How To Get Away With Murder, Grand Jury Doesn’t Charge Driver In Hit And Run Case

They say if you want to kill someone wait until they get onto a bicycle.  In a tragic state of affairs a Suffolk grand jury has decided that running someone over with a truck and then leaving the scene caries with it no consequences, if that person is riding a bicycle.

A Suffolk County grand jury declined to press charges against a garbage truck driver who struck and killed a bicyclist on Sullivan Square in April, according to The Boston Globe.

Police had initially charged Ricky Prezioso, 41, with leaving the scene of a crash after he struck and killed Owen McGrory, 34, on April 3. At the time, Prezioso said he never felt the impact of the collision. Last week the grand jury declined to press the charge further. (via)

What the fuck…shouldn’t you at least be charged with poor driving, if what you say is true YOU DIDN’T NOTICE YOU RAN SOMEONE OVER!

This is the second time someone has run over a cyclist in broad daylight drove off and not gotten any charges, the same thing happened to a Dana McCoomb in Wesllesley.

The real reason I think these things happen is not that the police and prosecutors are not trying hard enough, its that most of the people on the jury drive cars. They all see themselves sitting accused of the same thing. They looked at their phone, or was not paying attention, but for the grace of luck they could be the one who ran someone over without noticing. So they let these people walk because they don’t think its a serious thing, they think it’s an “accident.”

It’s not an accident, its the same as shooting someone “by accident” you are in control of a deadly object, a huge powerful vehicle, and any lack of concentration on your part can and will result in the deaths of other people. Its just that guns by their design are killing machines so responsible people handle them with care. Cars are no less deadly, in fact they kill far more people than guns. (roughly 12,000 gun deaths in 2013, vs 30,000+ car deaths).

Prezioso should have been charged with something, you can not run someone down, and then leave the scene and not have broken SOME law. The members of this grand jury should all have to look Owen McGrory‘s family in the eye and explain to them why they felt no laws were broken. I assure you had McGory been driving a car and been killed by a guy in a truck that truck driver would have gotten charged with something.

For McGrory’s family, explanations are hard to come by.

“My mother — she doesn’t want to face it,” said John McGrory. “When I phone her, she keeps talking about the weather.”

John McGrory described his brother as popular both in Boston and his native Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

“He was such a likable, down-to-earth sort of lad,” said McGrory, who had visited his brother in November. Owen McGrory married his wife, Shannique, in December, and lived in Chelsea with Shannique and her son. He worked in construction and had been an avid bicyclist since childhood.

Shannique McGrory said in an e-mail that her husband was fun-loving and playful and cared deeply for her children.

“I am shocked and disappointed at the grand jury’s decision, but I believe that the truth of what happened that day will come out through the civil justice system,” she said.

“We believe that there is overwhelming evidence of gross negligence on the part of the truck driver in this case,” said Valerie Yarashus, a lawyer representing the McGrory family in the civil suit.

Prezioso and Capitol Waste Services did not respond to requests for comment.(via)

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Melrose Housing Authority May Kick Retired Man Out Of His Home For Owning A Bicycle

I don’t have confirmation on this yet, but if this is true its horrific. Bike New England reports:

Wayne Ellis is a retired 70 year old who lives in a senior residence administered by the Melrose (MA) Housing Authority. He has a number of medical problems that are positively affected by regular cycling, including high blood pressure, heart problems, and depression. Wayne owns several vintage racing bikes including a Raleigh Professional, and rides a Lemond Maillot Jaune. The residence facility provides no storage rooms and the one small bike rack is outside and unsecured, so Wayne keeps the bicycles in his apartment, as we all would.

Except that recently the Housing Authority staged a surprise inspection and ordered him to get rid of the bikes or get out. Why? Not because they might start a fire, but supposedly because he might trip over them and fall while trying to exit the building in an emergency. They consider his bikes to be clutter. Wayne no longer owns a car and the bitter directive to dispose of all the bikes or be evicted has him deeply distressed. It appears to Wayne that he has been targeted and that the rules are made up as they go.

Read the rest here.

Does anyone have any other information on this, this sounds like the dumbest thing ever. I would be willing to donate some bicycle hooks to hang the bikes up, or maybe we can get the housing authority to build a little shack for bicycles on the property, but kicking a man out of his home because he wants to ride a bike it totally unacceptable.

