UPDATE—Here’s the video of the cyclist clinging to the hood of the speeding car:
http://www.vimeo.com/1345931
Wow. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and last week’s battle between a motorist and a cyclist may turn into an all-out war.
This just in from the Portland Police:
On Sunday, July 13, 2008, at 7:11 pm, Southeast Precinct officers arrested 21-year-old James F. Millican on one count each of Attempted Assault in the Second Degree, DUII, Criminal Mischief in the Third Degree and Reckless Driving in connection with a road rage incident involving a bicyclist. The incident began when 37-year-old Jason Scott Rehnberg, who was riding a bike in the area of Southeast 58th Avenue and Southeast Washington Street, yelled at Millican to slow down. Millican, who was operating a Ford Escort, took offense to Rehnberg’s remarks, stopped his car and began to chase the victim.
Rehnberg, who admitted that his remarks may have included profanity, stated that he rode his bicycle into the neighborhood in an effort to get away from the suspect. When he thought Millican had driven away, the victim drove back out onto Southeast 58th Avenue. A short time later, the victim saw the suspect who was now back in his car and ahead of the victim. The victim stated that the suspect then backed up in an attempt to hit him with the car. The victim jumped off the bike just before the suspect hit the bike, damaging it.
Rehnberg and two other witnesses then stood in front of Millican’s car stating that they wanted to get the number of his license plate. As they did so, the suspect drove his car toward the three people. The two witnesses were able to get out of the way, but Rehnberg ended up on the hood of the suspect’s car. With the victim hanging on to the suspect’s windshield wipers, the suspect drove northbound on 58th at a high rate of speed. When the suspect reached Southeast 60th Avenue, he slowed down enough for the victim to get off the car.
One witness was able to videotape the victim as he rode on the suspect’s hood. The tape was seized as evidence …
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Tags: bicycling
It is disappointing to see that Willamette Week is following the same path the Oregonian took in trying to drum up a cars vs. bikes war. This story and the one that The O milked for all its worth are not an us vs. them story. They are stories of people acting poorly on the road. They are stories of individual anger.
The real story in Portland is the number of people who every day get into their cars or ride their bikes and do so without violence or anger. That is a boring story, but it is a bigger story than isolated incidents of idiots acting poorly.
If only car drivers could obey traffic rules as meticulously as bicyclists, we would all live in peace and harmony! I’m totally kidding but it seems that the purpose of the article is to provoke people into having an "all-out war", which would create even more sensational news for WWeek to report on. The Oregonian isn’t much better because they are really egging this on, 2 articles in today’s paper about cars vs. bikes. Most cars and bikes get along fine, we all need to be more aware of traffic rules and not be jerks. I’m done, it’s late….good night.
Woo! Is it a War On Bikes? Or a War On Cars? Or is it a War On Wars On Stuff?
I know wweek jumped the shark a long time ago, but this just makes you all look like you’re pining for some ol’ fashioned Mercury-style sensationalism.
Maybe you’re just Keeping Portland Weird?
"Jumped the shark"? I sense that I’m missing something funny, and that hurts.
Look: Anyone who assaults anyone else is a fucking felon, whether they’re on a bicycle or in an automobile. Harvest their fucking left cornea, and you have a half-blind former felon. Second offense, harvest the other one, and you have a harmless individual selling pencils on a street corner.
I wish these were isolated incidents of idiots acting poorly. These are common incidents of otherwise intelligent people acting belligerently, committing assault. When we get to the point where we stop saying, "Behave, pretty please," and start fucking up folks who can’t seem to get through the day without hurting/threatening/terrorizing other folks, maybe we’ll have a functional civilization where all bicyclists and motorists can share the road in peace.
Assault is a Measure 11 felony. When it’s a crucifixion offense, maybe then it will stop. Why can’t we all get along?
We ride on two wheels not on four
To ride on four wheels breaks the law
What happens when we break the law?
What happens when the rules aren’t fair?
We all know here we go from there
To the house of pain!
jeff,
"Jumped the shark": http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jumped+the+shark
Jason S. Rehnberg is an idiot. 1) zoobombing. 2) swerving into traffic on a non-bicycle laned road around a parked car. 3) cursing at the driver. 4) WILLINGLY jumping onto the hood of the car while enraged–why not jump out of the way? hey Jason S. Rehnberg, guess what… being on the road is going to invoke hazards. by the way, how many drinks did YOU have earlier that day?
Until the bicyclists stop acting like they are the only people that should be on the road and start following the same traffic rules as cars this sort of thing will only become more common.
I drive in Portland everyday and the bicyclists here act like Nazis. I have had them hit my car because they thought that I was to close to them at a stop sign. I have had them turn in front of me and had to slam on the brakes only to be rearended and the bicyclist that caused the whole thing just rode off laughing!!! I know how this driver felt and I have felt that way too but I would never do what this driver did.
I ride also but I at least share the road, don’t try cause problems and follow the rules the same as an automobile.
I once read of a strong positive correlation between single-occupant auto fatalities and well-publicized celebrity suicides. The contention being that the media, by reporting the story, inadvertently validates feelings on the part of those already morosely close to self-destruction.
I ride by bike an awful lot, and have for years, being a native of Portland, but I feel that things are more tense since this has been so broadly reported.
Now, I know it’s difficult to distill such individualistic qualitative experiences into something resembling a quantitative association between sensationalist reporting and a "war," to use your words, but just yesterday I experienced three separate incidents so far outside the norm, I cannot help but wonder at root cause. What changed?
Who thought it was a good idea to call it a "war," anyway? It’s not a war, and it strikes me as dangerously reckless to inflame passions in this manner.
I’m a father of two young boys who utterly depend upon me. A mild-mannered middle-aged computer guy saving gas and keeping trim by riding to work. I don’t need to be needlessly threatened by drivers, as I was yesterday, who may have felt emboldened to punish because the media suggests there are enough drivers with which they identify that it merits the title of "war."
Thanks, Dave. "Jumped the shark" is a most useful meme.
Twenty years ago, a friend of mine gave a finger to a passing log truck. It pulled over, and a friendly looking guy got out with a curious, disarming smile that never changed as he carefully beat the living shit out of my friend and then ran over his bicycle, turning it into a two-dimensional object.
My friend claims that the percussive therapy probably saved his life in the long run, teaching him the power of universal civility. Buddhists call it "the stick that heals."
And when that bicyclist in a recent war story was using his bike as a weapon, who was the unsung hero, described only as a "passerby" in the Oregonian, who sucker-punched the rabid Spandexer, thereby stopping the assault and almost starting a nice riot?
Portland’s not weird; it’s fascinating. I can’t believe that reporting the news causes more violence. Violent assholes cause violence. A good thrashing might calm them down and even raise their serotonin levels. Go in peace, everyone. Try smiling at motorists and bicyclists as if they were all decent human beings just like you. Most are.
The video is posted on youtube. A handful of grunting assholes are calling it fake.