In today’s Portland Tribune, Jacob Quinn Sanders profiles the four cyclists who were killed on the streets of Portland in 2005.
…even in bike-mad Portland, it can be easy to forget those riders once had names, faces, friends and families. Aside from the memorial rides organized in their honor, there is little public accounting of who they were.
These are their stories.
Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)
Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.
” The day after Vanerstrom’s death, police arrested George C. Hoff, 51, of Longview, Wash. Hoff’s teal 1996 Mitsubushi Eclipse matched the description witnesses gave police of the car that killed Vanerstrom. It had front-end damage. He was charged with second-degree manslaughter and felony hit-and-run.
He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge just before Christmas and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, 36 months’ probation and revocation of his driver’s license for five years.“
yay, you can kill someone w/ your car and then not stop and only have to serve 3 months in jail and have your license revoked for 5 years.
My brother got in a bar fight and got 6 years for it.
Am I missing something?
Direct link to the article.
It’s good the Tribune is following-up on these deaths and publicizing the reality of what happens to the drivers. (Where’s the Oregonian and WW?)
Apparently, it’s difficult to get juries to convict drivers of more serious charges and punishments. Juries tend to sympathize with the drivers – they know they could have made the same mistakes. It’s an unfortunate reality.
Two solutions that come to mind: when bicyclists are called to serve on jury duty – do it, and bicyclists’ families need to file civil lawsuits against the drivers. I think one highly publicized civil lawsuit might wake people up (kind of like the OJ Simpson case).
Another idea is for bicyclists to start a group similar to Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. It could be something like Bicyclists Against Negligent Drivers. BAND could educate drivers and help bring justice to drivers who fail to drive safely.
stuff like this is what made me decide to not become a police officer. i think i would just be so frustraited w/ the system.
so now, i’m going to be an EMT. i believe i’ll have more opportunities to help people that way.
BAND could apply for one of the CCC safety grants.
My mistake – it’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving – better to be against the behavior, not the people. Same for BAND – better to be Bicyclists Against Negligent Driving.
Good idea, Randy.
I was in court as a witness in a different theft case when Hoff was sentenced. As mentioned he was sentensed to 90 days in jail but ended up serving 54 days after good time credit.
As I understand after listening to the District Attorney and the Judge the byciclist was on the area of the Delta Park onramp to I-5 where bycyclist (or anyone) were not suppose to be, he was not on the crosswalk and he did not have a helmet. The byciclist literally rode his bycicle in front of the car. That is why the driver of the car was not charged with vehicular manslaughter. He was charged with failure to perform duties of a driver.