Streetsblog Los Angeles

Ridazz Down. Photo: Magnus Sheen Nihilus/Facebook

(For more on the new charges filed against Christine Dahab, visit Culver City Patch (who broke the story), LAist and Biking In L.A.)

In the early morning hours of June 15, a group of Midnight Ridazz were waiting in the parking lane or slowly moving through and away from the intersection of Jefferson and Hetzler near the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook when a driver plowed into the group at 45 miles per hour.  The LAPD arrived on the scene and went to work covering up for the driver and lecturing the bicyclists about safe cycling as ambulances carted away victims.  Many went to the hospital, a handful required surgery, at least one was in a coma.

The LAPD can't figure out if this car was speeding when it crashed into a group of cyclists, some of whom are undergoing surgery and one of whom is in a coma.

Thank goodness the crash occured just inside Culver City limits so a police officer who had more on his mind than “these cyclists deserve this” was in charge of the investigation.  Yesterday, the District Attorney of Los Angeles County announced that Christine Dahab is charged with felony DUI for her actions causing sever physical and emotional distress due to negligent driving.  Dahab will faces those charges at a December 22 hearing at the Los Angeles Airport Courthouse.

Culver City Patch reports:

Dahab was formally charged by the Los Angeles District Attorney last month with “violating California Vehicle Code Section 23153 (A) [Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol causing injury], and California Vehicle Code Section 23153 (B) [Driving while Intoxicated above a .08 blood alcohol content, causing injury].”

Because of the initial reports and the length of time between the crash and the D.A.’s decision, many cyclists were worried that Dahab was going to walk away from the crash without facing charges of any kind.  That the D.A. filed more-serious felony charges instead of misdemeanor charges was something of a surprise.

The horrific nature of the crash and the Keystone Kops response by the LAPD.  Even as bodies were being loaded into the ambulance, the officer on the scene was saying that he couldn’t tell if Dahab was speeding at the time of the crash, that her blood alcohol level was below legal limits, that there was a blind turn she was going around, and that the Ridazz must have been at fault because there were condoms and beer bottles at the top of a nearby scenic overlook.  These claims were demolished and enraged a bicycle advocacy community that was already emotional as first-hand witnesses of the crash were posting their stories on websites such Bikeside, Midnight Ridazz, Streetsblog and YouTube. Read more…

Yesterday, the LAPD announced the arrest of Dominque and Steven Rush for the hit and run killing of Alex Romero on April 20th.  Romero and his friend Peter Arias were bicycling along DeSoto Avenue in the Valley when Dominique Rush allegedly hit Romero’s bicycle from behind and just kept on driving while Romero lay dieing in the street.

The media has been using this image of Romero's crushed bicycle to show the horror of the crash.

Arias had the sense of mind to get a partial description of the vehicle, not an easy thing to do given the circumstances, and the LAPD went to work to track down the driver.  While they were at work tracking the vehicle, Rush allegedly enlisted the aid of her father, Steven Rush to help hide her involvement.

It truly takes a heartless and entitled person to turn a blind eye to the pleadings of Romero’s family and friends, but the Rush’s went one step further.  The father-daughter duo allegedly tried to hide the evidence by getting the car out of the area, possibly to a place where it could undergo some physical changes to mask the crime.  In June, the LAPD had a good idea of what they were looking for thanks to some tips and the initial identification, but still couldn’t find the car.

While it’s certainly good news that Romero’s killers will likely face justice, there are other culprits in this tragedy: the poorly designed speedway known as DeSoto Avenue and a culture that values speeding traffic. Read more…

The full poster from the LAPD can be viewed by clicking here.

At nearly 3:00 A.M. on the morning of June 16, a man was crossing Venice Boulevard heading North when he was struck by a black late-model Volkswagon Jetta heading west. The victims wife tells the story:

The accident occurred around 3am on June 16th. My husband was crossing the street (heading North) at Venice and Hughes. He had the signal to walk and once he was just past the median, he was struck by a car that ran a red light while headed West on Venice blvd. Two officers where in the area and after the accident, one of the officers took off after the car but lost him around Venice and Motor. The driver has still not been found.

