Robert Hudgens, a 15-year-old who threw a brick into the face of a man bicycling past him on NE Tillamook back in April was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday .
The Oregonian had a reporter in the courtroom. Here’s a snip from her story:
Police say Hudgens and a 15-year-old friend were throwing bricks at cyclists on the evening of April 19. One cyclist, Jonathan Garris, 52 of Northeast Portland, reported getting hit in the leg. A 27-year-old cyclist also said he was targeted, but not hit.
It’s unclear who struck Garris. But Hudgens was charged with striking Richardson. His friend apparently missed the cyclists, so instead of being prosecuted for a Measure 11 felony in adult court as Hudgens was, the friend was charged with a misdemeanor and allowed into juvenile court.
Read full details and watch a video that includes a statement from victim Adrian Richardson, via The Oregonian.
Assault and harassment of bicycle riders is more common than you might think. While incidents like this that result in serious injuries are very rare, and felony convictions are even more so, I’m always disturbed by the amount of harassment I hear about. It’s a frustrating issue because, unless the case involves physical harm and a victim who will come forward to help with the prosecution, these things usually go unnoticed.
Here’s one such case that a reader shared with us last month:
“Last night at around 1:30am I was on US Grant Place and 37th-ish with my partner, riding to South Tabor from a party near Mississippi. We both were wearing helmets, riding single file with me in back (pretty close to the curb since there were no parked cars), and had our lights on. I heard a car coming up from behind, but we were just chatting away waiting for it to pass. The car pulled up extremely close next to me and slowed way down. As I turned towards it to look, pretty confused as to why it was there, someone hanging halfway out the back window (I believe a woman, looked around mid 20s) said something about “cyclists”, reached out with both arms to grab my backpack, and pulled me down on the ground. By the time I looked up, they were speeding around the corner. It happened so incredibly fast and was so confusing that neither of us caught the license plate or a better description other than to say it was a light gold or silver sedan.”
In the above case, there was a physical assault, but no suspect. And it’s unknown whether the police were notified and/or what they could have done given no solid evidence or leads.
Advertisement
Then there’s the incident below that happened on Monday in Damascus (southeast of Portland) and that’s making the rounds on Facebook:
“Today (at around 1:00) this woman was in such a hurry to get to the bank in Damascus, and I impeded her driving by 5 seconds by being on the road, so she tried to run me off the road by passing me so close I had to move into the dirt (almost ditch) to avoid being hit while blaring her horn and swerving into where I would have been had I not braked at the last second. I got to the stop at the same time as her and followed her to the Key Bank to talk with her, educate her, and remind her that I am a person, and that my family depends on me and that I have kids. She asked the teller to call the police (I wish they would have) and proceeded to tell me that I should have not been in her way, I should not be on the road, that I need training wheels, and the next time she sees a cyclist she will make sure she hits them and she hopes it is me.”
That type of thing is relatively common. But, without any contact being made by the driver, it wouldn’t be considered Assault under Oregon law. Instead, it would be a case of Menacing (ORS 163.190), which is a Class A misdemeanor.
When trying to figure out how to deal with these type of interactions, knowledge is your friend. To learn more about the various types of harassment, what your legal rights are, and what you can do about it, I strongly recommend reading Part III of Ray Thomas’ excellent Pedal Power Legal Guide. It’s a free PDF download available on his website.
Very sad to me. So they think if they lock up an African American kid who did something dumb in Ju Vee for 4 years its going to make society a better place, and make him a better citizen? Surely he, the victim, his family and all the bicyclists in Portland would be far better off it he got a couple months of community service instead of 4 years in Ju Vee.
I was walking down Alberta St. last night at 11:00 pm, overheard an older African American guy complaining to nobody in particular about how his buddy was doing 4 years in prison and somebody or other from Exxon got 2 yrs probation.
Compare Robert Hudgins’s sentence to http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/07/business/07enron.html?fta=y&_r=0
My $0.02
Ted Buehler
Yeah, wonder if there is a racial or socioeconomic component here. This kid doesn’t deserve four years that really won’t help fix his behavior. Have him do community service instead. Perhaps something involving bikes, to teach him empathy for people riding bikes?