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This Is A Tragedy, Not Only Because Of What Happened, But Because It Could Have Been Prevented

This little girl is at her parents funeral, both of whom were killed when they were struck by a truck in Texas while riding a tandem. I look at this picture and frankly it brings me to tears, the row of cyclists like an honor guard and that tiny little bike pin on her dress makes me cry even as I write this. You can read the details on this story here.

As hard as it is to take a step back from such a visceral shock to our emotions as a situation like is I am going to try. This poor little girl is going to spend the rest of her life without a mother or father because of a crash that most likely could have been avoided. In popular language we call them Car accidents, or bike accidents, but in reality almost all crashes are avoidable. Either through better infrastructure, better upkeep of vehicles, better behavior, avoiding drunk driving, better choices etc. There is very little reason that we should ever have to read about people like that little girl.

If you drive a car, or know someone who drives a car you need to take a good hard look at that little girl. She is all alone, and will never grow up with the love of a mother or father, because a truck struck and killed both her parents. The driver of which is not being charged because the police claim he “lost control” of his truck. Which personally I don’t understand. I mean if you lose control of your vehicle and kill two other people isn’t it your fault no matter why you lost control? On top of that if the road had been designed for safer bicycle use it would have been harder for the truck to have struck the couple. If education would have been better drivers would have been more careful around cyclists. If this driver had been charged with vehicular homicide it would have sent a message to other drivers. If laws had been better the speed limit might have been lowered in this area… The list goes on and on, there are so many things that could have been done to make this situation come out different, I find it shocking that it be called an accident.

If you drive a car, and you find yourself honking at cyclists, driving close to them on purpose, harassing them, or even failing to pay attention while talking on your phone or making turns, you could be the cause of another picture like the one above. If you ride a bicycle and you run red lights, take unnecessary risks, and behave in an aggressive way you might also be to blame. But what both groups need to understand on a very deep level, is that most of these behaviors are driven by the absolutely inane desire to “get where you are going faster.”

Cars honk at cyclists, and endanger them so they can get to the next red light several seconds faster. Bikers run through intersections and blow past stop signs endangering themselves and pedestrians simply to get to the next stop several seconds faster. None of which makes any damn sense. Drivers honk at cyclists for “slowing them down” and cyclists hate this. Cyclists run red lights and drivers hate this. But the thing is all these behaviors are driven by the desire to go faster. The result of which is little girls with no parents.

And that is where I stop being even handed and start addressing only motorists. I am talking to the Monique Spencer’s of the world here. Several studies and a lot of personal experience has led me to conclude the vast majority or crashes are being caused by motorists failing to yield to cyclists when turning, opening doors into their path, and striking them when pulling out of driveways and side streets. You might get up in arms about the red light running, and the rest, but all the data seems to point to a very clear thing. Motorists kill cyclists because they fail to be safe around them.

It is going to be hard for motorists to accept this because they react in a visceral and illogical way to cyclists running red lights (yet another reason for cyclists to stop doing it), but the vast majority (in some studies as much as 90%) of crashes are caused by motorists. I have the following simple list of things that you can do as a motorist to make cyclists safer, and to save yourself the tragic consequences of killing someone.

• Before you make a right hand turn do your best to look behind and to the side of your vehicle to make sure no cyclists are there.
• When making a left turn remember that you have to YIELD to oncoming traffic, including but not limited to cyclists.
• Do not pass a cyclist then quickly turn in front of them.
• Before pulling out of a driveway or side street scan the sidewalk and the side of the road for cyclists IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. I know it is wrong but some Cyclists ride the wrong way down the street, and don’t always ride in the center of the lane where you might be looking.
• Before opening your door look behind you.
• The next time you are tempted to honk or harass a cyclist remember that they are a human being, and that even if they appear to be doing something wrong, killing them, or harming them will not help you go faster, or help them change behavior.
• SLOW DOWN. Speed is not a value, being late is not as bad as being a murderer, being slowed is not as bad as hurting someone, and being delayed for a couple of seconds is not as bad as being an asshole.

If all else fails take another look at that little girl, look into her eyes, and remember that everyone is someones mother or father or brother or sister or son or daughter…

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