Wednesday, June 10, 2009

where's the love?

thanks to sis who sent this.

"BOULDER, Colo. — A Boulder County man accused of accosting a bicyclist in a weekend road-rage incident has been ticketed on suspicion of reckless endangerment.

The ticket, a class-three misdemeanor, alleges that Chris Loven created a “substantial risk of bodily injury to another person” by nearly forcing a cyclist into oncoming traffic. The charge is punishable by fines ranging from $50 to $750, and a maximum of six months in jail.

The incident that led to the ticket happened about 6 p.m. Saturday near the intersection of Lee Hill Drive and Olde Stage Road. Loven said he came upon a cyclist in the middle of the road who refused to move over and then punched his truck after a verbal confrontation.

The cyclist claims Loven was driving aggressively. Sheriff’s officials said a witness to the incident claimed Loven, not the cyclist, was the aggressor.

Loven, 43, will appear in a Boulder courtroom late next month. On Wednesday, he said he plans to fight the charge.

“When I do something wrong, I’ll take the blame for it,” he said. “The only thing I actually did wrong was slow down to engage this person. It’s just really unfortunate.”

Although sheriff’s officials have not yet identified the cyclist, because the case is still open, Boulder resident Scott Boulbol on Wednesday confirmed he was the bicyclist involved in the incident.

“I was in my lane, perfectly legal, going the speed limit,” Boulbol said.

Boulbol, 44, described the evening incident as frightening, in which the truck first brushed by him at 35 mph and then tried to force him into oncoming traffic.

“He passed me extremely close,” Boulbol said. “I could feel the wind of the mirror brushing by my arm.”

He said as the truck zoomed by, “maybe mistakenly, I yelled, cursed and told him to give me my room.”

Boulbol said the truck then pulled over ahead, and matched his speed as he passed on the left.

“He starts riding next to me, on the right side of me, slowly easing back into the lane,” Boulbol said. “This is when the other car coming the other way started to scare me. That’s when I started screaming curses and I hit his car.”

The cyclist said he “gladly” admits he hit the truck, but said he did it only because “it was the only thing I thought would get his attention.”

Candace Loving, a Boulder resident who witnessed the incident as she drove behind the arguing men, said she was scared the cyclist was going to be forced to the ground or into oncoming traffic.

“It was wrong of that truck driver to use his vehicle like a weapon,” Loving said. “It was really shocking.”

Loving said she thought the men might have been friends stopping to talk to one another on the side of the road, but then she realized they were fighting.

“The pickup truck starts pushing him over like a gladiator into the other lane,” she said. “The bike couldn’t get away from the truck.”

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Rick Brough said deputies decided to ticket the driver because of Loving’s account.

“They each have their side of the story, but in this case there is a witness who corroborated the cyclist’s story,” Brough said."

I love the 'share the road'.
Road rage should just be an automatic 6 month suspended license,
no questions asked. People think it's just a right.

CARS ARE WEAPONS, there, I found the new name for the blog.

I love how if you swung a metal bat at someone,
it can be aggravated assault and a lengthy jail sentence.
But wielding two tons of steel can be pawned off as an
'accident',
or maybe 'negligent operation of a vehicle'.

Since everyone owns a car, and want the 'accident' card to play?

2 comments:

TWISTED KNICKERS said...

I agree. A friend of mine was run off the road not long after "9/11" happened. Her 7-year-old son was in the truck with her at the time. The road rage fool yelled ethnic epithets at her...I guess he thought she was mid-Eastern. He yelled at her to "go home!" Weird, because she's Native American, and this country has been her family's home for thousands of years.

Bottom line, though, is that he assaulted her with a deadly weapon -- his car! In Washington State, if you commit a crime with a gun you get an automatic additional five years to your jail time, and it doesn't matter if anybody actually got hurt.

Why should it be any less of a crime if you intentionally assault someone with 2 tons of steel? Road ragers are insecure and cowardly ass wipes! Just my opinion, however. tk

benjdm said...

Same guy has now killed a cyclist:

http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_18314318