It’s mandatory minimum sentencing, brought to you by the voters of Oregon, 20 years ago. The law ties the hands of judges and should be repealed.
Sometimes it’s not about ‘fixing’ his behavior, it’s about keeping people like him (regardless of age) away from society when they clearly have anti-social (if not psychopathic) traits.
Removing the political aspects to this (biking/the fact that the offender is a minority, his age, etc), he still objectively committed a highly HIGHLY antisocial, random act of violence, and he forfeited his freedom for that act.
“…when they clearly have anti-social (if not psychopathic) traits.
… he forfeited his freedom for that act.” lyle w.
Hudgens has done some things that have him unable to be trusted to move freely about in public. So for some time, he’ll be prevented from moving about freely.
Reasons he did what he did, and what exactly to do about them, remained to be determined. Hopefully, people out there that will look beyond conclusions that he did what he did simply because he was bored, or that it was due to bad ‘traits’, will prevail in working with this kid.
What’s Hudgens going to be doing for the three or four years while he’s locked up in juvenile detention? I’ve heard good and bad things about that experience. Maybe more attention paid to what the experience for Hudgens there, will be, is something more people should be thinking about.
You might feel differently if he smashed you in face, possibly preventing you from supporting yourself or your family or leaving you with a permanent disability. I don’t know why there is so much sympathy for this young MAN. Sounds like someone full of a lot rage and hate to commit such a crime. Quite frankly I’m glad he’s locked up, it’s just sad there are plenty more just like him just as full of hate.
says the person who posts using the name of an apartheid era leader of the south african national party.
First, I am not a historian but am always willing to learn — F.W. de Klerk ultimately was a proponent for good in South Africa and it appears a stretch to try and say otherwise. One of F.W. de Klerk’s first acts as president was to free Mandela (with whom he co-won the Nobel Peace Prize) and helped South Africa down the path away from apartheid. With a different president, apartheid might possibly have dragged on for longer. So, it is not like this person above is signing off with a name like Pol Pot or Hitler, but rather the opposite.
However, I don’t approve of using any other person’s name as your handle because how on earth can you think you have the right and can properly represent that person’s interests? Unless we actually have the real-life, still-alive F.W. de Klerk watching the Bike Portland page and he is interested in this particular social issue. Probably not.
“…for this young MAN. …” F.W. de Klerk
At 15 years of age, it can be said he’s chronologically an adult, but whether this particular person is ‘a man’, that is…an adult male with values, ethics, a sense of right and wrong, that can have him be a responsible, constructive, productive reasonably happy member of the community, is subject to question.
I believe this is the question over which some people are having reservations about the sentence this 15 yr old young man. What the most effective way is, of being sure this person is actually ‘a man’, should be the pressing thought on people’s minds. Not so much revenge, payback, or punishment, though he’s due, and by way of his sentence, will be receiving some of the latter.
If he were a white kid from Lake Oswego, would community service still be appropriate?
His parents would have gotten the charge dismissed.
Our legal system is not perfect, I agree. But odds are 10 to 1 that kid would have committed a much worse crime in his very near future if not stopped and held accountable for his immediate actions!
Now he has 4 years (which he’ll only actually serve 3/4 of the sentence) to think about his actions, if he’s smart he’ll listen to the many people (giving him advice all through this ordeal) to straighten up, work hard and pay his dues… and just maybe he’ll live to see his 60s
if not then the system has him now and it won’t be pretty!
Does the system need to change? Yes! do we start by not sentencing someone at 15 that was very clearly trying to do major harm to more than one other person? No!
We start with education, community support and breaking the cycle of violence that surrounds poor or under privileged kids and their families. And I would support paying teachers (especially in low income communities) better than any politician in this state!
-Privileged means you get to pay for your excellent education.
-Underprivileged Should mean you get that education for Free!
You know he’d do something worse in the future?
How so? Such a blatant raciest remark. And don’t think I’m being overly sensitive about this. I look like an Aryan Nations poster boy, I have never in my life had to suffer the effects of racism. But I do find such statements distasteful, and can not not say anything.
Not to try to lesson the effects of the actions of this kid, but…..
