If you wish to see this individual criminally prosecuted for his actions:

1. Go to the 24th Pct and ask to speak to the desk sgt or Lt on duty and say you want to report an attempted assault with a deadly weapon. Explain you had to jump out of the way to avoid injury. Ask why they will not take a criminal report if they do not. Make sure to note who you speak to and the time/date.

2. If you get no satisfaction, contact the Manhattan District Attny and tell them that you were the victim of an attempted assault with a deadly weapon and the police refuse to take a crime report. Be ready to go to the DA's office

3. If still no satisfaction, contact your city councilmember and tell them you were the victim of a crime and that the police and da will not help you.

Good luck.

Oops, I misread. This wasn't Aaron's story, this was a reader's. Well, the same thing applies. Keep us informed...

The guy is a sociopath who has no business behind the wheel, but you need to consider your own role in escalating an already dangerous confrontation by positioning yourself in front of his bumper. What if he'd run over you along with the bike? Is making your point with this idiot, who'll never get it anyway, worth a visit to the emergency room? I guarantee you that's the attitude the cops are going to take.

If you had been in an automobile and had this "accident," your reporting it would have financial implications for his insurance. What happens in the case of a bicycle and auto?

PLATE: CEY6110 TYPE: PASSENGER VIN#: 1J8HR58285C723315
REGISTRANT INFORMATION:
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
05 JEEP GREY SUBN WEIGHT:004628
FUEL: GAS CYL: 08
EXPIRES: 10/28/08 VALID: 09/13/06
MI#: G15440 09379 942826-70

This is a shocking story; thanks for sharing it. I have often been tempted to do exactly what this bicylist did--block a dangerous driver to force a counselling session. However blocking traffic like in this manner is probably against the law (disorderly conduct) and EVKeith is right that aggressive and escalatory forms of confrontation are usually counterproductive.

I have been trying a more low-key approach in the same neighborhood, on the westbound cross-town bike lane being installed on West 77th Street. This street has a large school on the north side between Columbus and Amsterdam, and many parents double park on the north side while dropping off their kids. As a result, the through traffic is pushed all the way to the left--into the bike lane I travel with my son on the way to school further west. what I do is leave the bike lane and take the center of the road when I see a double-parked car ahead in anticipation of the "pinch point." To the extent the motor vehicle traffic stops while I am in the middle of the road, I then have the opportunity (assuming I have time and am in the mood) to counsel the double-parked parent about the hazard they are creating. Some have given me the finger or similar responses but I think some of the "regulars" have actually stopped double-parking there. No one has tried (or actually succeeded) in running me (or my bike) over.

Obviously this approach is tailored to a very particular circumstance, but there are other less controntational measures that are more general purpose. If you want to engage a driver sometimes the best way is to position yourself in their "blind spot" and knock gently a few times on the car, and wait for a response. Often this will get the window open (or even the driver out) sooner than a pantomimed demand for dialogue at the window.

I think it is important for bicyclists to try to engage drivers on the road and I hope no one is discouraged from doing so over this story. hey should just be careful.

Thanks JK. A little google search revealed a nice little piece of information:

Celerant Technology, a privately held Corporation, providing high quality, advanced retail management software systems to retail organizations. Celerant CEO, Ian Goldman, comes from a retail management software background and founded Celerant Technology to build an entirely new type of retail system from the ground-up....Celerant Technology's headquarters are located in Staten Island, New York with satellite offices in Georgia and Oklahoma.

I say go after him financially. And go to the media too.

I second that! Drivers like that are literally a menace to society.

FWIW, the local.live.com "bird's eye" photograph of this guy's house shows a red sedan in the driveway.

License plate look-ups are widely available from numerous, low cost, on-line services. Businesses have no qualms about using these same services to put together detailed pictures of your spending habits, credit and legal history etc. The motor vehicle laws are very lenient toward motorists who strike and kill or injure others. The public availability of motorist information is one of the the few ways for the public ("the community") to let a motorist know they are driving in a dangerous and irresponsible manner. What if folks wrote this motorist a letter? Would that be wrong? We don't live in a small town and we are only neighbors with a tiny handful of our fellow New Yorkers.

And if he apologizes, drop all charges and impending lawsuits.

If anyone is inclined to e-mail Mr. Goldman, please hold off. I made him aware of the incident and he may not have been driving the truck at the time.

Thanks.

---"he may not have been driving the truck at the time."---

I can only imagine the conversation at Celerant...

"Johnson!!"
"Yes sir!"
"You were driving my truck this morning!"
"Okay, yes I was, sir!"
"Good man, let's talk about your review tommorow!"
"Thank you sir! Can I get you some coffee!"

i think posting of license [plates and identifying information is a good way to combat this type of assault. when people realize they are no longer anonymous drivers they will not be so quick to assault a bicyclist again.

In the link Sean posted with Mr. Goldman's photo, the photo accompanies an article he wrote titled "When Will This Industry Come Alive Already? A look at what's holding up the real-time revolution in retail." At the end of the piece, he writes, "We've only begun to see the benefits of real-time technology." Considering how real-time technology was integral to locating and contacting him, there's some poetic justice here. I originally had misgivings about posting his personal info, but I am intrigued to see how this develops.

Oops, I forgot something fairly obvious and important when I posted earlier. Independent of whether the police or DA accept a criminal complaint for attempted assualt: under NY vehicle and traffic law the motorist must be charged with "hit and run" for leaving the scene of the collision. NY State law requires that a motorist involved in a crash in which there is damage to property,stop and present their drivers license and insurance information to the person whose property they struck.

An excellent example of using technology to track down the perp in the Jeep. Now put him in jail.