Despite the media’s obsession with reporting on traffic crashes and other forms of homicide, this report has gone largely un-mentioned in the news, perhaps because of the spectacular crash involving Christine Dahab and the Koreatown Cyclists just a mile and a quarter away that happened earlier in the evening. While I don’t mean to sound as though I’m excusing Dahab’s carelessness, the driver in this case is far more dangerous.  It takes a special breed of criminal to leave a man dieing in the street because of your negligence and then speed away.

The LAPD is still looking for information related to this crime.  If you know anything, please call the West L.A. Traffic Division Officer O. Osbourne at 213-473-0234.  If you’re calling after-hours or on the weekend, please call 1-877-LAPD-24-7.

Apparently, the number is higher than eleven.

The police can't figure out if this car was speeding when it crashed into a group of cyclists, some of whom are undergoing surgery and one of whom is in a coma.

Early Thursday morning, Christina Dahab plowed into a group of cyclists standing in the road waiting to head off for the last leg of a bike ride.  Nine of the cyclists were hurt so bad, they were hospitalized, at least two underwent surgery early yesterday evening and one other person is reportedly still in a coma.  Another handful of cyclists escaped with less serious injuries and an dozens of bicycles were mangled some beyond repair.  By yesterday evening, Dahab was back on the street, free on $15,000 bail, and charged with “Misdemeanor DUI.”

If she’s found guilty, Dahab could lose her license for as little as one month and face various fees and penalties.  Usually any DUI involving personal injury automatically results in a felony, but the LAPD determined that her blood and alcohol level was not past the legal limit.  That’s bad news for anyone hoping the wheels of justice would roll over Dahab as fiercely as she rolled over the cyclists.  If a driver is drunk, the case is an easy one to make and the full weight of the law will come crashing down on them.

If a driver is just unbelievably and dangerously negligent, it’s often viewed as acceptable level of carnage for all the other wonderful things are car culture brings us such as obesity, isolated communities, sprawl, global warming and an oil-dependent economy that is destroying the world.

Riders who met with the LAPD are already raising red flags about the quality of the investigation.  While the investigation is being handed over to the Culver City police, the initial report by the LAPD has some real whoppers.  The police report reads as though it was written by Dahab’s defense attorney noting that the driver was turning around a blind curb and that there’s no way to tell if she was speeding when she assaulted eleven people with her car.

The LAPD's definition of a "blind curb." Dahab followed the blue line before plowing into a group of people.

Read more…

Ridazz Down. Photo: Magnus Sheen Nihilus/Facebook

Last night, at the end of the “KoreatownWednesdays” Midnight Ridazz ride, a couple of dozen Ridazz were standing at the bottom of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook waiting for the rest of the ridazz to make it down the hill.  The ride begins every week in Koreatown and heads to the overlook.  There the group parks their bikes, ascends the hill and takes in the view.  I’ve never done the ride, but I’m told it’s a pretty low-key ride, runs at a fast clip, and is very peaceful at the end.

Unfortunately, for the group of Ridazz at the bottom of the hill, it was not a peaceful night.  Rider AIDS66 writes on Midnight Ridazz:

We were waiting for everyone to make their way down from Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook as this shit happened. I saw a car speeding towards us and thought doesn’t the driver see us, NO…. Drunk bitch took out the whole ride. some of us got out of the way just in time but many took the brunt force of the hit.

CBS 2 has the most in-depth media report on the incident, and notes that there were nine victims of the crash, three of whom were hospitalized.  The driver was taken into police custody under suspicion of DUI.  No word yet on the results of her alcohol level or what she is being charged with.  Some Ridazz said they saw her talking on her phone, but that hasn’t been reported in the media.  The media is near-unanimous in its reporting that the woman was driving sixty miles per hour during the collisions.

While our thoughts and prayers go out to the injured cyclists and those scarred by witnessing the crash, I can’t help but notice the soft bias in the media against some of the cyclists in the reports.  The worst example is from KABC.

After noting that the police were critical of the cyclists for wearing dark-colored clothing and standing in the street, the broadcaster also notes that, “…there was beer bottles and condoms where the cyclists were hanging out.”  Unless the reporter, or the reporting officer, is implying the cyclists were having a drunken orgy in the street that shielded them from view, I’m not sure how either of those facts are relevant.  First off, one Koreatown Rider reports they were standing in the shoulder, so even if they shouldn’t have been in the street, the driver shouldn’t have been in the shoulder (an earlier version of this story said “bike lane” instead of “shoulder.”)  Second, who cares if they were drinking (they probably were) or using condoms (they probably weren’t).  Unless the police/KABC believe a victim was so drunk they jumped in front of the car the drinking is immaterial.

