UPDATE: Aggressive hit-and-runs unresolved
Picture yourself outside of town, driving along a midsize country road. You’re going more slowly than normal, carrying a heavy load, looking for your turn, or trying to keep your kids from fighting in the backseat. Abruptly, another driver overtakes you, blaring their horn. You move over to the right to allow them to pass. They do, still laying on the horn, coming up on your left side. As they pass, they pull from the left lane into yours, intentionally grazing your car, then speeding off. As you pull over to assess the damage, you manage to get a picture of their license plate with your phone. You call the police, relieved that no one’s hurt.
What would you expect to happen? With a picture of the driver’s license plate and a description of the car, would you expect the aggressive driver to be held accountable? Would you expect charges to be filed in response to such an intentionally dangerous act? Would you expect the police to question the owner of the car? Or would you expect, a month later, to be told your case is hopeless?
Now, imagine yourself in the same scenario, but riding a bicycle. About a month ago, a group of cyclists in Champaign County found themselves in this exact situation.
AGGRESSION OUT OF NOWHERE
On Wednesday, May 26th, a group of 15 or so riders left from Burwash Park in Savoy around 5:45 p.m. for a 40 to 50 mile ride into the country roads outside of Champaign. The cyclists were nearly all members of WildCard Cycling, a racing club now three years in existence that offers a training ride every Wednesday evening.
The weekly ride is typically fast-paced and competitive, and co-founder Luke Taggart describes the cyclists as a “very safe, very conscientious group of guys.“ Members of this group included: Taggart, Karl Crapse and Nick Hand — the team’s managers — as well as Delmar Rhodes, Gene McDowell, Shea Nangle, Sean Walker, Rob Raguet-Schofield, Aaron Higley, and Nick Dornick, among others.
The riders faced a headwind from the southwest, and once onto lesser-trafficked country roads they fanned out into an echelon formation, a slanted line of pairs of riders stretching across three quarters of the road, designed to maximize wind protection. The riders were traveling between 20 and 25 mph along County Road 1100N, west toward 200E.
Nangle, a lifelong cyclist and competitive racer with five years’ experience, is a regular participant in WildCard training rides. Nangle explained the cyclists’ method of facilitating safe passing: “What always happens in the ride is that if people near the back of the pace line hear or see a car coming they’ll yell ‘Car back!‘ and we’ll all get as far to the right as possible and let the car pass… If you’re in an echelon and that happens, you move over into a typical, straight pace line on the right hand side of the road.“
Several cars had already passed the riders using this method when the cyclists heard aggressive honking from the rear. Dornick was riding near the back of the pack, and immediately noted how quickly the honking car was approaching, close to 100 mph in his estimation. By the time a rider had called “Car back!“ the vehicle — a blue Chevy Impala with heavily tinted windows — had reached the cyclists, slowed to around 35 mph, and was rapidly moving through the group.
As Hand describes it, “Almost immediately the car was already up in the middle of the group. We had already tried to start moving over and were probably halfway over. I saw the car moving into the group. It sounded like he was driving in the grass for a second, and then that sound went away and it looked like he was moving toward us.“
As the pace line tried to move to the right to clear room for the driver, riders at the back of the pack saw the car pass less than a foot to the left of their bikes. Cyclist Sean Walker watched the passenger side mirror pass over his handlebars, narrowly avoiding a hit. The driver then hit Dornick’s left elbow with his passenger side mirror, knocking him off-balance. Dornick was able to remain upright, and the driver continued forward.
At this point the driver had reached the middle of the pack. Nangle was riding near the back of the pack and had an unobstructed view of the vehicle as it approached the center of the pace line. Nangle watched the driver reach the middle of the pack before “clearly, deliberately turning to the right and moving the car into the pace line of riders, clearly making an attempt to hit one or more of the riders.“ The other cyclists confirmed this unmistakable display of intent. Rob Raguet-Schofield observed “a good four feet of pavement and at least one or two feet of solid grass shoulder to the left of the car. It was absolutely, unmistakably clear this was no accident. This was intentional.“
According to Walker, “What happened next was in slow motion.“ The vehicle “continued in its path into the riders in front of me, which ended with it striking the front rider on the left of the group”, Aaron Higley, “who ricocheted off of the rider next to him and hooked the front wheel of the rider to his right.“ Higley was thrown into another cyclist, Gene McDowell, pulling spokes off McDowell’s front wheel. The two riders were able to right themselves without taking out any more of the cyclists, and avoided a chain of collisions that easily could have resulted in serious injuries and even more property damage.
