”

Kosche and Aguirre were arrested around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. When interviewed, both suspects copped to harassing the bike riders, Kennedy said.

“They basically, frankly, said ‘yeah, we wanted to see if we could hit these guys,’” Kennedy said.

The suspects estimated their car was traveling about 40 to 50 miles an hour when it pulled alongside the bicyclists, who were going about 20 miles an hour, Kennedy said. Kosche was nonchalant when confronted about what might have happened if his vehicle had hit the bicyclists full-on, Kennedy said.

“He said, ‘yeah, they would be pretty f’d up,’ and then he just laughed about it. I guess he thought that it was funny,” Kennedy said.

The bicyclist, who was smacked in the back, sustained a large bruise “from hip to hip” across his lower back and had hand and arm prints across his skin, Kennedy said.

just wow.

 

[Anonemous]

So that slap on the butt is that another sexual assault charge?

 

[preslove]

Entitled, piece of shit drivers are so much worse than any annoying cyclists can dream of being.

 

[surfsatwerk]

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[Eureka]

Has nothing to do with being a cyclist and more with people being idiots.

You could be a pedestrian or in another car and still get harassed. Drunk idiots are drunk idiots.

Also, learn to figure out what kind of neighborhood you're in and what you can get away with. Biking in certain areas can be a bad idea in general.

 

[Puppies04]

Is this story an elaborate ruse somebody made up to explain the huge male hand print on their butt to their wife?

 

[surfsatwerk]

I wonder if they can use the imprint from the dude's ass to make a positive ID on the suspect.

 

[JimKiler]

I am not sure if it is better or worse but i thought the cause was going to be distracted driving which is why i cannot wait for self driving cars.

 

[gorcorps]

Sounds more like a tale against drunk driving than anything.

 

[KeithTalent]

Has nothing to do with being a cyclist and more with people being idiots.

You could be a pedestrian or in another car and still get harassed. Drunk idiots are drunk idiots.

Also, learn to figure out what kind of neighborhood you're in and what you can get away with. Biking in certain areas can be a bad idea in general.

All of this.

KT

 

[SunnyD]

Has nothing to do with being a cyclist and more with people being idiots.

You could be a pedestrian or in another car and still get harassed. Drunk idiots are drunk idiots.

Also, learn to figure out what kind of neighborhood you're in and what you can get away with. Biking in certain areas can be a bad idea in general.

Sounds more like a tale against drunk driving than anything.

This.

Kids, alcohol and driving. I don't give a shit who you are, if you're on the road when these asshats are on the road, it doesn't matter what vehicle, if any, you're in. Hell, it probably doesn't even matter if you're on the road.

Nope. Instead the OP just comes off sounding like yet another elitist asshole cyclist with a sob story.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Sounds more like a tale against drunk driving than anything.

Yup.

 

[Soundmanred]

LOL

caps

 

[Murloc]

I didn't fully understand the dynamics of the event but yeah those guys were really stupid, going close to cyclists is definitely dangerous even if you're not drunk because they might swerve and hit the car.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Has nothing to do with being a cyclist and more with people being idiots.

You could be a pedestrian or in another car and still get harassed. Drunk idiots are drunk idiots.

Also, learn to figure out what kind of neighborhood you're in and what you can get away with. Biking in certain areas can be a bad idea in general.

I had an irate jackass fuck with me once a few years ago in Palm Springs. I was riding up the 111 in Rancho Mirage when a guy in a pickup truck buzzed me really close. I threw up my left hand in a WTF motion. Well, he didn't like that. He slowed down so I rode up alongside the drivers door when he accused me of flipping him off. I started yelling at him for buzzing me and told him I did not flip him off but that I had every right to for what he did. He took a swing at me and missed, then started cussing me out because cyclists get hit and killed all the time.

I called the cops but he had taken off by then and I didn't have time to get his plate number. Fucking asshole.

 

[JulesMaximus]

This.

Kids, alcohol and driving. I don't give a shit who you are, if you're on the road when these asshats are on the road, it doesn't matter what vehicle, if any, you're in. Hell, it probably doesn't even matter if you're on the road.

Nope. Instead the OP just comes off sounding like yet another elitist asshole cyclist with a sob story.

You're an idiot. The OP didn't come off like that at all.

You come off as a complete jackass though for this post. Congrats.

 

[cheezy321]

This.

Kids, alcohol and driving. I don't give a shit who you are, if you're on the road when these asshats are on the road, it doesn't matter what vehicle, if any, you're in. Hell, it probably doesn't even matter if you're on the road.

Nope. Instead the OP just comes off sounding like yet another elitist asshole cyclist with a sob story.

Please explain to me how these asshats would be able to slap the asses of someone in another car? You make no sense.

 

[Midwayman]

Well, at least the ram wasn't intentional. I know motorcyclists have to deal with car intentionally trying to ram them. Probably bicyclists too.

 

[sze5003]

I hate when people tailgate all the time. If I'm coming to a light and I see someone riding my ass I pull off on the shoulder ans continue slowly to let them go.

I can stop in a split second but doesn't mean their car can too.

 

[Clinkster]

Drunk(s) (driving) is the kind of crap EVERYONE has to deal with.

 

[tcsenter]

When I was 13 or 14, a friend and I were walking down the street. We were both on the side of the road, me on the outside, but when we heard a car approaching from behind, I moved over to the shoulder (off the pavement) and my friend would move over to the edge of the pavement (along the outside white line). There were no other cars approaching from the other direction or anything.

As the vehicle (a van) passed by, I hear a loud thunk and my friend kinda goes stumbling forward, then grabs the back of his head. The van had one of those extended side mirrors used for towing, the kind that really stick out, which is what whacked my friend in the back of the head. We picked up some rocks and tried to hit the van while it was still in range but missed. The van tooted its horn a couple times like a taunt and kept going. My friend wasn't hurt but he did have a nice bump and small cut on his noggin.

 

[Howard]

Can we start shooting drunken idiots now?

 

[Spungo]

Can we start shooting drunken idiots now?

You always could. It's not like they can ID you. "the blurry thing shot at us! I think it was a man... or a woman. It could have white.. or black... maybe hispanic. Height was somewhere between 3 feet and 8 feet."

 

[Baked]

I swear the only reason why DUI drivers don't get their driving privilege taken away is because the alcohol industry wants people to continue drinking and driving, so they have lobbyists fighting to never pass a harsh law against DUI drivers.

The way I see it, if you want to stop DUI, take their driving privilege away the 1st time, period. There's no excuse for it. Yeah, the first wave of people who got nail would suck, but hopefully it will sense to people who are doing it but haven't got caught yet.

 

[SunnyD]

You're an idiot. The OP didn't come off like that at all.

You come off as a complete jackass though for this post. Congrats.

This was a pure case of a couple of drunk kids behind a wheel being drunk - a combination that doesn't end well no matter what is on the road.

OP's title implies only cyclists ever have to deal with drunk kids behind the wheel. Get over yourself.