As you may have already read, the militant bicyclist group, Critical Mass, held a rally in Seattle over the weekend. During the rally, a motorist got on the wrong side of some riders and in return got his vehicle massively damaged, and was knifed, dragged from his vehicle and gang stomped in the street.
Seattle police said they were still looking today for one of a group of Critical Mass bicyclists who attacked and injured a driver during a violent altercation on Capitol Hill Friday evening.
Two other bicyclists have been jailed. But some riders in the event have said the driver was the aggressor.
Just after 7 p.m. Friday, the group of at least 100 bicyclists was moving en masse down East Aloha Street when a man and his girlfriend in a Subaru station wagon tried to pull out of a parking spot, said Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson.
For years, Critical Mass has held monthly public bike rides through Seattle to demonstrate for bicyclists’ road rights.
According to Jamieson, as the Critical Mass group moved down the street, blocking traffic, some riders got in the way of the Subaru and prevented it from leaving. Some bikers sat on the car and were banging on it, he said.
“The driver was pretty fearful that he was about to be assaulted by the bicyclists,” Jamieson said.
The man tried to back up, but bumped into a biker. “This enraged the group,” Jamieson said.
Several of the bikers bashed up the Subaru, shattering the windshield and rear window, Jamieson said.
The driver tried to drive away, but hit another bicyclist, Jamieson said. Still, he drove about a block, to the corner of Aloha and 15th Avenue East, before the Critical Mass riders cornered the car again and started spitting on it and banging against it.
One bicyclist punched the driver through his open window, and another used a knife to slash the Subaru’s tires, Jamieson said.
The driver got out of his car, and was hit in the back of the head, opening a large gash.
Eventually police arrived and the crowd dispersed. Witnesses identified two bikers who damaged the Subaru, two men in their early 20s, and they were booked into the King County Jail for investigation of malicious mischief, Jamieson said.
The bicyclists, of course, say that the driver was the aggressor
No one representing Critical Mass could be reached Saturday to comment.
But in e-mails to The Seattle Times and on online forums for Seattle bicyclists, some riders who said they were in the Critical Mass ride characterized the Subaru driver as the aggressor. They said the driver was impatient about waiting for the huge group of riders and yelled that he was late for a reservation.
The Critical Mass rides happen every month and the Seattle Police Department basically hands over the streets to them, letting them block intersections through multiple light changes, switch from the street to the sidewalk, run into pedestrians and bang into vehicles, all with no worry of having to face the consequences of their actions.
Gun bigot and Seattle Mayor, Greg Nickels, loves him some bicycles. And since he has never been inconvenienced or threatened by these creeps, he lets them do whatever they want.
I have personally had a pair run ins with these assholes when I lived within the city limits of Seattle. Both ended without me having exit the vehicle, though quite the blue words and rude hand gestures were exchanged.
However, back then they weren’t so brave yet as to actually lay a hand on an occupied vehicle. Which is a good thing for them as I treat my cars and trucks as very special property and all who harm them meet a sticky end face down on the pavement.
One other problem with the Masser’s tale of woe from this weekend is that they are well known drama queens and lying sacks of shit.
Back in 2006, they had a “right place, wrong time” crossing of paths with the King County Sheriff’s detectives who weren’t in on the the SPD’s “No Penalty” program.
When a pair or riders stopped in the intersection to hold traffic back, the deputies ordered them out of the way. One of the bicyclists started in with the threatening language and the deputies exited the van and attempted to arrest the guy, he resisted, his friend jumped and got a nice little takedown to the asphalt for his trouble.
In an “I just got out of jail” interview the second rider claimed that “some big Samoan dude” jumped out of the van wearing a shiny pendant he didn’t recognize as a detective’s badge.
The only guy in the van who could be even remotely be mistaken for a “big Samoan dude” was a mild tempered Filipino guy who is all of 5’7″ tall.
Nickels needs to suspend this group’s monthly protests indefinitely and make them get a parade permit for every ride. The group needs to pay the costs of having the SPD work security for the event, and be held responsible for any damages that occur to private property during their event.
Anything less would be ignoring a growing problem and insulting the citizens who elected him.
These guys are yet another reason I do not go into Seattle any longer. If some spoiled bastard come at me with a knife, whether or not I am in my vehicle (and especially if they have just shattered three of my car’s windows) my CCW (which Nickels also hates with a passion) will be used. I don’t’ care if he just wants to slash my tires. He may decide the back of my head is a better place for his weapon.
Saw this the other day at Sondra’s place. I realize Seattle is ‘PC-at-any-cost Central’, but this is friggin’ rediculous.
Wow. I can’t imagine this ever happening down here in Phoenix. How could the residents of Seattle sit by and let crap like this happen, month after month.
It gets worse with these Critical Mass jugheads here in Portland, OR. On his first day in office, Hizzoner the Mayor (former Police Chief) Tom Potter went on a “ride” with Critical Mass, lending them “legitimacy”. Since then (7 years ago), though, CM got bolder, and wanted to conduct a “ride” during business hours, when it would have disrupted the cash flow to the registers at the big department stores of Nordstrom and Macy’s. Naturally, the managers there lit up City Hall’s switchboard, and cops showed up with dump trucks and forklifts (or was it backhoes, I can’t remember?), and when CM did their usual thing of dumping all their bikes in a big heap in the middle of an intersection, they were unceremoniously hoisted into the dump trucks by the heavy equipment, and the intersection was cleared in minutes.
Here’s two things to suggest to counter CM: The tactic above was VERY successful, and there have been ZERO bike-piles since. Secondly, without so much as a whisper, call out all the bicycle cops on OT, go along with the CM ride, and pick them off, one at a time, to write spendy tickets for blocking traffic, running lights and stop signs, etc. Severe cussing can also be prosecuted under misdemeanor Disorderly Conduct. Have the Black Maria ready and haul them in by the dozens. Mass arrest works well for these people.
Critical Mass’ own tactic of riding slowly robs them of the only advantage of a bicycle criminal: mobility.
They have to stay together and they have to go slow.
On a personal note, my Dad taught me 50 years ago that the best defense against a bike criminal is a stout walking stick inserted in the front wheel’s spokes. Results in an instant upset of the rider, no matter the rider’s speed, and the walking stick can then be used to chastise the peddlar if required by circumstances.
Any showing of a knife, of course, means that the knife wielder just brought the wrong weapon to his last gunfight.
The driver should have remembered that, when faced with a gang of bicyclists, a Subaru *is* a deadly weapon and used it appropriately. People breaking your windows, pounding on your hood, chasing you for a block, slashing tires and punching you through the window is definitely concern for grievous bodily harm and justifies deadly force.
I know there was a similar incident at a CM ride in SF within the last few years.
Jackoffs terrorized a mom and kids in a minivan who dared drive on ‘their’ street.
Absolutely nothing but a City sanctioned gang on wheels. They serve no purpose other than to intimidate, harrass and terrorize. Oh, and make total, complete asses of themselves. They really need to be gone from the planet.
Critical Mass is an anarchist creation … they don’t have leaders or spokespersons, so you can’t contact anyone in any official capacity … they just hold their rides on the third friday of every month, and people who wish to hand out flyers with proposed routes.
Since there are no leaders, you can only deal with individuals.
Drive if you have right of way. If someone vandalizes your property, confront them. If you are attacked, defend yourself.
Those video cameras they bring film their actions as well as yours.