After striking Higley, the driver moved back into the left hand lane and accelerated. Several of the cyclists who had not been hit took off after the vehicle, which accelerated and slowed repeatedly, allowing the riders to catch up, and then pulling ahead of them. Several of the riders were able to get a clear view of the driver’s license plate number, and one rider took a picture of the back of the vehicle, capturing a clear image of the driver’s license plate.
As the driver sped west past County Road 200E (the north-south road that runs through Seymour), Higley and Dornick were left with minor injuries, while McDowell, Higley, and Delmar Rhodes all had damage to their bikes. “We wanted to get something done about this,“ Dornick said. “It wasn’t even accidental, it was obviously intentional. It was a guy trying to run people off the road because he’s in a big car and that’s what he’s allowed to do. We have no right to the road; that’s what he’s thinking. Aaron had bruises, and there was a lot of damage to the bikes, so we wanted some repercussions.“
The riders regrouped and phoned the Champaign Police Department. They then decided to let the four cyclists who were directly involved speak to the patrol officer in private to avoid bombarding him with twenty eyewitness statements at once. Higley, Dornick, McDowell, and Rhodes remained, while the rest of the riders rode off for twenty to thirty minutes while the patrol officer arrived.
Although initially the riders had misread one number on the driver’s license plate, with the aid of the picture of the vehicle the cyclists were able to give a complete license plate number and description to the Champaign County Sheriff’s office. The deputy then confirmed that the car was registered and its description matched the cyclists’ description.
Dornick describes the positivity and encouragement of the deputy after identifying the owner of the vehicle: “They were very enthusiastic. They said, ‘We’ve got him, and we don’t need anything else from you. We’ve got everything we need. We’ve gotten witnesses; we’ve got all this information.‘ They gave us the impression we didn’t need to do anything else.“
Despite this reassurance, Dornick and Higley took the initiative to follow up on the case. After a week, they were told that Champaign County was no longer investigating the case, but had turned it over to the Decatur Police Department, where the car was registered. At this time, the Champaign County Sheriff’s Department has not confirmed which department investigated the case.
Dornick recounts what the police told him. “The police officer drove to the [home of] the owner of the car. They saw the car parked at his house. They knocked on the door and there was no answer. They looked at the car and said there was no damage to the car, and they went home. And that was the entire investigation of the case. To my knowledge — and we followed up on this many times — no one was actually ever questioned or spoken to.“
And that was it. Dornick and Higley were told there was nothing else the police could do, despite having never spoken with the owner of the vehicle. Their investigation ended with that unopened door.
When contacted for this article, Champaign County Sheriff Dan Walsh explained things differently. “The investigation is still being actively worked,“ Walsh stated in an email. “Since this is an ongoing investigation, I have no further comment for right now.“
Ed. note: We attempted to rectify this apparent contradiction with Sheriff Walsh yesterday afternoon, but did not get a response by the time the article posted. We’ll insert any response that we receive as it arrives.
The official reason given to Higley and Dornick was the lack of an eyewitness who could identify the driver from a line-up. Due to the heavily tinted windows of the car and the aggressive speed at which it overtook the riders, none of the cyclists got a clear view of the driver. Without cooperation or a confession from the driver, it is likely that a visual ID would be necessary for a criminal case to proceed. In this case, however, the owner of the vehicle was never interviewed, leaving a multitude of questions unanswered. Was the owner driving at the time of the hit, and if not, would the owner come forward with the name of the driver? Would the driver confess, given the weight of evidence against him and the large number of eyewitnesses? Why didn’t the deputies attempt to elicit a confession?
Raguet-Schofield recorded his personal account of the incident on his blog.
FIVE SURGERIES LATER, STILL NO SATISFACTION
This is not the first case of this nature in Champaign County, nor is it the first to end in disappointment for the victims and a lack of repercussions for the driver.
Almost exactly a year ago, on July 6, 2009, Sherry Helfer was riding her bicycle on Champaign County Road 600N (also known as the Sadorus Slab) when her wheel was struck by a green Dodge Durango. Helfer was knocked to the ground, injuring her elbow. The Durango sped away, leaving Helfer on the side of the road.
