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This sounds like a case of road rage that got out of hand. I think the police were wrong to pronounce the driver innocent before all the fact are known.

The cyclist's response sure sounds like a case of mob violence to me but I will wait for the trial and witnesses to testify under oath before drawing a final conclusion.

Running over someone because you are late for a dinner reservation is bullshit. Is it against the law to damage property while trying to catch a fleeing felon? I'm not sure. The cops discourage self-help but they always are using similar arguments to justify their own actions. If the driver had run down a bicycle cop, the cops would definitely have used the driver's behavior as the justification for shooting him dead.

This is just as slanted as the news report. The news says "Critical Mass riders jumped on car, driver beaten." This article says "Harmless, meek earth lovers ruthlessly attacked by car with huge carbon footprint." I guess we can read between the lines and come up with an idea of what might have actually happened.

The facts, though, are hard to beat in this one. The car is damaged and the driver is in the hospital. The bikers rode away.

I'm a bicycle commuter. I try to be respectful of the motorists around me, and I EXPECT them to be respectful of me.

But Critical Mass is really just a large rolling TROLL. You guys completely take over the road and act like a bunch of assholes. AND THEN, you act surprised when a motorist responds angrily.

WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN? If you act like assholes, then don't act OMG!! OUTRAGE when people treat you like assholes.

Bunch of fucking entitled babies.

Even people who failed Advertising 101 know the #1 rule of influencing people:

1. DON'T ALIENATE YOUR AUDIENCE

Instead of winning people over to the idea of abandoning cars, all you are accomplishing is pissing off the very people you want to influence.

Critical Mass is really just an excuse to be trendy and act like you give a shit about bicycle riding. The remaining 29 days out of each month, you sanctimoniously drive in your cage and feel like you're making a difference.

Never mind the FACT that you are just pissing off a bunch of motorists and making it THAT MUCH MORE DIFFICULT for all of us who ACTUALLY COMMUTE ON BICYCLES.

Before you pity the poor driver of the car, remember that he is the one who instagated the confrontation that sent at least one cyclist to the emergency room.

lets not alienate the driver, because the only reason youd be stopping a driver who just hit two of your friends is so that you can tell them that next time they should ride a bike

Our mantra has always been share the road. This works both ways, comrades

I once was a cyclist and took their side in most issues. Not anymore: cyclists tend to be angry people who develop irritable bowel syndrome, which leads to hemmroids, which then metasticize into a bicycle.

Buncha scumbag, thugs. I would have run over every last one of them, Rachel Corrie style.

Some of these responsed make me ill. How long would this driver have had to wait for the 100 bike riders to pass? Couldn't be more that a few minutes - as long as a red light at an intersection? So, would this have been appropriate behavior if he was tired of waiting for the traffic to clear the intersedtion, for him to drive into the traffic. I agree, there are nasty bike riders out there giving others a bad name, but driving into them is criminal. Everyone needs to relax! We are all on this planet together.

What do you call two Critical Mass riders who have been run over by an SUV?

A good start.

Critical mass has over 1,100 videos on youtube. Obviously they take video cameras on their rides to document the evil motorists. Where is the video of this incident?
  
Does the video show criticalmass to be in the wrong?

a yuppie who got the shit kicked out of them and ended up in a hospital?

an even better start

Mob violence is fun!

"slashed tires?" Yeah, whenever I go biking I feel the need to carry a blade.

I condemn the driver of the car who raged against the Critical Mass cyclists on Aloha. As I understand the facts of the matter, he clearly had an outburst of anger which caused him to attempt to drive on top of the cyclists in order not to miss his reservation. The anger prevented him from understanding that he was certain to injure the cyclists. Actually, this analysis is perhaps too generous to the driver since it is more likely that his intent was to injure cyclists. I condemn the Seattle police for failing to arrest this driver. As I understand from reading various sources, the police chose instead to arrest the cyclists who were detaining and exacting revenge at the driver. As for the driver being inconvenienced by the "mob", this is unfortunate but absolutely no excuse for the driver's actions.

Yes, it's understandable that the driver acted in this vicious way, but for him to be absolved is precisely against the interests of the movement that is attempting to replace some (or all, according to some activists) of the auto traffic with bicycles. I support this movement and want it to grow into a more powerful force in society. Since I support this movement, I ALSO CONDEMN THE BICYCLISTS WHO PHYSICALLY ATTACKED THE DRIVER. Being a cyclist myself, I understand the rage that must have been felt by the cyclists, but by not restraining themselves and instead acting on their anger, they definitely served to weaken the movement that they themselves are also trying to build. Just look at most of the comments that preceded mine to the main IndymediaSeattle post.

There's a further point that I want to clarify. I do not equate physical violence toward people who oppose your movement with militancy. Of course, sometimes physical violence may at times be necessary (wars of liberation come to mind), but I think it's pretty much always true that violence that is the immediate result of anger is counterproductive. The reason that this is true is that it is extremely hard if not impossible, to think rationally when you are angry. The number one thing that will enable this movement (and any anti-capitalist type movement) to gain in strength and numbers is THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF ITS PARTICIPANTS. In other words, when you act without thinking rationally, you often end up hurting the cause you are trying to promote. Anger, by eventually propelling people into action against oppression, is a wonderful emotion. It's a tricky one though since the struggle of the oppressed will never get anywhere without a scientific analysis. So, after you get angry, go sit and think about the best thing to do instead of doing the first thing that pops into your angry little head.

--Ira Jones

 irajon@gmail.com

PS this is my second posting of this article since the first time I sent it it didn't appear for 20 minutes and I'm patient but not that patient.

As a dedicated road biker let me just say that I want nothing to do with Critical Mass and they do not speak for me.

