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Friday, August 14, 2009

Bikes / Cops Police Account of Road Rage: "No Indication that Bicyclist Was Dragged."

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 12:26 PM

**Post updated 8/14 at 7:28PM - New info from police at bottom**

The limited info Portland Police spokeswoman Mary Wheat was able to provide about Thursday's alarming road rage incident along East Burnside raises some major questions as to what actually happened.

Wheat spoke with Officer Neal Glaske, who responded to calls from the scene and spoke with witnesses. According to Glaske, "There were some bicyclists that were riding down East Burnside. A car was driving behind them and when the car went to go around the bicyclists, the one bicyclist [Kevin Stevenson] leaned into passenger window. I don’t have any indication from this officer that this bicyclist was dragged 150 feet. At the scene, the cyclist was on his feet and moving around."

So if there was "no indication that Stevenson was dragged" how did he wind up with road rash that landed him in serious condition at the Oregon Burn Center?

Wheat promises there will be a full investigation of the incident under the Portland Police traffic division. I asked whether the police had the license plate number or name of the driver, but Wheat could only say that the police have "information" about the car and will be pursuing all leads. She was able to confirm that the car left the scene before the police arrived.

"We don’t know exactly what was in the driver’s mind and that’s one of the reasons for the continuing investigation," says Wheat. "If the driver needs to be cited, they will be cited. If the bicyclist needs to be cited, they will be cited."

UPDATE: As of Friday night, the police are now treating the situation as a potential assault—while the case was originally assigned to the traffic division, detectives are now looking into whether the car driver assaulted the cyclist. Officers involved in the case decided to reinterview Stevenson this afternoon and said that his story changed from what he uttered just after the incident. "The initial statement was that the cyclist reached in to grab at the driver. Now it seems that someone inside the car possibly grabbed at the cyclist," explains Mary Wheat. She adds that it's not unusual for police to reinterview people involved in a situation like this, since they may not be thinking completely clearly at the time of the incident.

 

Comments (16) RSS

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1
"So if there was 'no indication that Stevenson was dragged' how did he wind up with road rash that landed him in serious condition at the Oregon Burn Center?"

dunno. maybe it had something to do with the fact he was on a bike with no gears and no brakes at 1:00 am.
Posted by I am a jerk on August 14, 2009 at 1:16 PM · Report
2
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight.
Posted by Demondog on August 14, 2009 at 1:45 PM · Report
3
?? #1, I hope I'm reading that wrong. I mean that's sarcasm right? Aimed at the O piece? Right? Sheesh I hope so. You know, I commented on the oregondead site last night. I mentioned then, because no other comment had, that this was a hit and run. That article was so poorly written it's amazing I deduced this. Yet, today I was recanting my theory in favor of deciphering in another way. That the police had apprehended the motorist, and the O was only mentioning the cyclist because they were injured. Supporting the notion that the driver had not fled.

Knowing now that this is a hit-and-run has me furious, again, with the DAs office, and PPB (Sorry guys, I call it like I see it.), and I'm completely dismayed that this isn't a major criminal incident here. I'm biased of course, and am reluctant to E-psychoanalyze the authorities, but gee-whiz it seems like they're being kind of, 'eh, about it.

I'll give 'em the brake thing because the technical argument is unwieldy. But I can point to a gear on the dang bike involved here, if they're going to be semantic...twice..., and show you not one, but two gears, at that. Getting pretty close to retraction worthy, IMO.
Posted by Vance Longwell on August 14, 2009 at 1:46 PM · Report
4
Hey, jerk:

I wasn't aware that there was a curfew in place, and that the curfew applied only to bicyclists, not motorists. I also wasn't aware that operating a fixed-gear bike (one gear, pedal-operated rear brake) somehow takes your right to not get seriously injured by other traffic.
Posted by peejay on August 14, 2009 at 1:50 PM · Report
5
Ummm why is everyone convienently overlooking the fact that the one undisputed fact so far in this case is that the biker confronted the driver and leaned into the car.

