Here is a brief update from the cyclist who was harrassed and hit by an SUV owned by Celerant CEO Ian Goldman on the Upper West Side last Wednesday:
-----Original Message-----
From: Victim of SUV Attack
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 4:28 PM
To: Streetsblog
Subject: slight update on crashI just called the police to get my "accident number." But my report is not in the system. They don't anything about it. I should call back tomorrow.
Good luck. I hope you follow through on this. Dealing with any large gov't agency can be frustrating. I'm interested to know what the NYPD response is going to be.
I once had an incident involving road rage where a guy (who was not involved, nor a witness at all in an earlier incident) jumped out of his SUV and grabbed my bike, basically holding me and my bike "hostage", if you will, and when the police showed up and I complained about his behavior, (obviously wanting him to be ticketed or prosecuted in some way for his behavior), they basically told me that he had done nothing wrong.
Can you imagine? Apparently it's perfectly legal to just jump out of your car and grab on to some stranger's bicycle, or other property, say, like a purse. (Let me just state here that I had done nothing to this total stranger, nor was he or I really involved in the earlier incident. He was just a vigilante, out to protect his nutcase girlfriend busdriver who had used her bike to run a fellow biking companion off the road. On purpose! True story. She used her bus to run someone off the road. On purpose.)
Who knew it was legal to just grab a lady's bike like that? I was, of course, screaming like a lunatic at these cops, cursing etc., as any woman might be after struggling to wrestle her bike back from some stranger in a fairly desolate and crime-ridden part of the city.
I never followed up with the police. (They just sent eveyone away.) Didn't have their badges, etc. That incident still has the ability to get my pulse racing.
Now, I don't necessarily think that the cops treated me poorly because I was on a bike. I think they just handled the situation poorly because this was a "road rage" incident, everyone's tempers were up, and I hadn't been assaulted by the guy. Or maybe they just handled the situation poorly because they were incompetent. (I'd like to state here too, that indicating that some cops may be incompetent, is not necessarily a statement about all cops.)
Anyway---sorry for the long rant. I guess I just want to live vicariously through you and your efforts to do what I should have done at the time.
This incident, and the response on Streetsblog makes me think that a corrdinated Street Safety Blog should be initiated here in NYC.
One or two editors/moderators...plus all the eyes of all the commuters and cyclists on the street cataloging every single dangerous driver's liscence plate numbers...every single cop's badge number who refuses to uphold the law (or remove a vehicle from a bike lane)...every single illegally parked vehicle...
photographic evidence, catagorized and searcheable. does that sound useful to anyone?
Jason, that's a great idea. It should be integrated/coordinated with MyBikeLane, a blog which is linked to the left and which already does a great job of cataloguing bike lane blockages.
However the one thing missing from your safety blog approach is the everyday efforts of pedestrians and bicyclists to engage motorists on their inconsiderate/unsafe/unlawful practices. I'm concerned by a strategy in which bicyclists simply ID inconsiderate motorists by license plates and then trash them online. (I WOULD support this approach with drivers of the kind described in "This Morning's Commute" and in Karen's comment above; and some drivers are so full of rage and empty of inhibition that it is impossible to avoid a violent confrontation, so why bother).
At the same time, most motorists are open to reason if they are approached in the right way. Here's an example from my own commute to school this morning with my son, filmed on West 77th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpoI6YwYnj4. I asked the unlawfully parked guy who was forcing traffic into the bike lane to move and he did.
I have been doing this sort of counseling on this block for a few weeks now and I have noticed the difference in the amount of double parking.
This kind of thing is obviously not for everyone and does not work in every situation, but those who are comfortable with it should give it a try.
hey Steve, that only works in certain scenarios - I have had mixed results, but bikers should definitely try that. I have noticed that when I am biking with my girlfriend (who is scared of cars) I can get a good result by claiming that they are intimidating my cute little harmless ladyfriend by blocking her bike lane. But when I am commuting to work all by myself and in my 'gear' - that does not fly...motorists are more prone to yelling or giving me the finger.
I have a few entries on mybikelane...I found that cop in the bike lane on Clnton St. the other night
Don't wait to get a police report number.
Go to the DA's office and file a citizen complaint. Tell them that there may or may not be an accident report. Them DAs can worry about coordinating the paperwork.
Give them the information collected on the blog.
You may want to call before you go.
Not to spill too many beans, but Jason, there is a website coming that will do exactly what you've suggested above. Stay tuned for more details in Mid January....
my first reaction was to write an email to Ian Goldman and/or to all of his employees listed on the Celerant Corporation website, publicizing his menacing and sociopathic behavior. (unfortunately, HIS email address does not appear there.) he should be publicly shamed!
The article linked above offers that email in the byline (click the link).
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