“I just had my fifth operation [on my left elbow] last Thursday,“ Helfer explained. “Hopefully I’ll be able to pronate. I’ve been in a cast and have had physical therapy and a whole bunch of stuff, needless to say. Everything that goes with an injury.“
Helfer was also dissatisfied with her dealings with the Champaign County Sheriff’s Department, who she describes as “useless.“ She recalls, “[My friends] did not get the license number at the time, of course, because they thought the person would stop, and they were concerned with me. About 15 minutes later, as I’m getting put in the ambulance, a green Durango — hmm! — comes back the other way and goes really slow as it passes by. Hmm! And, they got the license plate then, and my friends are saying, ‘That’s the car! That’s the car! That’s the car!‘
“So [the sheriff’s department] contacted the people, and they of course said, ‘No, I didn’t do it.‘ And that was the last that they did.“
Sheriff Walsh stated, once again in an email, “I do not believe sufficient facts exist to criminally charge an individual concerning this incident and, barring something unusual happening, I do not think this situation will change.“
Helfer’s friends tried to take matters into their own hands to gather information about the case. “My friends went with posters around Sadorus, and a number of people said, ‘Oh yes, it’s the [family name redacted],‘“ which matched the name to which the vehicle was registered, according to Helfer.
Despite the lack of criminal action taken against the alleged driver (who Helfer believes was texting at the time of the crash), Helfer doesn’t think she will pursue a civil action, either. “No, not really,“ she said. “Because something like that will take forever. But I have considered hiring an investigator, I don’t know. If the state won’t do it, I don’t know why an investigator can’t go and figure out the… phone number [of the alleged driver] and look and see ... if they were on the phone at that time.“
For more information on Helfer’s ordeal, check out Jodi Heckel’s article from Tuesday’s News-Gazette.
NAVIGATING MURKY LEGAL WATERS
Earlier this week, Governor Pat Quinn signed a bicycle anti-harassment bill into law which will hopefully make prosecuting cases like these easier. The bill, which takes effect on January 1, 2011, establishes “penalties for motorists driving recklessly and unnecessarily close to, toward, or near a bicyclist. Depending on whether serious injuries result, it is either a Class A misdemeanor or Class 4 felony.“
At present, the drivers in these cases could probably be cited for leaving the scene of an accident, refusal or neglect to report a traffic crash, or failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. They could also be charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, as was the case for two Chicagoans who pled guilty last week to ramming cyclists while driving drunk.
So what options remain for the cyclists once the police decline to pursue criminal charges? According to state’s attorney Julia Rietz, the victims could first file a Freedom of Information Act request to get the name and address of the driver of the vehicle for insurance purposes. They could then pursue a civil case by hiring a private lawyer.
Steve Magas, an Ohio lawyer who specializes in bicycle legal matters, confirmed that bringing a civil case against the driver is still possible, and might allow the victims to force the driver to testify. Unlike in a criminal case, in a civil case if a defendant invokes the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination, their non-cooperation can be used as evidence of guilt. While a civil case would exclude any possibility of jail time, it could hold the driver accountable for monetary damages.
Without a confession, further evidence from the driver or owner of the vehicle, or a visual ID on the driver, a criminal case is unlikely to hold up in court. However, two Chicago-area lawyers, Jim Freeman, and Christ Tracy, who specialize in bicycle-related injury cases indicated that there is strong potential for a successful civil case in each of these instances. “I’d love to have [a photograph of the vehicle and license plate] as evidence in one of my cases,“ Tracy related. And in each case, even without a physical ID of the driver, both lawyers expressed confidence that they could get to the bottom of who was driving the vehicle during the discovery phase of a civil trial.
Freeman feels that cyclists are treated better by the legal system in downstate Illinois than Chicago, but related that, regardless of location, the amount of effort expended by law enforcement is often directly proportional to the severity of the injuries of the victims.