If someone whether its a pedestrian, byclist or anothe driver aggressively leans into a vehicle that's assault. If he actually hit the driver than that's battery too.

As someone who bikes a lot I have seen too many careless drivers almost kill bikers. I'm very sympathetic. But this seems like two dicks swinging to see who was tougher and the guy without airbags lost. Stupid for the bike community to defend this guy based on the evidence so far.
Posted by Finnegan on August 14, 2009 at 2:01 PM · Report
6
@finnegan

You seem to be convienently overlooking the fact that the driver of the car had already engaged in threatening behavior.

"Stevenson yelled and the car and it backed up."
Posted by Graham on August 14, 2009 at 2:43 PM · Report
7
Yeah but backing a car up to have a verbal altercation and leaning into a car to confront someone is the difference. One is verbal jousting the other crosses the line to assault. Now what the driver did, depending on what happened in the car, could be both assault and battery.
But it appears neither party is innocent here.
Posted by Finnegan on August 14, 2009 at 3:22 PM · Report
8
Here's a crazy idea: since we don't know what actually happened, maybe, just maybe, we should let the police and the DA do their job and BUTT OUT.
Posted by spartacus on August 14, 2009 at 3:28 PM · Report
9
Sounds like none of you dumb asses know what you're talking about. Crack reportage Merc.
Posted by Blabby on August 14, 2009 at 3:39 PM · Report
10
Wah wah wah, those poor bicyclists who pay absolutely no mind to the rules of the road then cry foul when they get fucked up.


Just today, I lost count of the number of people on bikes who didn't feel like stopping at a.) a red light, or b.) a STOP sign, and nearly plowed into me when I was in the crosswalk.
Posted by blownspeakers on August 14, 2009 at 3:48 PM · Report
11
1 am is not a good time to be trying to point out to someone that they have committed an infraction. Especially if you're on a bike and they are in a car. If there's an altercation, guess who loses. Most likely the people in the car may have been drinking, and for all we know the cyclist was too. Seems to me that there is blame on both sides, but if, in fact, it was a hit and run, the car driver is in shit up to his neck. IMHO
Posted by ujfoyt on August 14, 2009 at 6:40 PM · Report
12
You know based on the fact that he ended up in serious condition some of the change in both his account of the incident and how hurt he appeared might be chocked up to being in shock...
Posted by econoline on August 14, 2009 at 10:42 PM · Report
13
IT IS TIME THAT THE STATE OF OREGON EXAMINE BIKE RIDERS AND THEIR BIKES. BOTH MUST BE HAVE BIKE LICENSES FOR ANY OREGON PUBLIC ROAD OF A SPEED OVER 25 M.P.H. OR OVER A GIVEN TRAFFIC VOLUME. CERTAIN EQUIPMENT MUST BE ON THESE BIKES. I SEE SO MANY BIKERS VIOLATE OREGON TRAFFIC LAWS AND THEY ARE NOT EVEN REQUIRED TO CARRY I.D.. OREGON MUST DO SOMETHING SINCE PORTLAND IS SUCH A PRO-BIKE CULTURE P.S. THESE BIKE SIGNS AND STRIPPING ARE NOT CHEAP AND BIKERS MUST PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE. THE LAW MUST BE ENFORCED ON BIKERS JUST AS MUCH AS ON CARS.
Posted by PHL on August 15, 2009 at 9:13 AM · Report
14
PHL fuck off wanker/troll
Posted by Wallstreet on August 15, 2009 at 9:32 AM · Report
15
"stripping" is NEVER cheap. so many dollah billz ya'll!
Posted by Rick Warren on August 16, 2009 at 3:57 PM · Report
16
Is this the same police officer who refused to give Sam Adams a breathalyser test when he wrecked his SUV a few weeks back even though the witnesses on scene said that he smelled of alcohol when he got out of the truck?
Posted by A bad time to be a PDX cop on August 18, 2009 at 6:56 PM · Report

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