Owner of Mt. Hood Ski Bowl pleads guilty to drunken hit-and-run — UPDATED

“At the Traffic Division we take a dim view of drunk driver’s … but only for 3 months, then their future is bright!”

Ridiculous.

Driving is a privilege–if you hit someone while driving drunk, you should permanently lose your license. One time deal. Abuse it and lose it. This guy is scum. I hope he drops the soap while he spends those pitiful 30 days in jail.

good behavior days, overcrowded jail system. sympathetic justice system slanted towards the auto culture….
he’s out in two weeks, max.

can’t cut off his lead foot or follow him around 24/7 – driving is simply an act of controlling a machine.

he could just as well have run a weedwacker thru a pre-school playground blindfolded and done potentially less injurious damage. bastard.

so much more ranting to do…so little internets.

**peejay, I won’t tolerate even a veiled suggestion of vandalism directed at someone in one of my stories. –Jonathan **

“Hanna has agreed to compensate the victim within one year.”…. I am sure the victim agreed to this plea deal, I wonder what the compensation is?

“At the Traffic Division we take a dim view of drunk driver’s who run down bicyclists and pedestrians.”

At The Consumerist, the meme about impressive talk with no action in customer service is, “We’re taking this very seriously.” This sounds like the law enforcement equivalent.

On the less dim side, I wonder if Kirk and Daniel are related to Kathleen Hanna, who has roots in Portland.

Mark your calendar… September 9-12 the Fluidride Enduro mountain bike races at Skibowl. Lots of fun with live music at the Ratskeller on the 11th along with a very cool bike movie. The outdoor area at the Rat is a great place to have a beer in the summer!

AC, are you trying to be ironic?

No, this punishment is completely correct for our society. We worship rich people and hold them above the law. The wealthy do not need to have morals or to be held accountable for their actions. Bob Dylan explained this perfectly in “Hattie Carroll”.

For the winter sports fans here: anyone else surprised to hear that the owner of Ski Bowl isn’t just scraping by? (Assuming that driving a Cayenne really does mean that business is OK up there.) Given that every season it’s a roll of the dice whether they’ll have enough snow to open at all, I’ve always assumed that they were in dire straits financially.

I don’t envy Sergeant Davis his job on this one. The Police did their part. The plea bargain is a product of the DA’s office.

Dan, he is also a developer and had a rich daddy. And when a private business operation is subsidized with extensive use of prime national forest land, it is easier to make at least a little money, even if you suck, which this guy does.

SW Macadam. That’s a speedway for motorists. 4 traffic lanes, no bike lane, no shoulder. I can’t imagine riding it at 3am. I’d be on the sidewalk rather than play Russian roulette.

That said it’s the few people like Hanna that make the streets 100x more dangerous. He shouldn’t be allowed back behind the wheel for years. Slap on the wrist.

Maybe be need some mandatory minimum sentences for drunk driving and hit-and-runs so the privileged can’t continue to get away with this.

Once again this shows that if you want to kill someone and get away with it all you need to do is hit them with your car while they ride a bike.

Seems like THIS is the guy that should have a tri-met bus driver blog post write up.

Steve #4:

I hate bike ninja’s as much as anyone else, but give me a break here. He was driving 80(!!!!!) MPH and DRUNK (!!!) on Macadam! Last time I drive over there I thought the speed limit was 35 or so.

Even if they had no lights on, no one deserves to be hit in a situation like that and left for dead.

Even if he is successful, he certainly is a terrible person. Those two are not mutually exclusive.

Jonathan: Do you know whether or not this is Hanna’s first offense? If it is, then that was probably a mitigating factor. Regardless though, the excessive speeding (more than 30mph over the limit should be considered reckless endangerment) along with the DUI and the hit and run should have added up to more than a 90 day suspension of the license (if not a longer jail term). I wonder if the a lesser punishment was traded for greater compensation to the victim? Maybe in exchange for the victim not suing in civil court?

A.K. #21. Steve #4 is trolling, just trying to provoke a reaction. The driver is obviously 100% in the wrong, DUI + excessive speed + hit and run makes it absolutely clear.

Dan #15: They make more money during summer than they do winter. And the summer crowds are more consistent, less dependent on weather cycles.

