Biker gang terrorizes faimly in suv

[Pat Conlon]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/01/new-york-man-celebrating-first-anniversary-with-wife-child-left-for-dead-after/

Deadly force? Yep...someone comes after me and my family with a knife (they slashed his tires) ....I'm outta here....

A tragic situation. Will the driver will face criminal charges?  Dunno, but for sure, civil court will be a bitch....

[crzyjarmans]

I've seen the video, they way these idiots where riding, they caused the incident, they should be charged, not the SUV driver

[skymasteres]

I've seen the video, they way these idiots where riding, they caused the incident, they should be charged, not the SUV driver

You know it's interesting how challenging it becomes to separate hard information from all of the spin in the news reports. I heard one account at work that said that the driver of the SUV was in a medically induced coma. Turns out, it was the rider that the fellow ran over.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/01/new-york-man-celebrating-first-anniversary-with-wife-child-left-for-dead-after/

Deadly force? Yep...someone comes after me and my family with a knife (they slashed his tires) ....I'm outta here....

A tragic situation. Will the driver will face criminal charges?  Dunno, but for sure, civil court will be a bitch....

Reports of damage to the vehicle are also difficult to sort out. From watching the video carefully it's hard to see if the riders are actually doing anything other than just being menacing (Which is bad enough) If you fast forward to the end where the vehicle stops, you can clearly see that the two drivers side tires are intact. I'd love to see what the condition of the passenger ones are. I wonder if the slashing didn't happen until after vehicle finally came to a stop and the driver was pulled out. Or if it was done at the second stop as an attempt to prevent the driver from continuing.

I completely agree that the riders were being complete morons leading up to the initial bump. But I find it really REALLY hard to absolve the driver of his actions. Then again, I find the behavior of the riders deplorable as well. I will say that personally, if I had been in the group, I would have been cool after the first incident. Low speed, rider kinda being an idiot and causing it, and the SUV stopping. Yeah, that's just fine. Everybody chill out and take a breath.  Which it looked like was happening. Guy in a car driving OVER a dude?  That would be hard to sit by and watch. I would have definitely been calling the cops and following the guy.

Another thing is the conditions leading up to this lone SUV being surrounded are unclear. I read in one report, that in the minutes leading up to the incident the driver of the SUV had been antagonizing the riders and casting obscenities as them. Presumably for hogging the road.  Although I do find it hard to believe that to be the case given that his wife and child were in the car and he was celebrating an anniversary. Though it does strike me as odd for the riders to single out a vehicle this way for no apparent reason. I mean  yeah, they were acting like idiots, but why pick on a random SUV? Not that anything the SUV driver did should have provoked that type of behavior. Well, once he drove over the guy, that definitely got a predictable response...

[Firehawk068]

I watched the video a few times, and it is really unclear what lead up to the footage. But honestly...............who cares.
The real story is what happened during the video............
If your band of squid-biker wanna-be tough guys surrounds my vehicle to slow me down and stop me, to try to gain entry into my vehicle. Now you have just put me in fear for me and my family's safety, and you just gave up your right to live by being part of the car-jacking mob...........Sorry, but I will run your shit over every day of the week to get away from you..........Period!
I am actually sad that the guy ran into traffic and got pulled out of his vehicle and beaten in front of his family............

[RichBaker]

You know, I've been thinking about this.....and what I'm gonna say is probably going to piss you off, however...

If I were in that situation, I'm sorry to say but Rule #1 applies: the safety of my family comes first....and foremost.

Crowd hysteria is unpredictable and often volitile. I would not have stopped until my family was safe.
4900 lb Range Rover vs. motorcycles...that's a easy decision....see rule #1..

To be boxed in and stopped on a public highway is a unacceptable risk to my family regardless of who is at fault.

That being said...Should I be....

1) Arrested and charged with Assault with a deadly weapon or even (God forbid) voluntary manslaughter?

Absolutely.

2) Subject to numerous civil lawsuits?

Absolutely.

3) Lose my home and possessions to civil judgements and have my wages/retirement garnished for the rest of my life?

Yep, quite possible, even highly likely.

Would it be worth it?

Absolutely (see rule #1)  

I agree.... It looked to me like the idiot that stopped in front of the Rover is who started the whole thing. He was probably trying to stop traffic so they could do some stunting.... Rover driver hit him, because what idiot stops in the middle of the freaking freeway???
From there, the pack wanted blood.....

