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Road rager’s insurance pays $100,000 to injured rider

Ben Ramsdell in April.(Photo by Elly Blue) The Oregonian reported earlier this week that Ben Ramsdell, the man who was seriously injured after being intentionally run down by Johnny Escwheiler on SE Clinton nearly two years ago, will receive a $100,000 from Eschweiler’s insurance company. Escwheiler — who underwent a temporal lobotomy at age 25 … Read more


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Clinton Street road-rager pleads insanity to attempted murder, assault charges

The stretch of SE Clinton where the incident occurred.(Photo © J. Maus) Johnny Eschweiler, the man who intentionally drove his car into Ben Ramsdell as he biked down SE Clinton Street nearly one year ago, has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Escweiler was initially charged with three counts of Assault … Read more


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Clinton Street road-rager now faces attempted murder charge

The stretch of SE Clinton where the collision occurred.(Photos © J. Maus) Back in August, I reported on a disturbing road-rage case where Johnny Eschweiler intentionally ran down Ben Ramsdell while he rode his bike on Clinton Street in Southeast Portland (Eschweiler also ended up colliding with a second person on a bike, Timothy Mastne). … Read more


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No fix in sight for safety gap on SE Clinton

Looking west at the intersection of SE Clinton and SE 11th. This is where (I think) Ben Ramsdell and Johnny Eschweiler exchanged words.(Photos by Jonathan Maus) As a popular route for cyclists coming from the Clinton Street bikeway to the riverfront and downtown, the stretch of SE Clinton, just west of SE 11th is currently … Read more


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Second cyclist unrelated to altercation, but driver could still be responsible

“…when the intention to harm one individual inadvertently causes a second person to be hurt instead.”-from Wikipedia’s definition of “transferred intent” A KGW report and a police spokesperson have said that one of the cyclists injured in last Friday’s road rage incident was completely unrelated to the initial altercation between driver Johnny Eschweiler and cyclist … Read more