Compare that to the CBS report:

Here the reporter focuses on the driver’s actions talking to witnesses, humanizing the victims and noting that the driver was drinking red bull, smoking and was doubtless distracted (at-best).

We’ll continue to update this report as more details are released.  If you want to help make certain that the driver is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, one poster at Midnight Ridazz drafted a letter to the District Attorney’s Office.  You can email the D.A. through this link.

This morning I am greatly upset and angered by the news of a driver who injured 11 cyclists with her car. I am writing to make it known that the driver who drover her car into a group of cyclists in the Baldwin Village area in the early morning of Thursday, June 16, 2011, must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the laws. For committing such a heinous act as she has, which is both irresponsible and reckless in nature, this driver can be shown no mercy for her careless actions behind the wheel of a weapon. Justice is the least of what the victims of this incident are due. It is my sincerest, deepest hope that this woman is fully stripped of her driving privileges for a number of years.

Bearing the effects of her actions, intentional or not, the sentence should reflect fully the damage she has caused to so many lives–not just those who have been injured, but to those who bore witness, as well as the entire community of Baldwin Village, Los Angeles, and vulnerable street users such as cyclists and pedestrians, as well as all road users. I understand that it is early and the full details of the incident have yet to fully be revealed, yet the greater cause and effect are apparent and warrant a severe sentence, that at any level, would only begin to serve as due penance for a crime of this nature. This driver has most clearly abused her privilege to operate a motor vehicle, and in doing so has robbed people of their livelihood and, in many ways, their futures. It is simply a miracle that no one was killed, but when actions such as the drivers are capable of causing death, such as hers have been, they should be viewed as hugely life-threatening and be punished for the damage caused as well as the damage that was fully possible.

(Update: Sgt. David Krumer reports that the Culver City Police will handle the investigation, as the crash occurred just inside their limits. If you have any information, contact Culver City Police, Traffic Bureau: (310)253-6200)

Lance Armstrong has said that, “if you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on.” But what happens when you have gotten on a bike… for 15 years and loved every minute of it—the physical activity, the camaraderie, the pure joy of experiencing new sights and sounds—and then you fall…and are seriously injured? What happens when that passion for cycling is eclipsed by fear? Fear for your own health and safety and fear of the possibility of putting your family through another touch-and-go trauma?

Krepak with some of the winners of the Brentwood Grand Prix Bicycle Race.

This is exactly what happened to a client of mine. Although he has recovered well physically, he has not been on a bicycle since his accident and doesn’t think he’ll ever ride again. That is a drastic change; one that has implications for all aspects of his life and that of his family.

My client is an experienced, skilled bicyclist who always rode with safety front and center in his mind. His injury wasn’t caused by him, but rather by the car-centric mindset and bureaucratic red tape that has often turned our streets and highways into danger zones—places where accidents are just waiting to happen. Read more…

Who should pay for police and fire department responses to crahses? An L.A. Times politcal columnist thinks that everyone should. Photo:Mike Meadows/Associated Press via LAist

George Skelton, the Los Angeles Times’ columnist in the state Capital generally writes about politics and policy in the Governor’s office or the legislature.  However, in today’s edition he changed courses and went on a full-throated attack against the idea that the people who cause car crashes should repay the city for the cost of sending emergency services to the crash scene.  The vitriol in this column is really something to behold, when you consider that all Sacramento is doing is making the people who cause car crashes pay for the city’s response instead of forcing tax payers to pay for someone else’s negligence.

Before we respond to the column, it’s important to note that unlike the proposed law in New York City, Sacramento’s city law only applies to drivers if fault is determined.  In other words, nobody is going to have to pay for a crash if they’re rear-ended.  Also, the law only applies to drivers from out of town.  Locals can hit whoever they want without paying the city a dime for emergency response.