[RichBaker]

Hey Pat, Ron,

I completely understand "Rule #1" and agree. But at what point does protecting your family lead to the stark raving panic that has a man using a SUV in a monster truck rally fashion?
What I'm saying is, I think the guy crossed the Rubicon when he drove over the three bikes and started running flat out. The initial incident where the bike got tapped from behind looked blatantly deliberate on the rider's part. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior. BUT, I really think the guy freaked out and played into the escalation of things when he lost it. I mean, the report says they were "Damaging the vehicle" Okay,  that could mean anything from banging on it and making a dent, scratching the paint, or pulling off trim. Judging by the way the guy was able to speed off the tires were untouched.  In my way of thinking, let the morons beat on the car and get themselves sorted out. It's insured, nobody is getting hurt, and the police will come. Now, if they had broken a window and violated the space inside the SUV, THAT'S another thing entirely.

As soon as they started to surround the car, beat on the doors, try to OPEN the doors, I would have done exactly what he did. Police reports say they started to slash tires after the 1st incident, when the douche brake-checked them..... There were hundreds of assholes surrounding the Rover, what would you think they were going to do, if you were in that vehicle???

[skymasteres]

As soon as they started to surround the car, beat on the doors, try to OPEN the doors, I would have done exactly what he did. Police reports say they started to slash tires after the 1st incident, when the douche brake-checked them..... There were hundreds of assholes surrounding the Rover, what would you think they were going to do, if you were in that vehicle???

I don't know Rich. I've re-watched the video several times now. And to me it looks for all the world like people screwing around then having something actually happen. (The collision) And everybody just stops. The body language of the crown is kind of like "Uhhh, well now what?" There looks like there's some activity by the SUV, but it doesn't look like they're doing anything more than knocking on it. There was hardly time for anything to really develop though as the driver really gunned it to climb over all that metal and the people. I mean the car takes a 30 degree tilt or so. Once THAT happened it was over. You went from a minor fender bender to potential vehicular manslaughter quicker than those bikes go from 0-60. (Okay, 25 seconds. And yes, a lot can happen in half a minute. But there doesn't look like there was nearly that level on energy...) 

Or put another way. It takes the biker that jumps off his bike, completely fueled by rage, 20 seconds to grab his helmet, beat the window in, and get the driver out. And that was after a four minute chase with a second bike being run over. To say these guys were angry was an understatement. At that point the driver WAS in REAL danger. But there wasn't anything he could do about it.

The day before I went down to the Redbull Flugtag I had a scary run in with some spanish (I think) gang members. I was finishing up pumping gas and an intoxicated man started trying to engage me in conversation. I ignored him, but he persisted and then started shoving me. I pushed back and he punched my helmet. I hit him in the shoulder and he lost his balance falling down. What I didn't realize was, half a dozen of his friends were watching this and  when the drunk went down they started shouting and coming after me. I got the bike started and in gear before they got to me, but had to push past them  to get away, knocking one them down in the process.

And holy shit. Now that I'm actually going through it blow by blow there is an Erie level of similarity.

Look, the long story short is, I ended up fleeing. Speeding, running with my high beams on, blaring my horn (That 113dB Wolo) , and being deliberately conspicuous hoping I would attract LEO attention because I had a Cadillac and a pickup truck chasing me.  I made some really bad route choices and completely underestimated their will to find me. In an hour I ended up 90 miles north of where I started in Ridgecrest if front of a little police station. I rode up on the sidewalk and thumbed the horn until an officer came out. He waited with me for another hour as the guys giving chase lost interest and finally left. I took another route home and made it without further incident. But I was wrecked for that evening. The 395 is a BAD BAD road to be on at dusk, when trying to extract maximum performance from a bike you've never pushed that hard and has a squared off rear tire.

I made a LOT of mistakes there, and one of the biggest ones was thinking I'd gotten away, only to see a guy hanging out of a pickup truck swinging a bat in my direction. If I had been thinking straight I would have gone to my local police station instead of thinking I didn't want to lead these guys to my home.