Who among us hasn’t done something stupid and dangerous around this age? Heck I know I was doing stuff that could have put me away at that age, some of which could have hurt myself, cohorts, or others too. Was I smart enough to escape capture, or was it just dumb luck? Probably mostly the latter – I was a dumb kid who thought I was smarter than I was at the time. And guess what, me and my hoodlum friends came out fine and never did graduate to “worse”.
Should he go unpunished. No. But four years is pretty extreme considering that if the rider was hit and killed by a car, the driver would get less time.
a sick society needs scapegoats. we live in a very sick society.
Normal people don’t normally throw bricks in the face of others. If the guy is prone to this kind of behavior, it is a safer bet to assume he will do it again than to assume he will not. This was not a ‘mistake’, this was a violent act with predisposition.
How would you feel if it was a sexual crime? Would you think “well, they’ll probably never do it again?”
Hello,
If this is a measure 11 sentence he will do all 4 years not 3/4 of the sentence under the current guidelines. No time off for good behavior.
He wasn’t breaking windows or shoplifting, he maliciously attacked a person, and the brick could have easily killed the victim. Once you start viciously assaulting strangers for kicks, you don’t deserve sympathy for being a misguided youth.
Nor did he show any sign of contrition in the courtroom. Hopefully the harsh sentence will be a deterrent to others.
“…Once you start viciously assaulting strangers for kicks, you don’t deserve sympathy for being a misguided youth.
Nor did he show any sign of contrition in the courtroom. …” Todd Hudson
I don’t know that sympathy for him having to do the time is the big moral or ethical question here. Important, are questions about what from the young man himself, other people, society, the courts, will effectively work to get this guy’s thinking turned around so that he’ll find that further crime on his part, would be going against his personal values and ethics.
The Oregonian story reported the following, about Hudgen’s:
“…During the sentencing hearing in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Hudgens declined to make a statement. But his defense attorney, Ronnee Kliewer, said her client was nervous and very apologetic for hurting Richardson. …” oregonian
“…Surely he, the victim, his family and all the bicyclists in Portland would be far better off it he got a couple months of community service instead of 4 years in Ju Vee. …” buehler
Information, about Robert Hudgens’ character, is offered in the Oregonian story. Some people reading here may find that information helpful towards having a better idea of what response to this kid’s actions would be best for him and everyone else.
Impression I get from that story, is that he’s definitely got some things going for him, isn’t yet ‘hard core’, but also, that there’s some things very wrong with this kid. He’s got to get those things squared away if there’s to be any hope he’ll ever have much of a positive future. And, it could take quite a while longer than two months to get them squared away.
If his four years in jail were to consist of him having to just sit and do nothing, get bored, depressed, bitter and angry, that wouldn’t be good. While there, if he’s offered help with personal issue, opportunities to study and learn, that could work out.
Throwing bricks. At people. Unprovoked. Bricks.
Of course she asked the teller to call the police, because she was about to follow up her vehicular intimidation by saying something intended to provoke a physical assault. Classic bullying behavior, her kid probably does the same thing at school.
Outrageous.
In Oregon, can’t a regular citizen issue a citation that a motor vehicle operator has to respond to?
It’s called a z-cite. Joseph Rose covers it here. Go to the bottom for the basics
http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2012/06/every_oregon_driver_is_a_traff.html
I think you need to fight fire with fire in that situation. Say something so offensive and crazy that becomes afraid to encounter someone like you ever again.
Never get into a confrontation with a crazy person. They’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
The mainstream news outlets in this area are at least partially to blame for this – they have a field day pitting people against each other (not just cyclists vs drivers) to drum up entertainment for their viewers and readers.
I am sure the suspect was motivated by what he read on O-live.
Instead of tripping over one’s self to make an excuse for someone who happens to be a minority, perhaps we can actually just look at the fact that sometimes minorities commit crimes too and are responsible for their actions….just like other people.
This is why I always ride with a camera. Also, that assault law needs to change.
Uh throwing a brick at someone could KILL them. I think four years to think about what he’s done is just fine.
This is almost as bad as the bike theft thing…we’re apparently are more concerned with the perpetrator of the crime than the victim.
A 15 year old child made a very bad decision that resulted in no serious injuries. If this deserves 4 years then a very large percentage of 15 year olds should be locked up now.
brick to the face dude, come on… lol at “very bad decision”… how about, “extremely aggressive, and successful, attack”
Somehow I don’t think that “a very large percentage of 15 year olds” do anything remotely as hostile as throwing bricks as strangers.
