Assault against fellow cyclist in Sherman Heights
Posted By Sam Ollinger on February 24, 2011
Jay Porter, proprietor of El Take it Easy and The Linkery, was assaulted while riding home a few hours ago.
The aggressor is a white male with a red beard in his 30s who was driving a white pickup truck, license #5R23007.
If you see this driver, please report him to the San Diego Police Department immediately by calling 911 (especially if he threatens you) or the non-emergency line at 619-531-2000 and take tremendous caution as he is dangerous and mentally unstable,
He was angry that I was riding my bike in the center of Broadway, slowly and legally, for a couple hundred feet as I prepared to make a left turn onto 25th. In reaction to which, he “buzzed” me with his truck, challenged me to a fight, sought me out after I bravely ran away, found me and attempted to run me down in Sherman Heights (which I evaded by riding onto the sidewalk between some trees), and then threatened to kill me while shoving me into an alcove, as I (and other bystanders) called 911. My 911 call, for what it’s worth, went to CHP voicemail. (I was later told this is how the calls are routed from places close to the freeway.)
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6 Responses to “Assault against fellow cyclist in Sherman Heights”
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This is disgusting! Violence against cyclists must end now! Violent perpetrators must be prosecuted. I’m sick and tired of bigots–ignorant to CVC 21200–making life unnecessarily terrible for cyclists and other vulnerable users. We need to work w/ the City Attorney’s office to have this perp prosecuted. Thankfully there are witnesses and most importantly that Jay is alive…
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Please consider reporting the incident/assault to not just the SD Police but to the DMV!
With sufficient documentation, witnesses help a lot, the DMV can and will suspend a Calif. Drivers License.
A quick look online for an appropriate DMV form only got me an accident report, but that might be a good start. I’ll ask the sdcbc list for better info. about getting the DMV involved.
http://dmv.ca.gov/forms/sr/sr1.pdf
Sadly, I read today of a similar interaction in the US (Louisiana) where the motorist harassed, hit, and then stabbed the bicyclist to death. Some people seem to consider it their right to command use of public roads unfettered by people on bicycles.
It should be informative to find what kind of reaction the front page U-T article about the Regional Transpo Plan having billions (only about 2%!) of future transportation funding identified for bicycling and walking spending.
This makes the standard “long honk because I’m irritated you’re trying to make a left turn” honk I got this weekend seem so trivial. Wait, it is trivial. Stay safe.
Keep us posted. Something eerily similar happened to me on my own street back in July. The police took an eternity to arrive after my neighbors and wife called 911. Then they refused to arrest my assailant, stating that it was a “traffic infraction” that they did not witness. I had to take civil action and got a temporary restraining order which the judge did not make permanent because of the lack of a police report. My assailant and is teenage son still live with the elderly mother in a tiny one bedroom apartment on my street. They regularly lurk in front of my house and intimidate my wife when I’m not at home. The man is a mentally disabled 59 year old paper boy.
Did anything ever happen with this? I’d think that with the license plate, they would have found him. With other witnesses calling 911, the case would be stronger as well.