Sounds like the police officer who said this was a property crime was a total jackass. That should have been an assault investigation. Who can take it to the D.A.'s office with the evidence? We did that to a driver here in Los Alamos about four years ago under similar circumstances, i.e., a motorist roughed up a cyclist at an intersection, and it ended up with the motorist copping a guilty plea to an assault charge.

Around here, Out West, we would also use such an event as support for our concealed-carry laws.

Khal Spencer
Los Alamos, NM

By all means, the bicyclist should be urged to contact his City Council
representative and the District Attorney. He should bring detailed -
detailed - information with him: date, time, intersection, license
number, make and model, physical description of the driver, and
selected parts of the Streetsblog comments - the latter to make clear
to the D.A. that this is matter netting growing attention. Robert
Morgenthau is still the D.A. The route is

http://www.manhattanda.org/ hp_flash.htm.

And then the blog should be encouraged to follow it step by step. The press is likely to pick up on it ONLY after it has been presented to the D.A. That gives them a sense of legitimacy if the D.A. moves, and a sense of outrage if he does not. Where they may also take off is the behavior of the police.

Among the most important elements for the bicyclist to bring along is the admission of ownership and the knowledge of who was driving, where, when and for what purpose.

It will not help the cause that he blocked traffic to make his
point. It will help, however, to make clear that if he had done it
with a motor vehicle, the offender would have had no right to behave
as he did. Running over the bike, as he would not have done to a
motor vehicle, makes the case even more outrageous.

I just posted about this at Rushkoff.com - which should draw the attention of a different audience to this remarkable display of collective action.

I must say I'm both impressed and a bit frightened by how much a committed group can get done this quickly. Seems like a phenomenon as ripe for abuse as activism. That's why it is comforting to see the general tone of moderation, here.

Brent, i'll second that. A community forum with shared resources is a great idea. This site is a good place to start.

Nonsense,

On behalf of all of the commenters, I apologize that, in this particular corner of the Internet, we're not all focused on saving Darfur or whatever cause you think is most worthy.

People here are working on creating alternatives to automobile dependence, making New York and other cities more healthy, functional and sustainable, improving bicycling and pedestrian conditions, combatting climate change and oil war and, yeah, on Friday, we collaborated to bring some accountability and justice to a selfish, sociopathic, SUV driver who did a hit-and-run on a crowded city street on Friday.

How are you working to make your community and your planet a better place when you're not bitching and moaning about other people's activism in a blog comments section?

what's the status with mr goldman?

And they won't allow 30 cyclist to ride togethr even if they aren't breaking the law.

Re: "nonsense"--

This is obviously a fake post, but aptly signed. Probably sent in by a cop. Or someone, like another person mentioned, who just wants to rile people up with an inane posting. A pretty tired tactic, if you asked me, and the arguments offered are pretty laughable. Arguing that SUV drivers should be able to use their cars to just drive into bicycles, willynilly, even if they are blocked by a cyclist who might be trying to engage them in an argument, is just plain ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as assuming that one has to live in Williamsburg or ride a fixie to care about biking issues in NYC. And even more ridiculous, that one needs to be raped or black to understand or have experienced any kind of frustration with the police.

And I don't know about "nonsense", who lived in Williamsburg and had six bikes and rode every day and so on and so on, but I assumed the image of the tanks was referring to the SUV and not the police. It's interesting. Nonsense missed that, but managed to assume that the cyclist was "rich". I guess this is because he had a new bike. I'm not sure what the bike cost myself. But I'll bet if this guy rides it to work everyday, it might eventually save him money and I'm sure it's less than "nonsense's" car cost.

The divide and conquer rule in action--make fun of hipsters or fixies or rich bikers or call the cyclist "histrionic" in attempt to get away from the real issue, which is some idiot using their SUV like a weapon, destroying property simply because they can.

A disturbing event, a good account, interesting participation and comments.

Goldman's suggestion that a relative had a medical emergency does seem ridiculous on its face.

Nonsense contributed a somewhat noble and valid sentiment, but it was off-point relative to this set of posts.

Primarily, though, I wanted to echo Steve's post from 11/22 - the confrontation was completely unnecessary and the property damage was preventable.

I don't want to get tossed into the "blame the victim" box, but: standing in front of some a-hole's SUV while he's laying on the horn is generally an invitation for more outrageous behavior. I would not expect much value to come from scolding Goldman verbally, had he actually rolled his window down as commanded. I would expect no other result from laying the bike down in front of his tank than that which ultimately occurred.

The behavior of both parties resulted in Goldman's criminal act and justice should be served.

Good luck - please share results (and process).

Here is a link to his email address. Click his name at the top.
http://www.ismretail.com/index.php?option=com_jambozine&layout=article&view=page&aid=6918&Itemid=27

This is all very interesting. I also, am glad no one was injured. And I also am a bit outraged at the whole incident in general.

Couple of tips that half-a-century has taught me. Never, ever ever escalate a potentially violent altercation. Period. Full Stop.

This is not 'blaming the victim" this is simple common sense. The SUV driver, was pretty typical of SUV drivers. You weren't hit. Let it go. yeah, taking down a license number and finding some suitable agency and reporting some road rage makes sense, but trying to force a confrontation will rarely result in a good outcome.

Um, I thought that leaving the scene of an accident or other non-accidental vehicle impact (aka: "vehicular assault" - this is the term to use if contacting the police or the D.A.) is also known as:

HIT AND RUN

This is also a good term to use when reporting the incident.

It's generally defined as any vehicular contact or incident resulting in damage where the driver leaves the scene of the crime without exchanging contact information or waiting for police if a police report is being filed.