Should he really get less of a sentence for not being very good at throwing bricks at people? Unprovoked brick throwing is unprovoked brick throwing no matter what injuries it causes.
No serious injuries!?!
Have you met the victim? Have you seen the permanent scars on his face?
Who paid his emergency room bill? By the way HE HAS A NAME ITS ADRIAN!! And he is is a really good guy! It’s really hard to recover from something like this. His ride will not be the same for a good long while if ever. How about some perspective?
i based my comment on this quote from the original bike portland piece:
“One of Richardson’s friends, David Boerner, told us he’s “stitched up but OK.”
i’m sorry to learn that adrian has a scar and had to pay medical bills but i still vehemently believe that a legal system that treats 15 year *children* in the same manner as a hardened recidivist adult is completely unethical and reprehensible.
“…i still vehemently believe that a legal system that treats 15 year *children* in the same manner as a hardened recidivist adult is completely unethical and reprehensible.” spare_wheel
Robert Hudgens is a teenager, a young adult. Not a child. Let the pros do their evaluation to see whether or not he’s got the mind of a child in a young adults’ body.
Duration alone of his sentence does not mean the treatment he’ll receive in jail will be the same or comparable to that given a hardened recidivist adult.
Richardson, the person struck by the brick, got really lucky too. Might as well mention now, as the Oregonian reported: he was wearing a bike helmet. Quoted in the O article, is his dad, I think, to the effect that the helmet took some of the impact of the brick. No report of how big or heavy the thrown brick was, whether it was a whole brick or a piece of it, but definitely seemed to be way more lethal than a nerf ball. or an egg.
I suspect your opinion would be different if it happened to you.
I voted against Measure 11. As I am reminded that the mandatory minimums kick in at age 15, I’ll be talking to my 15 year old this weekend about “one strike and you’re out”.
If Robert Hudgens had only had the wit to run down a cyclist with a car, he wouldn’t even have been arrested. How the heck does 4 years for throwing a brick square with the total lack of penalties for injuring / killing people with a car?
Saved me from typing… if only this wasn’t just sarcasm. 🙁
I’m definitely experiencing a crisis in confidence in the last year, due to several extreme cases of road harassment I’ve personally witnessed or had happen to me. Last of which was a guy seeing me descending along a corner on Vista Springs Blvd, and driving his Subaru out of his lane and directly at me, before whipping back into his lane at the last minute to drive off into the hills.
I try to remind myself that this is exactly what these people want more than anything else (if anything IS going on in their minds other than just pure inhumanity); that they want you to be so intimidated and worn out by their bullying and threatening behavior that you get off your bike, get off their roads, get out of their way, etc.
But it’s like, how much can you take?
And the disinterest and apathy of the PPB grinds in this nihilism ten-fold. I know to an absolute certainty that if i was able to get a plate for that Subaru, and contacted the Police, that I would have immediately been dissuaded from pursuing anything past a warning for him. “Well, we can put a note in our computer. Do you want to do that, or just let it go?”
It’s just an intense feeling of powerlessness.
Agreed. I was knocked off my bike last year by the car door of a guy who confronted me for taking the lane at an intersection where the right lane subsequently drops (bike lane is on the far right of where a RTOL should really be and we have proposals into the city of San Jose). Despite photographs identifying scene, occupants, damage, etc. the police did nothing. Even turns out it was in front of the driveway for this guy’s house! (He drove around the block and tried to wait me out but the police took 40 minutes in which time he returned to drop off his son and then left and I got more pictures).
But here’s the ‘funny’ part (yes I’ve told this here before) – he was hit on his bicycle at the same intersection a week later. It’s not funny ha ha that he was hit (and not injured fortunately), but I ran into Bill (again not literal!) in his driveway a month later and we made amends. I returned back to his house the next day and dropped off a bunch of LAB “Smart Cycling” material and invited him to a class that he attended a few weeks later.
So please keep your chin up!! We all get that feeling sometimes but things have a way of working themselves out.
Open carry.
walter mitty.
“…And the disinterest and apathy of the PPB grinds in this nihilism ten-fold. …” lyle w.