ADVICE FROM THE VICTIMS
Helfer explained that many of her medical expenses were covered by her auto insurance, which extended to her use of a bicycle in the case of being struck by an under-insured motorist. “So make sure you have the $250,000/$500,000, whatever it is, not the one-three [$100,000/$300,000]. It doesn’t cost very much.“
The Wild Card Cycling members and the other riders involved remain angered and discouraged by the act of violence committed against them. Raguet-Schofield urges motorists to “keep in mind that the bicyclist you’re driving within a few feet of at high speed is someone’s child, sibling, and/or parent. If necessary, spare a few seconds of your time to drive safely and to help ensure that person makes it home to see his or her family.“
As well, the riders are frustrated by the lack of support and protection by their local law enforcement officials. With the lack of investigation and follow-through by the police, the Champaign County Sheriff’s Department appears to give the message that violent behavior in our community lacks consequences. Raguet-Schofield has a message for public officials as well: “The citizens who elected you expect you do whatever possible to make our community a safe and desirable place to live. Failure to sufficiently investigate and prosecute a case such as this sends a very strong message to your constituents that their safety means very little to you.“
Dornick is equally disappointed in the actions taken by the Sheriff’s department: “A simple interview would have gotten a lot of information. And I realize they don’t have the resources to investigate every case to the degree that in an ideal world it would be, but I think it’s definitely a serious matter that’s been kind of shrugged off. Twenty people could have gotten killed. And this wasn’t twenty people that could have gotten killed due to an accident, this was one hundred percent intentional. It’s this kind of stuff that needs to be treated more seriously. This guy didn’t own the road.“
But the lesson here isn’t just for motorists and law enforcement. Dornick, Taggert, and Raguet-Schofield all emphasized the need for responsibility and accountability in the cycling community. While most experienced cyclists put great effort into following the rules of the road and facilitating the flow of traffic, many cyclists are content to run stop signs and stoplights, jump curbs, and generally disrespect the other motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians on the road. “Follow traffic laws and behave in a safe, predictable manner. Keep in mind that your safety and the safety of those around you should always be your number one priority,“ Raguet-Schofield asks.
“A lot of the reason that bikes have a really bad reputation and people don’t respect bikes is that people don’t ride in a manner that gets bikes respect,“ says Dornick. As a motorist, “it’s hard to justify taking time out of your day, going all out of your way to make sure this cyclist is safe when he doesn’t care what he’s doing with you. It’s definitely mutual. We need some cooperation, and hopefully we don’t have to have someone get hurt before it starts happening.“
Joel Gillespie contributed reporting to this article.
UPDATE (7/11 @ 1 p.m.): A sheriff’s deputy contacted Aaron Higley on Friday to notify him that the driver had been cited for leaving the scene of an accident. We’ll post more information as it becomes available.
UPDATE (7/27 @ 10 p.m.): Charles Cribbs is the name of the alleged driver, and it’s Case #10TR014328. Here’s the link to the Clerk of Courts’ website where you can search by case number and get more info: https://secure.jtsmith.com/clerk/yytt331s.asp. Mr. Cribbs is scheduled to appear in court on August 2 at 10:30 a.m.
UPDATE (7/29 @ 10 p.m.): To anyone who may be interested in attending the court date, please note that no one will be allowed into the courtroom on August 2nd. Because the driver was ticketed with a Class A Misdemeanor, he will not be allowed to plead on his must-appear date, and a follow-up court date will be scheduled. The follow-up date will be open to the public. When this date is determined, it will be posted with this article, and anyone who has an interest in the case is encouraged to attend.
UPDATE (8/11 @ 10 a.m.): At the first court date, the defendant was granted continuance because he did not have an attorney. The next court date is scheduled for August 20th at 8:55 a.m. All interested parties are encouraged to attend.
43 comments
Some really extensive reporting here - great job Annie!
I would certainly contact the attorneys mentioned in this article. A civil case is the best way to address issues like these. It is clear that a criminal case may be difficult, if not impossible, to successfully prosecute. The owner of the car can say he was not driving and how would you prove he was?
Tony C.
Purposefully hitting a cyclist with a car is clearly assault with a deadly weapon. A car is a much more effective deadly weapon than a handgun as it’s quite a bit easier to hit your target. Also, driving should be treated like handling a gun. If you’re distracted and hit a bicyclist or pedestrian, the consequences (and cultural response) should be the same as if you accidently shot someone while carelessly handling a firearm.
Both incidents above could have resulted in fatalities, and multiple fatalities (intentional murder) in the first instance where the driver purposfully drove into the group of cyclists.
In the first incident the car was clearly identified by multiple witnesses, including a photograph. If the driver of the vehicle owns the car, doesn’t have an alibi for the time of the incident, and doesn’t have witnesses saying that someone else had borrowed the car, then I think there is plenty there to go to a criminal jury trial. If the officers had actually interviewed the driver, this type of information would have been gathered and the case wouldn’t be stagnating.
Ridiculous that both of these cases have been fumbled in the criminal system. I also think that civil recourse would be a good idea.
Thanks for the comprehensive article. Links to the police reports for both cases would be a great addition.
@Tony C: I certainly hope to update this as we are able to get more information from the police. It may be several weeks before we get to complete story in Higley’s and Dornick’s case, but I will update if and when that happens!