"critical mass” video results 1 - 20 of about 3,570

Yet no video of this incident....how very....odd.

I know many good bikers/pedlers. I see many asses among that frat...just like the car drivers. Like the yuppie who screamed get out of the way as he came through the b-gillman charging towards myself and a dozen senior pedestrians. Hes so perfect and superior?

Good start, now lets slash the asshole pedlers too.

Armed and walking!

P.S. I wanted the car turned over and burning too- "lane will be closed for a while, people. Please find an alternate...."

We've all been raised to believe we have Fundamental American Right to move forward in our automobile anywhere anytime.
Automobiles pollute a lot.
Bicycles don't.
Many people would bicycle if they felt it would safe. The vast resources of roadways are devoted to polluting vehicles, not to bicycles and public transit. We're used to driving everywhere. We won't give this up easily. Scenarios like critical mass which make it more difficult for us to drive everywhere are good. People don't relinquish rights and entitlements easily.

"People don't relinquish rights and entitlements easily. "

Ah so you think it's your right to infringe on other peoples rights? Guess that makes you a fascist. I'm going to use critical masses logic the next time one of the Critical mASSes runs into me in a crosswalk, and pound the living shit out the stupid fucker, instead of call the police. How about a pair of my waffle stompers with your head in the curb. Fuck you CM.

Although Critical Mass rides are widely publicized

So widely publicized that I've lived in Seattle for 11 years and never heard of them before, much less had any idea they might be riding through a specific neighborhood on a given night.

Bad behavior is bad behavior. And vigilante justice is never called for.

Seattle liberals are the most smug, sanctimonious assholes in the USA.

 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6511010398472656040&hl=en

To all the Anti-CM pieces of shit out there, especially those who only ride their bikes to their offices and then post idiot comments on indymedia:

try and fucking stop us next time
FROM TIRE TO THROAT
KNIVES OUT SEATTLE

"try and fucking stop us next time"

Well, I sure hope you enjoy dying, and I hope for your sake that your knife can stop bullets.

So this is Indymedia, right? So where is the followup to this story that cannot be found in the mainstream media? What is up with the riders who were arrested and injured? Has any documentation, video or otherwise, of the incident come to light? We are hearing a lot from people who have various opinions, where are the first-hand reports from people who were there?
Please keep the information coming....

What a bunch of adolescent bullshit. Causing traffic jams, and delaying people just because you can, and then hiding behind a bunch of self righteous left wing rhetoric.

Thing about hate talk...
A toxic to interesting useful communication
that tries to suck everyone into it's noxious stench
a broken candle with a sputtering flame of curse
that makes you wonder about the sad, broken life behind it

I'm an avid rider and advocate, but I have to agree with some of the earlier posts... Critical Mass doesn't speak for me, and doesn't represent what I stand for.

I do not think they can do that for very long, if they are perusing charges against the cyclists.

~25 years ago I was intentionally hit twice by a driver in downtown traffic. He was apparently irritated that he could not get through traffic fast enough, and I was "in his way". Two adult male bystanders wearing business suits then proceeded to kick his car and hit it with their brief cases. When I reported this incident to the police, the cop who took my information said "If someone intentionally hit me with their car I think I would shoot them".

I guess cyclists need to "pack heat." Automobilists would then take bicyclists more seriously, the way motorcyclists are taken.

I wonder what that dick-head had "reservations" for that was so incredibly important? A restaurant? A golf tee off time? A message?

I'm the NRA and I pedal
Biker for the Second Ammendment

Only a complete running-dog lackey of John McCain drives a car at this point.

On this day particular day, one of you paper tigers had put down the latte and the cellphone, and cancel dinner plans and get a taste of hard and fast proletarian justice in its rawest form.

Next, time we will take heads.

I love how all these self important Nazis are so "in the right" that they consider violence justifiable.

"FROM TIRE TO THROAT"
Yeah, okay internet tough guy. I'm bigger and stronger than any cyclist I've ever seen, not to mention trained in various martial arts and in excellent shape, let's see you try and get tough around me. It great for these guys to terrorize middle age couples when they're in groups, jump on elderly drivers cars and make threats on the internet. It's funny how they never want to get into it with a guy my size when they cut me off and I yell at them. Then suddenly they get a look at me and they're not so tough. I guess you're only "down for the cause" when you're in groups or harassing women or the elderly. There's always p*ssies like this that are brave when they're attacking the weak or outnumbered, not so tough when confronted by those that can fight back.

Just let the asshole go, since his "reservation" is obviously more important than the lives of the people he runs over on the way. Get his license plate and call the police. Then you can probably get him charged with at least a couple of violations (Assault, leaving the scene of an accident, etc.,.)

I've been a CM participant and I can understand the reaction of the cyclists, but anybody could have predicted that they wouldn't arrest somebody in a car in this situation. Especially somebody in a car who is being held up by cyclists. Not after something sacred to our culture like a car has been vandalized. Not only was it vandalized, but it was vandalized by CM cyclists. Absolute sacrilege. The driver's automobile is obviously "more important" than people on bikes.

I don't like the reaction of the police, but what else would you expect? That said, if the driver is really interested in reconciliation, then he would drop the criminal charges against the cyclists.

The motivation for this road rage incident is this idea that roads are only for cars and that we owe everybody in a car a cheap and convenient commute, wherever they want to go, whenever they want to go.

I don't care whose side you're on (I'm a bike commuter). When this article calls out the "mainstream media" for leaving crucial details out, THEN PROCEEDS TO NEVER MENTION THAT CYCLISTS BEAT UP THE DRIVER, LEADING TO THEIR ARREST, it kind of puts its neutrality in jeopardy. But maybe that's just me noticing the important facts left out.