Yesterday I brought up this whole "bike wars" on Craigslist. It seems that this guy or girl are still going at it. The post today made me wan to do something about it.
The Bike War Continues (South Lamar)
Reply to: pers-869748385@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-10-07, 9:52AM CDT
Well it is going quite well! I have taken down 4 bikers in total, only one with heavy damage though. (It is a lot hard than you think to make it look accidental). Thank you to those of you who understand how this war is much bigger that terrorism or a bailout. We must make a stand and destroy all bikers
After reading this I contacted CL and said I know that the rants and raves section is just for that rants and raves, but I think this is taking it to far. I would like if you could get this persons IP address, because I am a cyclist and I feel this is a direct threat on my life and others. I am contacting local law enforcement as well. This is the post just in case it is flagged.
The Bike War Continues (South Lamar)
Reply to: pers-869748385@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-10-07, 9:52AM CDT
Well it is going quite well! I have taken down 4 bikers in total, only one with heavy damage though. (It is a lot hard than you think to make it look accidental). Thank you to those of you who understand how this war is much bigger that terrorism or a bailout. We must make a stand and destroy all bikers
and this is the link. http://austin.craigslist.org/rnr/869748385.html
You can go back a few days and see all the post that are about doing physical harm to cyclist. I have copied them all down via screen shots and also posted them in my blog.
Please do something about this. This is getting out of hand. I was recently hit and had my back broken in five spots and two broken ribs. This is not funny nor a rant or rave, this is assault and potentially murder.
I also then submitted a ticket with APD. After that I called 311 and asked what the next course of action was. The lady I talked with seemed very concerned and transfered me to non emergency police. I told my story again and this lady didn't seem to give a flying rats ass. She told me to call crime stoppers and gave me a bogus number that turned out to be a fax. So I looked crime stoppers up and waited on hold for about ten minutes before someone finally got to me. On a different note, the hold music seemed like is was a porno at first because there was alot of moaning and groaning, and then went into some Jesus music. So I filed a report with them and got a report number.
Jason over at ATXBS is taking it a little lighter than me. He has come up with what this guymight actually be like. I've put a little bit of thought into it (very little bit, as you can see) and I'm just imagining some 48 year old balding guy with horrible near-sightedness and a bad case of epilepsy, living in his mothers' basement and playing Grand Theft Auto all hours of the day. He's not legally allowed to drive a car, but is too out-of-shape and clumsy to actually support himself on a bicycle without falling over. His one attempt at cycling for transportation ended in a traumatic skinned knee and a lot of crying. Ever since that point his anger towards cyclists has festered and grown, slowly becoming what you see before you now.
Instead of DOING what he's talking about, he's created this fantasy world for himself based on an amalgamation of his computer gaming persona, his disappointment at never being behind the wheel of an actual car, and his resentment towards people who are in the physical condition to actually stay aloft and propel themselves on a bicycle. All the things he's been going on about have ACTUALLY TAKEN PLACE in this world he's spun for himself within the confines of his twisted psyche. In this world he's the great slayer of cyclists, routinely racking up kill rates of 75-150 a month. He's become an automobile-driving KILLING MACHINE, at least in his own mind. It's this fleeting fantasy that sustains him, and gives him a reason to wake up another day and play another computer game, secretly wishing he could be one of the ones to take to the road as an active participant, and not just the passenger he's always been relegated to.
Thank the bike gods he's not actually allowed to drive, for if he were to get behind the wheel of his mom's car he might actually be a danger to more than just himself.
At least that's how I imagine him. I truly hope that is the case.
If you want to get involved (you should, if you ride a bike at all) then follow some of the course of actions that I did. You can call crime stoppers at TIPS Hotline - 512-472-TIPS (8477) OR 1-800-893-TIPS (8477). The more reports and calls to APD there are, means that maybe they will take some action.
Also, if you are assaulted, please contact me here, or at lesbennett@ymail.com. Also, if someone throws something at you or tries to run you off the road, you can report it. Call 311 and give them their license plate number. They will log it and hopefully the person or persons will feel some kind of repercussion from it.
Stay safe out there.
til next time
OLC
Posts
3 weeks ago
2 comments:
One thing to consider when deciding whether it's "worth it" to call their plates in: even if nothing comes of it, it'll be on record.
This means that if they're involved in a future incident that actually merits investigation (if they succeed in hurting someone), it'll be hard for them to try and claim it was an accident. The doctor in California who pulled in front of those cyclists and slammed his brakes tried to claim just that - fortunately, the prosecutors were able to draw upon a library of complaints against his plate numbers to establish a pattern. I'd like to see his attorney convince a jury it was a coincidence!
Daniel, I completely agree with you. I know some people out there, may not know about it so I wanted to just get it out there.
I hadn't followed up on the case with that doctor in awhile. I am glad to hear that he can't just say that it was an accident.
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