In the best of cases, Tony, it is hard for the system to prosecute. I have turned in vehicle license plate numbers on cases involving only vehicles and if you cannot identify the driver you cannot prosecute successfully. It is extremely frustrating. When a drunk driver ran a Stop sign and totaled our van, threw a quart beer bottle out the window and fled the scene of the crash we had witnesses and the license plate number. She was not tracked down and ticketed for a week. Of course, by that time she was no longer drunk. She had a previous DUI and I had to dog the case through the system. They were going to charge her with a lesser offence. All we had was leaving the scene of an accident. She went into a treatment program. I hope it worked so she does not kill someone in the future. In this case with the cyclists I would not wait to file a civil case. The burden of proof is lower and it can proceed more quickly. The police are spread thin and investigations do not have the level of staff you see on the TV shows. They are swamped. They might win a judgement and help stop this guy.
Mark Swartzendruber
Very well written piece Annie, compliments to you and shame on the Sherriff’s department for not seriously investigating this serious assault case.
Jay Jimenez
Disturbing story but well written and researched! I am very disappointed in our Sherriff’s Office for their poor handling of this situation. We need to remember this at election time! Lesson learned: get a good look at the driver if you can.
Karl Crapse
Thanks for doing this story.
After seeing a friend being hit hard enough to fall onto the side of the car and bounce along it, it scared the H out of me. Thank God everyone was able to stay upright. Then the driver just sped away, uncaring about what he did.
Then nothing done, makes you feel worthless.
I guess you can do anything if you hide your face.
Great reporting. Thanks for writing this. It would appear Walsh is inviting everyone who rides a bike in Champaign County to write in Jerommie Smith for sheriff in November.
Richard Masoner
I’ve lived and cycled all around the world, but the 7 years I’ve lived in Champaign County was easily the worst I’ve been as a road cyclist and dangerous motorist behavior on the county roads. Good luck to the cyclists involved, and I hope this publicity drives the Champaign County Sheriff to some action.<span style=“white-space: pre;“> </span>
I went to high school with Jerommie Smith. He was a sheriff’s deputy and SWAT team guy.
He’s now running the gym by True Value and County Market in Urbana. So anyone who wants more info, or to get in shape, should stop by there. It’s the former Gold’s Gym/BodyFirm.
... in fact, here’s a picture of me and Jerommie.
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l272/legalrecords/robjeffmammen.jpg?t=1235212167
Note the update above; all we know so far is that the driver was cited for leaving the scene of an accident. We’ll supply more information as it becomes available.
drew
Good luck. I certainly haven’t ever had success getting anything to happen from being hit. I was even hit twice by the same guy. Ziltch. I have deep skepticism anything will happen, but I do hope for the best.
Jon
Shouldn’t the bicyclists be ticketed for the echelon formation across 3/4 of the road? There’s no reason they shouldn’t have been single file the whole ride.
Chris V
“It would appear Walsh is inviting everyone who rides a bike in Champaign County to write in Jerommie Smith for sheriff in November.“—Anna Barnes
And I imagine those will be the only votes that he gets.
@Jon,
Two things here. In response to your comment that the cyclists had no reason to not be single file, you are in fact allowed to ride two abreast. From the League of Illinois Cyclists: “Riding two abreast is permitted as long as the normal and reasonable movement of traffic is not impeded. [5/11-1505.1]“
In response to whether the cyclists should be ticketed, if they were riding more than two abreast they could be. (Here’s the corresponding statement for that: “ Riding more than two abreast is prohibited except on paths or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.“) Hypothetically, it sounds like they could be ticketed. I’m not sure how that would happen (it seems like they’d need a witness?) but yes, if a group of cyclists is riding more than two abreast they can be ticketed.
I should also say that there are many people involved in this discussion on or off SP that are far more qualified to answer this than I am! If some of them don’t pitch in I’ll try to contact them and report back with any additional, more helpful information that they have.
Robert Knilands
This is an area where I don’t understand the cyclists vs. motorists mentality.
I am sometimes a motorist and sometimes a cyclist. As a cyclist, I know I always have to be prepared to yield the right of way, as I would lose in any collision with a vehicle.
As a motorist, I still get frustrated when I have to go 20 mph behind a cyclist up a hill. This is not because of the cyclist, but because of the concern of being hit from behind by another driver. Like it or not, that situation creates a risk.
