
Ex-Napster exec fatally struck by sheriff's patrol car while biking - 001sky
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-cyclist-napster-killed-sheriffs-20131209,0,7243462.story
======
herbig
As a biker in NYC, police cars are the most dangerous thing on the road for
you. They roll through red lights, never use blinkers, cut you off without
looking, park in bike lanes, and occasionally just drive down one way streets.
All this without running their emergency lights, just as matter of everyday
driving.

~~~
ninjac0der
Sounds a lot like the observed behaviour of most bicyclist. No surprise to me
that the two collided.

I must have struck a nerve.

~~~
josephagoss
The evidence so far shows Milt was inside the bike lane at all times and the
stretch of road was straight and easy to navigate.

~~~
ninjac0der
Oh wow, that totally disproves my comment while explaining the downvotes,
doesn't it.

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InclinedPlane
People complain all the time about the subset of bikers who disobey road signs
but the fact is that mistakes and negligence on the part of drivers are always
far more dangerous than on the part of bikers. More so, the arrangement of
"bike lanes" as well as the laws themselves typically make it very, very
difficult for bikelrs to get from point A to point B without at some point
either putting themselves in excessive danger or effectively violating the
law.

Rule makers typically just assume that bikers can either safely blend
themselves into normal vehicular traffic or teleport across gaps in properly
laid out bike access areas (which tend to be rare and never fully connected
with each other). It's a ridiculous and unsafe situation that we've become
accostomed to existing merely because it's the status quo. And then we wonder
why not so many people commute by bike in most cities.

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hack_edu
How long until the stolen lives of bicyclists are treated with the same
respect as pedestrians and drivers?

A 'police car' hits a person, not the person driving the vehicle? The police
officer's injuries detailed, yet no actual details of the accident of quotes
from witnesses? Lets see if charges are pressed for this _potential vehicular
manslaughter_... or even a criminal investigation! You know it would be if
this were a pedestrian or other driver. My law-abiding friend, during a group
ride in the bike lane, was struck and killed last month on Highway 1. The cops
let the driver off, his illegal speeding and loss of control of his vehicle
being simply 'an accident.'

So, who wants to bet this cop will face charges?

~~~
aroch

          How long until the stolen lives of bicyclists are treated with the same respect as pedestrians and drivers?
    
    

How long until bicyclists stop pretending that traffic rules don't apply to
them? Or that they don't get to pick and choose when they're vehicles and when
they're pedestrians -- if they're on the road, they're a vehicle? Or that,
they too, have to come to a stop at a red light or stop sign? Or that they
also have to respect pedestrians in crosswalks and can't just barrel through
them?

~~~
ASpring
You're attempting to say that because a subset of cyclists don't obey traffic
rules therefore it's okay to not treat cyclists who are killed in traffic
accidents as human beings.

Stunning work.

~~~
aroch
That isn't at all what I'm "attempting" to say. If the GP wants to complain
about the law not being "enforced" to punish the cop perhaps they should
complain about the lack of enforcement on cyclists too

~~~
hack_edu
Let me know when a cyclist last killed a cop and lets talk about who got
charged what.

Also, you still are equating Failure to Stop's (which sure, could maybe
someday cause some sort of fatal whatever someday whenever)... with the
actual, real, actual loss of life.

Insultingly vile.

~~~
aroch
Hey look, a recent example of a bicyclist not only injuring but killing a
pedestrian because they chose not to obey the law.

[http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/08/15/107079/Chris-
Bucche...](http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/08/15/107079/Chris-Bucchere-
Sutchi-Hui-bicyclist-pedestrian)

I hate the pedantic bullshit of elitist cyclists like yourself

~~~
hack_edu
Just to close this out, out of respect for the lives of Milton, the cop, Josh
all others cited above... I'm not really a cyclist. I like it, its fun, and I
ride safe on the handful of rides I have each year.

But I might be a pedantic little shit. ;)

~~~
crystaln
You're not a pedantic little shit. You're arguing with a jerk.

Equating cyclists running stop signs to drivers killing cyclists in bike lanes
is ridiculous, especially given that the cyclist in the example pled guilty to
homicide and drivers are - literally - never prosecuted for killing cyclists.

Don't be so quick to demean yourself in the face of asinine attacks.

