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.