By the law, beyond tracking people like you’ve described, down for a little face to face interview, what would you hope the PPB would do? I don’t know. Maybe that could somehow be effective, but with nothing to go on, the police likely couldn’t do much more. They need something tangible that holds the likelihood that something somebody says someone did, can actually be proven.
It’s harassment and menacing. If you’re walking along on the sidewalk swinging a baseball bat just above people’s heads when they’re getting in your way or not moving fast enough, that would be a crime. It would be functionally the exact same thing.
You’re not allowed to threaten and harass people like that. He could have easily hit me if he didn’t pull out of the way fast enough. I was moving, and I don’t think he realized how fast i was going until i was right on him.
Problem is, by your account of the incident here, it sounds as though the police would have been faced with a ‘he said, he/she said’ situation. Maybe there’s something you could have brought to the police that would have proven what you say happened, did happen.
How about 2 years in a cell with your parents?
I think that would fall under cruel and unusual punishment.
To me this man is more of a danger than most murderers. I don’t condone murder but if you kill someone intentionally becuase they did something to you at least there is a reason. This guy tried to kill someone with a brick who he didn’t know for no reason. I am far more worried about him hurting or killing someone else than I am the guy who kills his partner when a drug deal goes wrong. To me this might be the only kind of crime where just permanently taking the offender off the street might be warranted, because I don’t believe that someone who is willing to do this to a stranger isn’t going to do it again.
if you truly believe that this 15 year old child is more of a danger than most murderers then why not advocate for the death penalty? after all, some of us no longer “believe that focusing solely on rehabilitation is enough”, and nothing protects us from recidivism better than “involuntary euthanasia”.
I oppose the death penalty due to false convictions and the expense being higher than permanent incarceration. Some people can be reformed, but if you have no concious to begin with that seems unlikely. I mean seriously he couldn’t even bring himself to apologize but instead his attorney had to say he was remorseful for him.
sentencing children to hard time doesn’t solve the problem… the parents need to be sentenced for the same crimes…
parents should be fully responsible for the actions of their children until they’re 18…
then maybe we’ll have more responsible parenting…
The 18 year old convicted of killing my son in a drunken hit and run was convicted of Criminally Negligent Homicide and sentenced to five years (will probably get out in four). We had to take a plea rather than go to trial for Manslaughter, a Measure 11 crime. I never ever thought of throwing a brick at that man’s face (or running him down) even though my son is gone forever and, frankly, I had provocation.
I’m glad this kid responsible for maliciously throwing bricks -BRICKS!- at people just for fun has harsh consequences. Too bad he made such a poor choice (he knew!) and put himself into this position. Hopefully he can get and accept help that is offered to him. Maybe if Dustin’s killer had had some consequences after his FIRST hit and run, there wouldn’t have been a second.
I’ve been a bereaved mom three years now and my tolerance for people’s “mistakes” and “immaturity” has dwindled. I miss my son more every day. I get to potentially live 30-40 more years without him. Now THAT’S a harsh consequence… and neither Dustin nor his family did anything to deserve it.
15 year olds are not adults.
Tell that to their victims. When I was in middle school a high school student killed one of my friends to see what it felt like… He is out walking around free to kill again because he was under 18 at the time. I agree with some leeway for minors on certain crimes but when a psychopath can be identified after only killing or seriously injuring 1 person why give them a chance to do it again. Being 15 might make you less able to make good decisions on certain things but I don’t agree that extends to whether or not it is a good idea to throw a brick into a strangers face, or stab a girl to death. Murder should be the line where age is kind of irrelevant. I feel like I knew it wasn’t ok to kill someone when I was 5.
so we have shifted the conversation from assault *without serious injury* by a minor to *murder*.
those goal posts move fast in portland.
The injury was serious and resulted in a trip to the hospital. He easily could have been killed by a 5 pound brick.
In both directions. People are quick to minimize things as well……
“…I feel like I knew it wasn’t ok to kill someone when I was 5.” Bjorn
The high school kid that killed your friend, most likely wasn’t your twin. I wonder if the reasons he had for committing murder, really including his thinking that he thought it was o.k. to kill the person that was your friend.