------
BudVVeezer
Was anyone else a bit put-off that it was the patrol car that killed the
cyclist, and not the person driving the patrol car (as it would have been
reported had it not involved an officer)?

------
minimize_me
"The impact smashed the patrol car’s windshield, leaving the deputy with cuts
on his arm and glass in his eyes."

Clearly the peace officer was the victim of the cyclist's irresponsible road
behaviour here!

~~~
theg2
It's a vehicle accident, do we have to turn this into a "f the police"
(censored, for the kids) discussion?

~~~
rhizome
Not yet, but...

[http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/no-charges-opd-
officer-a...](http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/no-charges-opd-officer-
accused-hitting-homeless-ma/ncDdm/)

------
donretag
The cyclist was in the bike lane at the time. More info:

[http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/12/08/bicyclist-
struck-a...](http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/12/08/bicyclist-struck-and-
killed-by-sheriffs-radio-car-in-calabasas/)

[http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/925411-Bicyclist-
hi...](http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/925411-Bicyclist-hit-and-
killed-by-Sheriff-in-Calabasas)

~~~
wavesounds
There's no possible excuse for this, the office should be fired and arrested
for man slaughter.

~~~
philwelch
Not even civilians face criminal charges for running over cyclists.

~~~
jcromartie
This is the saddest part. The NY Times recently ran an op-ed "Is It O.K. to
Kill Cyclists?"

[http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-
to...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-to-kill-
cyclists.html)

It appears that the answer is "yes, almost always".

------
sologoub
Looking at the map where that happened, that's an incredibly bad part of the
road. There is a hill with very little visibility of what's in front of you as
you pass it. There is a bike lane further down, but I think at the hill the
road narrows and there is no bike lane or protected area.

And of course people go flying through that section. Cops aren't the only
offenders there, but they sure don't make it any safer.

------
danso
Thought of a couple recent tragic tech star fatalities:

\- Former Amazon CFO Joy Covey was killed by a car while bicycling in
September: [http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/09/19/joy-
covey-...](http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/09/19/joy-covey-
amazon/)

\- Oculus Rift co-founder Andrew Reisse killed in August in the crosswalk
during a police chase. Not on a bike, and not in normal traffic conditions,
but tragic nonetheless:
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/06/02/oculus-
rif...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/06/02/oculus-rift-co-
founder-killed-as-bystander-in-police-chase/)

~~~
mikeyouse
I don't know about tech 'star', but there was a pretty high profile employee
at GroupOn killed a few months ago in Chicago traffic;

\- [http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/20566657-418/groupon-
hono...](http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/20566657-418/groupon-honors-
staffer-killed-in-bike-crash-with-donations-for-protected-lanes.html)

------
sukuriant
I think the most disappointing part about this is that the person that was hit
had to be an 'ex-napster exec' to get any notoriety.

I am very sorry to hear there was an accident involving a bike and a car
though, at apparently such a high speed that it broke in the window...

------
capedape
Reminds me of this piece:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-
to...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-to-kill-
cyclists.html?_r=0)

"We do not know of a single case of a cyclist fatality in which the driver was
prosecuted, except for D.U.I. or hit-and-run,” Leah Shahum, the executive
director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, told me."

Cycling is just going to get more common, at what point will the having less
rights bias end? Will it take someone of David Byrne's status getting hit to
actually do anything about this?

~~~
mprovost
That is a great article. It's important to look at the language used by media
in these cases, for example look at this local news article about the ex-
Napster person's accident, the headline is: "Bicyclist dies after hitting
patrol vehicle in Calabasas" which implies that the cyclist was the one who
hit the police car, even though he was rear ended. "The man was riding east on
the road when he crashed into a patrol car traveling in the same direction,
officials said."

[http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/dec/08/bicyclist-dies-
after-...](http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/dec/08/bicyclist-dies-after-
crashing-into-patrol-in/)

~~~
machrider
Wow, those quotes are awful. It looks like the article was rewritten since
your comment, though.

------
epicureanideal
And this is why I don't ride a bicycle. Despite the health and cost savings
benefits, it just isn't worth putting myself mere feet from all the crazy
drivers with no concern for my safety.

------
alex_c
RIP Milt. He was one of the good guys.

------
josu
"Authorities did not say whether the deputy was on routine patrol or
responding to an emergency call"

Why wouldn't they release this information?