Then we have instances like tonight, where a motorist with the stop sign still tried to gun in front of me (as a cyclist). Then she stopped. Then she started. Then she stopped. Wouldn’t it have been easier simply to stop, as the sign required?
jon w
the citation may seem petty but once it is on the record the door is open for civil litigation…which i would encourage the affected cyclists to pursue.
Karl Crapse
Yes, we sometimes echelon, generally not past the midpoint of the road. We never go more than 2 breast. And ride single file if there is heavy traffic on narrow roads.
When there is traffic behind us we don’t echelon at all, and if a car comes up from the back while we are, we move over to the side very fast. Maybe takes 4 seconds.
This driver didn’t give us a chance, didn’t slow down at all. he didn’t care about anything except to get where he was going as fast as possible. lets kill someone so we can get to dinner before it gets cold.
All we ask for is consideration, slow down, make sure its safe for all before passing, saving 5 minutes isn’t worth someone’s life.
Kelley Wegeng
A friend of mine brought up an interesting point when I was talking to him about this last night. If the motorist violated any federal laws and the sheriff won’t do anything about it, the victims may be able to call the U.S. Marshals Service and ask them to come in and enforce the laws. That’s apparently been done in the past when there are corrupt sheriffs in charge. I don’t know enough about this to know if that’s really the case but it might be worth a try.
I also don’t know to what extent it might be hoelpful to call Julia Rietz’s office - she’s the one who made the calls on what to charge Jennifer Stark with after Matthew Wilhelm’s death, and while she was not willing to charge her with recklessness, she might be willing to charge this driver with such, especially since they continued to drive erratically after leaving the scene - the speeding up and slowing down to taunt the riders in pursuit such that they were able to catch up and take a photograph indicates malevolence.
Rory
Deliberately hitting someone with a car = leaving the scene? Is that some sort of sick joke? He should lose his license for a few years, at least.
Local Yocal
Raguet-Schofield’s message for public officials:“The citizens who elected you expect you do whatever possible to make our community a safe and desirable place to live. Failure to sufficiently investigate and prosecute a case such as this sends a very strong message to your constituents that their safety means very little to you.“
Great reporting.I wonder if the same investigation would apply to sex offense criminal cases. The lack of accountability for some offenders would stagger the mind. The Department of Justice might come in to investigate the aggressive hit and runs if it can be shown the failure to enforce the laws is a pattern of misconduct or civil rights violations regarding equal protection under the law. Sad that the criminal justice system shrugs off their responsibility and insists the victims spend years of money on a private lawyer. Any chance SmilePolitely can publish an enhanced photograph of the license plate of the offending driver? Probably not.
@Local Yocal: We were asked to not publish the license plate number so as not to interfere with any possible investigation or charges against the driver. I’m not a legality expert, so unless I get the go ahead from Julia Rietz, the victims, and the victims’ lawyers (if they get any), I’m not comfortable publishing it.
I will say that a court date has been scheduled for August 2nd. Stay tuned for information about a possible ride to the courthouse that day.
Julia Rietz’s office doesnt care about this case, neither does Sheriff Walsh’s. If they did, they would be stopping by the house every day, interviewing witnesses, subpoenaing phone records (now that a case has been filed) and following up with the victims. Just because a perfect ID wasn’t made, does not mean that the case cannot be investigated.
To get anything real done here, it is clear that victims should contact civil (personal injury) attorneys. No need to get a bicycle specialist from Chicago. Competent civil attys will FOIA all involved agencies, printing and following up on all the docs filed with the clerk (for the LTS charge- a charge that carries Driver’s License consequences), run a skip trace on the driver and fully investigate the driver’s car, and file a civil case against the person to get subpoena powers over their cell phone records, as well as the ability to take the depositions of the driver and any person that s/he inevitably offers as an alibi. Much of this will have to wait until after the criminal case concludes b/c the 5th Amd. Since the actual damages (property damage and medical bills) here are relatively small, the person like committed a wilful act not covered by insurance, probably has shitty insurance anyway, and in this case it is more of a matter of principle, it may be necessary for the cyclists to pay costs along the way, pay the attorney up front or do much of the legwork themselves.
It might also ber a good idea to take a look at the IP addresses of some of the most vile of the posters to Chambana’s Craigslist Rants and Raves section, a repository of sociopathic anti-cyclist screeds.
Local Yocal
That is a fact. Rietz and Walsh don’t care. If the bicyclists raise a big enough stink, there will be condescending TV and radio explanations how the bicyclists “...don’t understand real police work, it’s not like TV, blah, blah, blah….“
Now if the bicyclists have the money to get loud in the media, billboards, and neighborhood circles- become an actual voting block- that participated in local Democratic Party events; then Her Majesty and The Sherriff might notice a problem, and announce new rules their office is implementing, thanks to their initiative.