It seems plenty of people assume reasons why Hudgens got busy with brick throwing at people on bikes. Not as many are asking why he did it. Or what kind of person he is, and what kind of sentence or treatment, besides punishment, is going help him develop into the kind of person that because they believe it’s wrong, decide to no longer resort to crime against other people.
The article says that they told police they did it because they were bored. The guy who killed my friend told police he did it because he was curious what it would feel like. Pretty similar reasoning if you ask me, and frankly I am worried that he will get bored again when he is 19.
Definitely something to be worried about. How to fix whatever it is in some people that leads to indifference towards other people is a big question.
What you said x10000. Nobody should ever have to suffer this. 4 years is small change for assaulting multiple people. 5 years is absurd change for taking someones’ life. I’m with you on this 100%.e
I understand that. And I’m glad that he’ll (“most likely”) be going to a juvenile facility. I hope there really is hope for him. But I no longer believe that focusing solely on rehabilitation is enough. His victim’s pain needs to be acknowledged. This kid’s not the only one affected here. What a lot of people don’t realize is how hard it is in so many ways for victims. I did not like being more worried about what would happen to the young man who killed my son than about my son. I agonized over it for months. What’s fair? What’s justice? (There is no justice). What’s best for him, his family, my family, the community? Does he deserve forgiveness, am I just an idiot for wanting to give it? I am still worried about him and I rather resent it.
And again, maybe if as a minor he had been held accountable for his first hit and run, he wouldn’t have had a second one. Maybe this brick-thrower won’t hurt another person in the future. This could have happened to anyone. It could have happened to one of the people you love most in the world.
I’m with Kristi Finney-Dunn, lyle w, Todd Hudson, Huey Lewis, F.W. de Klerk, Yellow Vest, Cheif, A Bag of Milk, and Bjorn on this one.
4 years is pretty light for an incident as serious as this one. Hope he learns his lesson while in the pen.
These are the sorts of lessons he might learn while “in the pen”
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/how-gangs-took-over-prisons/379330/
Lots of folks said things like
“Our legal system is not perfect, I agree. But odds are 10 to 1 that kid would have committed a much worse crime in his very near future if not stopped and held accountable for his immediate actions!”
Um, okay. I’m not an expert on incarceration. But I do know that at age 15 your brain isn’t really developed yet, and that that US has by far the highest incarceration rate of any developed country, and probably at the top end of the crime rate, too. I’m just not convinced that our incarceration system does anything more than create hardened criminals. Maybe Oregon’s system is better. I certainly hope so.
Case in point, the same night I overhead the African American dude complaining about the Enron execs getting off easy, a friend and I came upon someone’s life in paperwork spread all across the intersection of 10th and Skidmore. Everything. Lots of personal written material. It was all wet, gradually being worked into the street as cars drove by. Lots of pages of handwritten letters, maybe a journal.
Dude smoking a cigarette on a porch saw us looking, and said that a drunk driver slammed into his housemate’s parked car. Bam. Drunk driver had been out of prison one day. Prison, apparently, didn’t rehabilitate this criminal, and left him in a much worse place 48 hours after being released. Years of personal effects were now washing into the storm sewer, and he was back in jail with another conviction.
I don’t think prison is really all that helpful at getting folks rehabilitated.
Better are social programs to help kids stay on their feet in the first place. Like, um, schools? But Portland Public Schools closed Harriet Tubman middle school and Humboldt Elementary in 2012, Tubman had great programs for African American girls. Humboldt was in an African American neighborhood.
I’m just saying that I like to see perpetrators of crimes against bicyclists caught, tried and convicted. But I’m pretty sure that 4 years under lock and key is not going to make this kid’s life, my life, or the lives of cyclists any safer in 4 years. He might just end up being one of those folks that ends up driving drunk one time between prison sentences, and hits a bicyclist instead of a parked car.
My $0.02
Ted Buehler
There’s lots of variables. If there’s a report out on what work may be done with Hudgens while he’s in jail, that, for a start, seems to me something better to look into than concluding that a doomsday scenario will more likely be the outcome of his time there.
IF he were a white 45 year old realtor from West Linn who had deliberately driven his Range Rover into a cyclist, not a damned thing would be happening to him.
Yep and people here would be lighting their torches and sharpening their pitch forks.