What would I have done in that SUV? Locked my doors and waited in the comfort of my steel cage until sufficiently threatened to make my survival a priority over the safety of other motorists.   Knock on the windows? So what? Rock the think a little? Getting iffy. Start pitching it over? Hammer down and get the hell out of there. Break my windows? Oh no, I'm out of there. Pound on the hood or doors? Fine, it can be fixed. Slash a tire? (How the heck would I know...) I would have taken seeing a firearm or other weapon (Like a pipe or tire iron), seeing guys lining up and feeling the vehicle start to pitch, or them breaking a window to make me bail like that. (I'm a chicken on a bike. )

[Tapartacus]

+1 Pat
+1 Alan
Being a biker I would have first got the fuck out of the way and let these d bags pass me. Obviously these guys were looking for trouble. However between them and my family? Lucky only one of those fuckers got their legs broke!

Andrew

[JCainFJ]

 I understand that the SUV driver hit a bike before the vidio starts. If we were out for a ride during one of our rallies and someone in an SUV hit one of us and tried to drive off, would you give chase?

[Dan Filetti]

I read an article that said that the bikers were trying to close the road off illegally they had already closed off some on ramps.  These idiots were trying to make the road theirs, presumably for stunts etc.  I'm not sure if the accident 'before the video' was not actually during the video -it looks as if it may be.  So if the SUV driver hit a bike that was doing something stupid (like oh, say, trying to keep the SUV off the road by, swerving in front of, and jamming on your breaks in front of a 4,500lb car as you can see in the video -never smart on a bike) then it was likely the bike's fault.  The SUV driver stopped after the accident, and what did he get for his trouble?  Asshole bikers beating his car with their helmets, pounding on his windows, and slashing his tires. 

The biker that did the filming erased/ did not include the footage of the gang beating the snot out of the driver. It seems to me, the bikers terrorized this guy and he acted out of that terror.   

If I'm surrounded by that many angry bikers, with my 2 year old kid, and wife in the car with me, I'd likely do the same as the SUV driver did.

Dan

[CanDman]

man with wife and kid....surrounded and forced to stop.....fear factor took over....it is the protective nature of a man.....this is perfect evidence of the ever growing rift between cars and bikes.....in this case.....there are no winners....sad event on every front !!!

[Capn Ron]

These assclowns call themselves "Hollywood Stuntz" and do a yearly takeover of Times Square in Manhattan.  Here's that same group riding down Fresh Pond Road in Queens, NY in 2011:

Same Group Of Bikers Attacking Another Driver in 2011

I lost count of the traffic violations, another car assault at 1:10, speeding down sidewalks, riding in opposing lanes, using a gas station to avoid a traffic light, running redlights, blocking entry or exit of cars in a strip mall, blocking traffic, doing dognuts in the street.  Yeah, fine group representing motorcyclists here.

I also see that they took down their own YouTube channel.  Lawyers may have advised them to do so... 

Cap'n Ron. . .

[Bminder]

I saw enough to know that if these bikers were riding like idiots when the video starts after the initial confrontation, they were probably being idiots before the video starts, and freaked the guy out.  I'm not saying he did nothing wrong, and didn't also do something stupid, but he might have been scared for his life and family's safety by whatever they were doing before the video started.

[RichBaker]

As soon as they started to surround the car, beat on the doors, try to OPEN the doors, I would have done exactly what he did. Police reports say they started to slash tires after the 1st incident, when the douche brake-checked them..... There were hundreds of assholes surrounding the Rover, what would you think they were going to do, if you were in that vehicle???

What would I have done in that SUV? Locked my doors and waited in the comfort of my steel cage until sufficiently threatened to make my survival a priority over the safety of other motorists.   Knock on the windows? So what? Rock the think a little? Getting iffy. Start pitching it over? Hammer down and get the hell out of there. Break my windows? Oh no, I'm out of there. Pound on the hood or doors? Fine, it can be fixed. Slash a tire? (How the heck would I know...) I would have taken seeing a firearm or other weapon (Like a pipe or tire iron), seeing guys lining up and feeling the vehicle start to pitch, or them breaking a window to make me bail like that. (I'm a chicken on a bike. )

How about when the knives come out and they start slashing tires? According to reports, that's when he drove over the bikes(1st incident) and took off.....

[crzyjarmans]

My 1st post on this is based on the video, No can positively say what happen before the video, So, From what I've seen, I guarantee, that guy bashing my window in with his helmet, He would have be lying motionless on his back