SEATTLE (AP) – A mob of bicyclists riding in Seattle with the monthly Critical Mass demonstration injured a motorist after an altercation. Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson says that on Friday between 100 and 300 bicyclists were riding down a street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, blocking traffic on both lanes, when a man and a woman in a Subaru station wagon tried to pull out of a parking spot. But some of the bicyclists blocked them, sat on the car and began banging on the vehicle. Words were exchanged between the male driver and the bicyclists.
The driver feared being assaulted and backed up, but bumped a biker and enraged the group. In response, some of the bikers smashed the windshield and rear window. He tried to drive away but hit another bicyclist. The car stopped a block down and the bicyclists surrounded the car. One biker punched the driver through an open window and another used a knife to slash the tires. When the driver got out of the car a male suspect struck him with an unknown object in the back of the head. The driver was later taken to the hospital. His female companion was not injured. Jamieson says two men were arrested and police are looking for the suspect who struck the driver in the back of the head. He added police know the man’s identity.
According to the Critical Mass web site, every month, bicyclists ride to promote bicycle use and assert cyclists’ right to the road among many reasons.
Bikers make me Cranky. Hundreds at a time will jam the highways where I live. While I respect what they do, I wish they would stick to the back roads and stay off the highways. Maybe it’s time to implement “spandex free” zones.
Thank you Mr Fusion.
Thomas, sorry I used an irrelevant analogy, I shall go and flog myself with a greasy bicycle chain. Next time I will suggest you check for pickles up your butt.
here is what happened at last Friday’s Critical Mass in NYC. Let’s see who is the first idiot to say he deserved that…
http://tinyurl.com/65dq8g
[Thanks, posted -ed]
@gmknobl
This has nothing to do with any prior incidents. This is a woman attempting to leave in her vehicle who then is then prevented from doing so by people people who promptly jump on her car and begin pounding on her windows. So now she is scared thus forcing the male passenger to bravely but stupidly get out and confront the mob. Now the woman is now not only scared but worried about the male. So she tries to leave again, hitting one of the bikers. The mob then CHASES her for an entire block, punching her while she is still INSIDE her car, and attacking the passenger to the point that he needs medical attention.
Follow me so far?
If these guys were there to protest peacefully, why carry a knife? If this “bumping” of the biker was so serious, why not jot the license down and call 911 to report a hit-and-run? Probably because the police would have shown up and called the guy an idiot for putting the driver in this sort of situation to begin with.