Drunk Driver Gets 12 Years For Killing Cyclist In Dorchester

In a rare turn of events a motorist was actually sentenced to jail time for killing a cyclists. All it took was him being drunk and driving without a license.  Nothing will bring back young Fritz Philogene, but at least justice has been served in some small way.  My heart goes out to the family.

from uhub:

A Dorchester man who admitted he was drunk when he took the life of a teenager waiting to cross the street with his bicycle was sentenced today to 12 years in state prison, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office reports.

Gregory McCoy, 27, pleaded guilty to manslaughter while operating under the influence, leaving the scene of a collision causing death, and leaving the scene of a collision causing injury for the death of Fritz Philogene, 18.

According to the DA’s office:

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney Gregory Henning would have introduced evidence and testimony to prove that McCoy was driving a friend’s 2012 Cadillac CTS at a high rate of speed in a residential area as he approached the intersection of Norwell Street and Talbot Avenue on the night of May 19, 2015. The Cadillac slammed into the rear of a BMW stopped at a red light, sending both vehicles careening through the intersection just before 10:10 pm.

Philogene, who was at the corner with his bicycle and apparently waiting to cross the street, was struck and died at the scene. Henning would have proven that Philogene’s fatal injuries came as a result of McCoy’s actions.

The crash also injured the 33-year-old driver of the BMW and McCoy’s passenger, a 26-year-old Quincy man who owned the Cadillac.

The evidence would also have shown that McCoy extricated himself from the badly-damaged Cadillac and fled the scene on foot, leaving a blood trail from the vehicle’s final resting point to his neighborhood.

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Hey Look They Caught That Asshole Stealing Bikes In Davis

They caught that asshole.  Don’t steal bike bro…seriously. Good to see the increased security is working.

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Police arrested a Cambridge man Friday on two counts of larceny for allegedly stealing two bicycles from the Davis Square MBTA stop in Somerville in August.

Jonathan Banker, 27, of Cambridge, is expected to be arraigned in Somerville District Court sometime Monday, according to MBTA Transit Police.

Police believe Banker stole a Jamis Ventura bicycle from the bike racks next to the Holland Street entrance at the Davis Square T stop on Sunday Aug. 18. Police also think he was behind another bicycle theft at the same T stop on Aug. 30.

Transit Police posted photographs of their suspect in the larcenies on Sept. 4 before the investigation into the crimes led them to Banker. (via)

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Excelent Report On Christina Genco

Isolate Cyclist has a great write up on his continuing coverage of Christina Genco, and her case in Alabama.

Justice is an elusive concept, fraught with emotion, intuition and idealism. It exemplifies all that is good in humankind, while in the face of evil, it represents a longing for who we want to be.

Within the context of a less than perfect world, each of us lives a life filled with trials and tribulations. Such a life cannot always be measured by minutes, hours and days; it is the sum total of a spirit who existed independently of space and time.

Nine months ago, in June of the year 2011, the life of a young cyclist, Christina Genco, was extinguished prematurely by a brush with fate. At the time of her death, she was with a group of cyclists who were riding across the country as part of a national campaign called Bike and Build. Their goal was to raise money for Habitat for Humanity and to help build affordable housing. I wrote about her misfortune on this blog because she represented the countless cyclists who lose their lives to negligent drivers on American roads.

Read the rest of this very good post here.

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U-lock Justice In NYC

So this video is shooting around the bike webs as fast as anything ever does.

I have several things to say about this video.

1. Violence is never an answer to anything, it only causes more problems.
2. Be careful who you get into a screaming match with, you never know who will pull out a weapon, just because you are in a car/on a bike/on foot, doesn’t mean that the other person wont have a knife/U-lock/gun/etc.
3. This video has enough missing information that you really can’t tell who is at fault, or what is going on.
4. As violent as this looks, I don’t really think the man on foot was too badly hurt.
5. Agree or disagree with his actions, the biker seemed to be defending himself, as he only hit the man on foot until he backed off, not continuing the attack or attempting to harm him too badly.
6. Again, lets all try to be nice to each other out there, violence never solves anything.

What do you think?

EDIT: From the youtube comments:
1. seems this whole thing started when the biker and pedestrian collided, from the video it is almost impossible to tell who is at fault there, but it doesn’t look like they collided with any kind of speed because everyone is still standing when the video starts.
2. seems the guy was hurt badly, goes to show, don’t hit people with heavy chunks of metal, it isn’t nice and potentially will get you thrown in jail
3. seems the bike guy gave the walking guy many verbal warnings to back off, and go away before the video starts, goes to show you, don’t pick fights with random people in public you never know when they will haul off and go crazy on you.

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