Caught on video: Father with family in SUV chased, beaten by speed-demon bikers

[wercal]

323. Well we definitely disagree about some of this

Last edited Wed Oct 2, 2013, 05:59 PM - Edit history (1)

"The initial bump, arguably a shared responsibility contact. Yes, what the biker did is clearly an infraction, but the Range Rover should have been able to stop, and I suspect, he chose not to"

I don't think the contact is a shared responsibility at all. I challenge you to watch the video again, and watch for some things:

1. A few dozen bikes are going all over the place, not maintaining a lane whatsoever. That is illegal.

2. The biker who initially makes contact with the SUV gets into his lane. Watch the video, and you will see this. That is illegal.

3. The biker in question gets in front of the SUV and deliberately slows down in front of it. Going less than the minimum. This act is illegal. Driving less than the state minimum hwy speed limit is illegal.

Then the contact happens. The biker has done several things that are illegal. The SUV driver has done nothing that is illegal. If you have ever been in an accident, you will notice that insurance companies and the courts tend to assign blame to whichever party was cited for doing something illegal - no 'shared responsibility', if only one party did something illegal.

Ok, now the initial contact has occurred. All the bike riders who stop in their lanes - if they aren't witnesses, stopping on the highway is illegal. All those bike riders who did witness the accident, but chose to stay on the road, instead of pulling off to the shoulder - that is illegal. The bike rider who was ultimately paralyzed, who parked his bike in the middle lane of traffic, in a manner that prevented the SUV driver from moving forward or off the road - that was illegal. The people who got off of their bikes, in the middle of the highway and approached the SUV - that was illegal.

So quite a lot of events have occurred, lots of laws have been broken...but the SUV driver still has done nothing illegal. Now at BEST, he's looking at several bikers illegally surrounding his vehicle, and one in particular illegally blocking his ability to pull off the highway and exchange insurance info, like a normal human being. Now at WORST, and according to the NY police, some of these bikers were illegally beating on his SUV.

Now here is the decision point. Would you sit there and take it? Illegally detained in the middle lane of traffic by a group of people surrounding your vehicle? With a 2 y/o in the back? I wouldn't. No way.

So far the NY police chief agrees with me...pending investigation. He was on ABC last night, and sounds a lot like me - he's looking at the totality of the circumstance, whether or not the driver reasonably felt threatened, etc. So far - 17 riders have been arrested, and 55 bikes have been confiscated, for doing illegal things. The driver hasn't been. Because the police chief (so far) believes he did nothing illegal.

EDIT - more info has come out, from the Boston Globe:

Though Mieses is a Massachusetts resident, he has never had a valid Massachusetts driver’s license for a passenger vehicle and has never applied for a motorcycle license, the Registry of Motor Vehicles said.

Registry records show that Mieses applied for a learner’s permit in 1999 and 2000, but that he never obtained a full license because he failed to pay fines imposed after he was ticketed for speeding in Lawrence in 1999. His last contact with the Registry was in 2001, when he obtained an identification card, registry records show.

Since 1999, he has been ticketed by police 16 times, in Lawrence, Methuen, Roxbury, Andover, and New Hampshire, according to registry records.

In June, the Registry notified the National Driver Register that Mieses was a habitual traffic offender whose right to drive in Massachusetts was revoked until 2017, records show

That's right - the guy who got run over was illegal, just being on the road in the first place.