driver shoots cyclist in the head for having a kid with him

[Keebler]

wtf.

this is just wrong. i get the guy was concerned, but talk about the wrong way to go about it. there must be more to this story.

http://www.wyff4.com/news/20187786/detail.html

[pelicanflip]

Wow, the helmet stopped the bullet? Thank god he had a helmet on then...

[arkitect]

Perhaps I am reading it all wrong, but your thread title is a bit odd.
driver shoots cyclist in the head for having a kid with him
They had a child together? ;)

[MacVixen]

^^ +1 - exactly what I thought ;)

Back to the story.... indeed there must be more to this. The firefighter thought the road was too busy to be riding a bicycle with a child, so he SHOT the father?! That doesn't even make any sense. Thank goodness for the helmet. And how horrible for the wife and child to witness this as well. I wonder - was the shooter in his own vehicle, walking down the road? Craziness...

[spaceboots06]

WTF. That's nutty. I do NOT want to move to Asheville.

[ucfgrad93]

Wow, that firefighter is a complete nutjob. I hope he is convicted and sent to prison for a long time.

[mkrishnan]

This story is pretty wow.... :eek:

Wow, the helmet stopped the bullet? Thank god he had a helmet on then...

I smell an advertising campaign... :D

[instaxgirl]

I just can't believe the helmet stopped the bullet. Those things never seemed all that strong.

[elfin buddy]

I just can't believe the helmet stopped the bullet. Those things never seemed all that strong.

I assumed that the bullet went through the edge of the helmet and missed the head. So yeah, I don't believe the helmet stopped the bullet :o

[killerrobot]

That is disturbing.

Also, disturbing is the fact that the fire fighter got paid leave time while it's being investigated.

So much for the local Fire Depot. being a community role model.

[Cabbit]

That is disturbing.

Also, disturbing is the fact that the fire fighter got paid leave time while it's being investigated.

So much for the local Fire Depot. being a community role model.

Still innocent until sentenced guilty. Even with all the evidence against the guy he is still to be treated as innocent but expected guilty.
Once he has a trial the pay stops and he goes to jail for a long hard think, and his assets are arrested that way were not victimising him and the trial is fair and just.

[Mr. lax]

Perhaps I am reading it all wrong, but your thread title is a bit odd.

They had a child together? ;)

Ya, i was confused

[Sijmen]

Wow, this is sparta. He'd have to have a lot of bullets if he came down to the Netherlands, too. It's not out of the ordinary to see a mother cycling with two children on the bike (one on a front seat, one in back seat), while holding an umbrella with one hand.

[MacVixen]

That is disturbing.

Also, disturbing is the fact that the fire fighter got paid leave time while it's being investigated.

So much for the local Fire Depot. being a community role model.

The interesting part about it being paid leave, is that I assume the fire fighter was off duty - there is no mention of him being in an official car - and the article said that he has "now" been identified as a firefighter. Meaning he must have been acting as a private citizen when he shot the guy - why does he get paid administrative leave for that? I work for a local government myself - if I were arrested in my off-hours I would be placed on unpaid leave, not "adminstrative leave" :confused:

[Eraserhead]

I just can't believe the helmet stopped the bullet. Those things never seemed all that strong.

They do have to be able to stop the road and cars damaging your head so I'm not totally surprised they stop a bullet.

[Signal-11]

Wow, this is sparta. He'd have to have a lot of bullets if he came down to the Netherlands, too. It's not out of the ordinary to see a mother cycling with two children on the bike (one on a front seat, one in back seat), while holding an umbrella with one hand.

Yeah, but both drivers and cyclists in the Netherlands are used to it. I pass through Amsterdam a couple times a year and I never get used to seeing a well dressed woman, high heels and everything, bicycle by.

That is disturbing.

So much for the local Fire Depot. being a community role model.

Hah. I don't know about Asheville, but IME, some small town fire departments in the South are among the most corrupt organizations I have ever worked with.

[Signal-11]

They do have to be able to stop the road and cars damaging your head so I'm not totally surprised they stop a bullet.

You're joking, right?

[Eraserhead]

You're joking, right?

A bullet may be fast, but its not very big so doesn't have much force/momentum. Things like cigarette lighters and bibles have been known to stop bullets too.

[eawmp1]

WTF. That's nutty. I do NOT want to move to Asheville.

Hey - I grew up in Asheville and have lived all over. Great place to live (look up the rankings). I have yet to live ANYWHERE there have not been nut jobs. That having been said, I agree...WTF?