The civil court route described above seems like unfruitful drudgery that is no guarantee toward accountability. The shackles placed on the general public’s ability to hire private lawyers, makes accountability in the criminal justice system difficult. I wish I could refuse to do my job and sneer at the complaintant, “Go pay for it yourself.“
The identity of the person charged with leaving the scene is a matter of public record. Smile Politely should publish it. Also a matter of public record is everything else in the clerk’s file, including the case number, the time and date of the next hearing and any contact info for this driver.
See above for another update with the alleged driver’s name, case number, and date he’s set to appear.
Charles W. Cribbs II - born April 3, 1962
1607 N Main St.
Decatur, IL 62526
Priors in Champaign County for improperly merging into traffic & failure to reduce speed.
But dude lives in Macon County, so I looked there. Since 1998 he has 14 priors, including a 9 traffic, four criminal misdeameanors and a felony.
The traffic citations include driving on the wrong side of the road and failure to give right-of-way to an emergency vehicle.
To gewt from Champaign to Macon County, you pretty much have to go through Piatt County. Charles Cribbs has, at least four times.
I might be a bit more reactionary than most of the SP staff, but I think everyone can agree that at some point it’s good to penalize bad behavior. It’s just safer for all of us.
I hope the cyclists are relieved to know that Charlie Cribbs doesn’t have anything against them. He hates the world, generally.
Drew Hagen
And just so nobody thinks this is a wild, crazy, lightning strike kind of thing, this same group was plowed into by a stolen truck putting at least one rider in the emergency room yesterday. This is a dangerous, dangerous town to ride in. Been riding here for 16 years and I swear it’s getting worse, high profile incidents not-withstanding.
.
Drew Hagen
my wife read my post and pointed out it didn’t say what I probably meant. One of the riders from wild card racing who was part of the incident in the story, was hit in his car by a stolen car. I just think of riders as riders no matter what. Sorry in case it sounded like another group of bikers was hit. Bad writing on my part.
Realityville
Time to get a new Sheriiff.
This is what elections in November are for.
Time to get off your padded duffs, cyclists and organize.
(Contact that publicity hound known as the Champaign Co. States Attorney while yer at it)
Good follow up, Joel and Rob. If any of the riders are reading these comments, it would be appropriate to point out Cribbs’ record to the Assistant States Attorney (ASA) handling the case (or to one of the office’s victim witness counselors), just in case Rietz’s office has failed to look into this dude’s background. In addition to the clerks’ records, which are probably the whole story here, the States Attys Office as well as the cops have access to the FBI’s LEADS database which will get the full scoop.
Of course, none of these priors will come in if the case goes to trial, because the fact that he has done these things in the past does not bear one way or another on whether he actually did what he is currently accused of on that day (I know, it doesnt make sense, but it does). However, Cribbs’ history does affect the plea offer, which I would hope would be for a conviction on the leaving the scene of a property damage accident charge, a bit of time in county and an order to pay restitution for the property damage/any medical treatment within a short time, with court monitoring (meaning either conditional discharge or probation) and perhaps some public service hours and/or anger mgt treatment. A conviction has consequences for his license if the bikes are damaged north of $1k. The section he is currently charged under is a Class A misdemeanor, meaning up to a year (6 months w/ good behavior) in county. I dont see serious jail in this guys future unless he goes Lohan while on probation.
A zealous prosecutor (which means a good prosecutor, so long as that zeal is tempered by reason and a lil bit of mercy) will ‘upgrade’ the charges to leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, several cts of aggravated assault, 1 ct of aggravated battery, and reckless driving. These are all felonies, meaning potential prison, not county jail, except for reckless driving, which is a misdemeanor unless there is great bodily harm.
Scott Dahman
In Texas, it seems like <a href=“http://www.examiner.com/x-14358-Dallas-Endurance-Sports-Examiner~y2010m7d29-Plano-Ironman-triathlete-hospitalized-in-hitandrun”>police can go after the driver</a>, even if no one saw his/her face. The author also refers to the driver as a criminal, as opposed to one who has merely committed a misdemeanor by leaving the scene. Perhaps we need some stronger laws (and/or law enforcement) in Illinois.
Evidence of prior bad acts is not uniformly excluded from proceedings.
Google it.