Skelton claims his piece is about protecting the little guy from fees when he’s wrongly fingered for causing a crash.  But, if you read the whole column, you can’t help but come away with the feeling that he doesn’t believe that reckless drivers should be held accountable for the havoc they cause.  There’s no claim that the law should only apply to drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  No claim that there must be physical evidence of guilt before the fee is assessed to negligent drivers.  Nothing except a vicious condemnation of the idea that bad drivers who cause crashes should pay the municipality that has to deal with the physical, emotional, and structural destruction caused by their negligence.

Streetblog’s response to Skelton’s column can be found after the jump.  For the record, this is the first time he’s written about transportation in at least the last five years. Read more…

Motor vehicle crashes caused 28 percent of all deaths among people 24 and under in the United States in 2006. In 2009, nearly 34,000 people died on America’s roads, and that was considered a big improvement over previous years. More and more, it seems, Americans are wondering why our country is so far behind on creating safe transportation systems.

Better management and enforcement aren't the only ways to reduce traffic deaths. Image: Car Insurance Tips

According to a new report, Achieving Traffic Safety Goals in the United States: Lessons from Other Nations, by the nongovernmental National Research Council:

Nearly every high-income country is reducing annual traffic fatalities and fatality rates faster than is the United States, and several countries where fatality rates per kilometer of travel were substantially higher than in the United States 15 years ago are now below the U.S. rate.

The report authors acknowledge that high-achieving countries attribute their own progress, in part, to road design, but that doesn’t make it into their own set of recommendations, which focus on management reforms, enforcement, and the building of political and public support for those changes.

Barbara McCann, director of the National Complete Streets Coalition, says that’s not enough. With current road design, she said, “the priority is put on speed and volume of travel, and that results in more deaths than if there were a higher priority put on safety in the actual road design.”

Read more…

Matthew Kenney Photo: Associated Press courtesy of Joanne Kenney via GRIST

There’s callous, there’s heartless, and then there’s this.

Via former Streetsblog.net writer Sarah Goodyear, now at GRIST, comes the surreal story of a driver who was convicted of manslaughter for running down Matthew Kenney from behind.  From his jail cell, David Weaving, who has been found guilty of drunk driving four times and was traveling at 83 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone at the time, is suing the Kenney’s parents for negligence because their son was not wearing a helmet at the time of the collision.

Goodyear, quoting an article in the Sacramento Bee, reports:

Attorney Andrew Cates calls Weaving’s countersuit a part of the legal process. Cates is representing Weaving in appeals aimed at overturning his convictions — which were recently upheld by the state Appellate Court — but is not involved with the lawsuit involving the Kenneys.

“I can see their side of it. I’m a parent,” Cates said. “But I can also see the other side of it. If you’re driving down the street and your car makes contact with a pedestrian and you think it’s the pedestrian’s fault, you have to raise the issue.”

As I worked on the daily “Today’s Headlines” roundup for this morning, there were three items I wanted to pull because they paint an ugly picture about what’s going on in our streets.

Ed Magos is left bleeding in the street next to his mangled bicycle as Angelina Everett speeds off.  Emely Aleman and Angela Rodriguez are thrown 50 feet after being hit by a Jeep Wrangler.   Moran Biton strikes and kills Conor Lynch in Sherman Oaks with a burgundy SUV.

The particulars of each case are different, but the outcome for the drivers are the same.  None will be charged with a felony, and it’s unlikely that any will face jail time.  Everett, Biton and the still anonymous killer of Aleman will face misdemeanor charges, as though they were caught shoplifting a candy bar, not maiming a fellow human being.  And some people wonder why the term “accident” is offensive when applied to these preventable, deadly, crashes.

In some ways, the Magos/Everett case is the most concerning even though Magos was not killed and Everett faces sentencing tomorrow.  Originally, neither the District Attorney or City Attorney was interested in prosecuting a clear hit and run until the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition drew attention to the case.  Tomorrow, the LACBC will be hosting its third, and hopefully final, “ride for justice” as they head to Everett’s sentencing.  You can get the details of the ride, and the trial, by visiting the LACBC’s blog here.

While the Bike Coalition deserves credit for bringing attention to Magos’ case, they probably aren’t capable of bringing attention to every bike crash in the city.  In other words, we need a change in the way that C.A.’s and D.A.’s look at these cases and more incentive for going after reckless and dangerous drivers. Read more…