[Signal-11]

A bullet may be fast, but its not very big so doesn't have much force/momentum. Things like cigarette lighters and bibles have been known to stop bullets too.

And most of those cigarette lighter and bible stories are unconfirmed urban legend.

A bicycle helmet is essentially a light plastic cover over styrofoam. It's meant to absorb, then the force of an impact. They're good for when your head collides with the tarmac. They're not good for small, hard, fast things. You can take an ice pick or a knife and poke holes directly through most bike helmets with very little force. It simply doesn't have the structure to stop a bullet.

And yes, light, high velocity bullets are easily deflected but I presume this was a pistol round - slower, heavier and LESS likely to be deflected off of a semi rigid object in this type of scenario.

[Keebler]

Perhaps I am reading it all wrong, but your thread title is a bit odd.

They had a child together? ;)

yup..you're right. i wrote that quickly before taking the kids out. I can see what you mean :)

[MattSepeta]

Did you guys even read the article. The helmet did NOT stop the bullet. The bullet merely went through the helmet without hitting him, it "grazed" the helmet, penetrating the shell.

"...bullet penetrated the outer lining of the helmet but did not actually hit the victim..."


That being said, a bullet, even from a 22, will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS go through ANY bike helmet. The guy simply missed.



On another note, I experienced some roag rage vs bike the other day. My friend and I were riding our bikes home from the gettin' place, down a commercial block. (On commercial roads, its ILLEGAL to do anything but walk in a sideWALK) We were on bike, going with the flow of traffic. Some girl started honking and screaming at us, to "GET OUT OF THE F'IN ROAD, GET ON THE SIDEWALK" like we were a huge inconvenience. I turned around and not-too-politely hollered back "Its illegal, handle it!."

A block or two later, she zooms by, and sprays a jet of MACE at us, as we were biking under a freeway bridge, with cars whizzing by going 30!! Luckily she did not hit us, and I got her plate number and filed an assault report. Hope that moron got some jailtime.

[Keebler]

Did you guys even read the article. The helmet did NOT stop the bullet. The bullet merely went through the helmet without hitting him, it "grazed" the helmet, penetrating the shell.

"...bullet penetrated the outer lining of the helmet but did not actually hit the victim..."


That being said, a bullet, even from a 22, will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS go through ANY bike helmet. The guy simply missed.



On another note, I experienced some roag rage vs bike the other day. My friend and I were riding our bikes home from the gettin' place, down a commercial block. (On commercial roads, its ILLEGAL to do anything but walk in a sideWALK) We were on bike, going with the flow of traffic. Some girl started honking and screaming at us, to "GET OUT OF THE F'IN ROAD, GET ON THE SIDEWALK" like we were a huge inconvenience. I turned around and not-too-politely hollered back "Its illegal, handle it!."

A block or two later, she zooms by, and sprays a jet of MACE at us, as we were biking under a freeway bridge, with cars whizzing by going 30!! Luckily she did not hit us, and I got her plate number and filed an assault report. Hope that moron got some jailtime.

good for you on calling the cops. needless to say something was wrong with her. mace? on bicycle riders? brutal.

[evilgEEk]

That story is just insane. :eek:

...and I thought they had a child together too ;)

[Dagless]

Why was the driver carrying a gun with him?

[Signal-11]

Why was the driver carrying a gun with him?

In order to form a well organized militia, of course. This is America. Duh.

[tabasco70]

what i learned from Miss March and this story - firemen are crazy. :D

just kidding! if there are any fire fighters here thank you for keeping us safe, just dont shoot cyclists and their children. :)

[Ntombi]

Why was the driver carrying a gun with him?

Because this was in North Carolina.


I simply cannot wrap my mind around this story. How on earth does one get from "you're not protecting your child and I'm going to tell you how I feel about it" to "I'm going to kill you in front of your child because you're not protecting your child?"

I hope he rots.

[Mexbearpig]

That must be the most feasible way to convince the kid to wear a helmet. Am i right?
If that happened to me as a kid, i definitely would have worn it a lot more often.

[waiwai]

:rolleyes: Americans.... :rolleyes:

[mkrishnan]

:rolleyes: Americans.... :rolleyes:

Yes. You can't live with us, and if you try to shoot us, you realize we have bigger guns than you. ;)

[nick9191]

On Monday, they confirmed he has been placed on paid investigative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.

Shouldn't he, ya know, be arrested for attempted murder?

[mkrishnan]

Shouldn't he, ya know, be arrested for attempted murder?