Rob- I know. In this case however, I dont see how the prosecution could possibly bring it in. Character: no, unless D brings it up, and even then, habit is really tough to show, its an automatic response to a given stimuli. Otherwise specific act evidence for character is not coming in. Impeachment: not likely even if he testifies (Felony is old, not very probative, still prejudicial). None of the priors go very far in showing modus operandi, intent, identity, motive, or absence of mistake, or really anything other than the liklihood that he did it this time, which is the one thing they cant be used for.
Hi all,
Please notice the update above, more information has been provided about Monday’s court date, from one of the victims. It looks like if you have an interest in the outcome of the trial, you would do well to wait for the second, open court date and attend then. Thanks!
The victims should consider filing an application with the state for compensation under the IL Crime Victims Compensation Act. (740 ILCS 45/1 thru 20). FAQs and forms are at: http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/victims/cvc.html
Governor Pat Quinn recently signed a new law protecting cyclists from harrassment: Protecting Cyclists and Pedestrians from Harassment (SB 2951) “This bill makes it a crime to drive unnecessarily close to, toward or near a bicyclist, pedestrian or person riding a horse. If the violation results in great bodily harm, the driver could be charged with a felony.“
http://www.activetrans.org/2009-legislative-agenda
http://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=096-1007
Oh jeezuss. We already had that law—it’s known as “assault.“
But now that Gov. Quinn signs an untested, vague and overbroad (WTF is “unreasonable?“) law, everything will be better?
More likely an appellate court will toss a conviction.
It is an ugly law. It was designed to cure the previous iteration, which was unclear what to do at crosswalks. Better clarity through more legislation. I think that its greatest use will be for PI attys using violation of it as an allegation of negligence.
I believe that the families of cyclists who have been killed or seriously injured by drivers and received a slap on the wrist would beg to differ with your assertions. If you watch this video of the bill signing you will hear the stories of cyclists harrassed and injured, intentionally in the cases cited, who received a fine and went on their way. Proving assault with a vehicle has not been a successful approach for dealing with driver aggression in IL.
http://www.bikelib.org/2010/07/governor-signs-harassment-license-plate-bills/
UPDATE (soon to be added above as well):
At the first court date, the defendant was granted continuance because he did not have an attorney. The next court date is scheduled for August 20th at 8:55am. All interested parties are encouraged to attend!
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It sounds as if you should direct your concerns toward the Champaign County Board, aka the most dysfunctional board of its type in the nation. Perhaps if the ISWDA had not tried to locate a recycling facility in wetlands a number of years ago, there’d be county recycling now.
In response to Grouchy92: I don’t think the rural folks feel a sense of entitlement at all!! You have no idea how appreciative they are that they have been able to use the center up until now. If anyone had asked them, the majority would probably have…
I am a rural Champaign county resident and have been dropping off my recycling at the center for years. I had no idea I wasn’t supposed to be using it! I didn’t see that information posted anywhere. I understand that there have to be available funds to…
From the Town of Normal website: “The Town of Normal has drop-off boxes for recycling at various <span style=“color: #0000ff;“>convenient locations</span> around town open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If that college student is driving to Champaign to recycle, he’s wasting his time and…
<span style=“font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: small;“>The City of Champaign will be implementing its multi-family recycling program starting December 1. At that point, all residents will have an opportunity to recycle where they live. We do not plan to leave any of our residents without…
The ISWDA was destined to fail for many reasons. I remember the siting process for the landfill near Homer. There were concerns about wetlands. I don’t recall a plan to build on top of an aquifer, but perhaps critics were being nice. The main problem, though, is…
This is a great piece that certainly opens up a lot more questions. As a relatively new resident, the recycling program in Champaign has been one the two or three biggest disappointments I’ve had about living here. I’m not naive enough to think recycling is going to…
The sense of entitlement of these rural folks is pretty astounding. I’m sure that whatever paltry amount they pay in sales tax gets eaten up by maintenance on the roads they are driving on, the police that protect them while they are here and the fire departments…
It’s 2010, we have a responsibility to recycle. Thank you for bringing this closing subject to light. It will be a huge step back if it indeed closes. Not a very “forward”, “green”, move for a university community that likes to think of itself as both of these things.
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Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.
Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is. But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…
Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…
I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get. I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library. None of those activities…
These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…
(speaking as a Savoy resident) By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc. This is how library systems work. The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…
I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“
I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?
Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.
I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…
And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.
The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.
Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.
What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
Thanks for the article, Ben. I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar. A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…
Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.
good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…
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I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?