Police arrested Diez and charged him with attempted first degree murder.

His bond was set at $500,000.

It appears he then posted reduced bond of $200,000 (link (http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090729/NEWS01/907290326)), and then a grand jury failed to indict him for the murder charge (http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090806/NEWS01/90806020/1119), and instead opted to indict him for "assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill."


Police filed the attempted murder charge against the 17-year Asheville Fire Department veteran July 26 after he allegedly fired a handgun at a bicyclist on Tunnel Road, barely missing his head.

District Attorney Ron Moore said he submitted both the attempted murder and felony assault charges to the grand jury for consideration. He said he doesn’t know why the grand jury rejected the attempted murder charge.

Grand jury proceedings are secret. At least 12 of the panel’s 18 members must agree on an indictment. First-degree attempted murder requires a trial jury to find the elements of premeditation and deliberation to be present to convict a defendant on the charge.

First-degree attempted murder carries a presumptive sentence of 125-198 months in prison for a defendant with no criminal record. The presumptive sentence for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill is 20-39 months.

Moore said he could resubmit the attempted murder charge to the grand jury if he finds there is additional evidence the panel didn’t hear. If not, the charge will be dropped, he said.

“I’ll ask the police if there is additional evidence,” he said. “If they say no, that’s it.”

[Signal-11]

It appears he then posted reduced bond of $200,000 (link (http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090729/NEWS01/907290326)), and then a grand jury failed to indict him for the murder charge (http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090806/NEWS01/90806020/1119), and instead opted to indict him for "assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill."

W.T.F?!?

[nick9191]

It appears he then posted reduced bond of $200,000 (link (http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090729/NEWS01/907290326)), and then a grand jury failed to indict him for the murder charge (http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090806/NEWS01/90806020/1119), and instead opted to indict him for "assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill."
Apparently I'm blind :)

[niuniu]

What a complete lunatic. I was out with the gf a little under an hour ago and we were half way across the road when a young fella, maybe 20 or 21 with a couple of his buddies decided to speed around a corner and try and run us over.

Wow was I livid, I was dreaming about finding him and tearing off his lower jaw. Strange how vicious a race we can be.. even the most sensible of us.

[killerrobot]

So because it was a random homicide act, and not one of planning it's reduced to an assault charge?

Maybe Signall-11 was right about the Fire Department being corrupt.:eek:

[Signal-11]

So because it was a random homicide act, and not one of planning it's reduced to an assault charge?

Maybe Signall-11 was right about the Fire Department being corrupt.:eek:

Dude, I spent some time in the rural and small town American south when I worked for the Red Cross doing disaster management. It really opened my eyes to how totally screwed up things are.

During Hurricane Katrina and following two hurricans, in Alabama, I saw small town sheriffs address black middle aged men as "boys." Men he didn't know and didn't look like thugs. I saw a lot more of it later.

In Louisiana and along the border strip of Texas, I saw full on Klan towns. There was one place where I sent a truck with supplies, mostly water. It got chased out of town because the driver was black. I wouldn't have believed it unless I spoke directly with the driver and his partner. This was a town that had no running water and electricity. From then on, we sent all relief shipments with law enforcement escorts, mostly feds and out of state LE.

There was one particular area that was SO corrupt, literally tons of food supplies dropped at the area Fire Departments were disappearing every few days while the people were complaining that they were getting nothing while some people got everything. Eventually, things got so bad, we had to ask for help. I ended up working with a lot of Austin and Pittsburgh PD because they were the departments assigned to work my areas. I also ended up seeing a lot of Federal agents, mostly DEA for some reason. I couldn't quite figure out why all these DOJ agents were running around everywhere. Then I found out from talking to them that they were really there to keep an eye on local law enforcement because the local cops were just as, if not more, corrupt than the fire departments I was forced to work with.

How screwed up is that? We were sending food, water and non-food items like diapers to small towns with US Marshals as escorts because the police and fire departments would steal everything. In America. In 21st century.

I got kicked over to Florida after a while because of another incoming hurricane and I couldn't have been happier to leave.

So yeah, I have no faith whatsoever in small town police and fire departments in the Deep South.

[Kwill]

Why was the driver carrying a gun with him?

Because he was Plaxico Burress (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536307,00.html). :D

[andiwm2003]

Yes. You can't live with us, and if you try to shoot us, you realize we have bigger guns than you. ;)

good one and so true.

there must be some personality disorder part of it. he only way to explain that. not that it excuses anything.