Steve#4: If this were my blog, I’d block the IP address for tools who defending hit’n’runners.

All road users ar equal but motorists are more equal than others. Especially wealthy ones.
Macadam and Taylors Ferry will see more bike traffic this winter because the cemetery will be off limits to bikes when it gets dark. Dress up like a Christmas tree if you hope to avoid getting hit by drunk or distracted. .

You bikers are just jealous because you’re not rich. If you were rich, you’d want such leniency too when you hit and run when drunk.

Neil. That is ridiculous.

#1 spot on!

#29=ridiculous

noah (#10) – The police did their job. They found and arrested the offender. That’s all they can do. The charges filed were selected by the District Attorney’s office based on what they think will stick – and that’s the portion of the system that needs to be addressed. The DA’s office needs to file charges based on the crimes actually committed, and that’s not happening. Based on conversations I’ve had with a number of officers in PPB, I believe they’d love to put these offenders in jail and keep them there.

We need to help them do that, by either pressuring the DA’s office or putting a DA in that office who’s willing to do the job we want him/her to do.

Stig (#10) – I can imagine riding it at 3am – that’s pratically the only time it’s safe to do so. Normally, the drunks have all made it home before then.

3am to 5am is one of my favorite times to ride (not that I do it often) – it’s practically the only time one can have the roads all to one’s self. Under most circumstances, it’s perfectly safe. Obviously a Porsche at 80mph is not somthing any reasonable road user should expect nor can do anything to reasonably avoid. With the sightlines on Macadam in that area, I doubt the victim had more than a couple seconds to perceive and react.

Thank whatever higher power that the cyclist survived, and without life-threatening injuries – the odds against that are pretty steep.

Neil (#29) – Sounds like you’re arguing that we should ensure no one becomes rich. I might be onboard with that, depending on your definitions and methods of prevention.

The problem here is that Hanna showed no regard for other people. There are certainly cyclists that fit that category, but they’re no more likely to be jerks than any other segment of the population.

The other problem with your argument is that a rich, drunk cyclist is not a 4,000 lb object at 80mph – not even on the steepest hill. While driving drunk is a crime regardless of the mode used, certain vehicles are far more damaging. (Not defending drunk cycling – this isn’t a case of “right” and “wrong”, it’s a case of “wrong” and “wronger”)

Jonathan #28: There’s a lot of vitriol being levied at the DA in the comments, it would be nice to know what role the compensation issue played in the plea deal. In other words, did the DA prefer to levy more serious charges against Hanna at the victim’s request? We shouldn’t be blaming the DA if that’s the case.

I know he has at least one prior vehicle collision because I represented a person injured in a car crash with Hanna. Hanna was not paying attention, did not see my client’s car stopped for a red light and plowed into the rear of the car. We had to take the case to a jury.

cyclist,

i will do a follow-up to this story as soon as i can. Knowing what our DAs are like, I’m sure they tried more severe penalties… but this type of case — with a team of high-paid lawyers working for the defendant — becomes a chess match which can make it very difficult for the DA and/or the police to reach the type of outcome they want.

This is totally outragious!

This is the man who owns SKIBOWL who is supposed to provide excellent guest service on the mountain!
no one should ski their and support his actions, & behavior of complete selfishness & neglect!

pass it on!

Jonathan: My last comment was unclear because I must have accidentally deleted part of one of the sentences. I was curious if the victim’s attorneys asked the DA for the lesser charge so that the victim would receive more compensation. Given the amount of money Hanna’s spending on lawyers, that might be the best outcome for the victim, though definitely not for the public at large.

“He who has money can eat sherbert in hell.”

– Lebanese Proverb

One of the ironies here is that Hanna makes a living in part off of cyclists. I wonder if public awareness of this hit and run, and once (if) the Timberline Bike Park comes to fruition if he’ll see any significant loss in revenue.

On a Hit and Run the law needs to get harsh with these ppl!

link below
http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/homepage_showcase/professional-mountain-bike-rider-in-intensive-care-after-hit-and-run-

This may work out for the victim (who’s lucky to be alive & deserves the criminal’s every penny) but what about the rest of our community? This guy is going to be back on the road? It’s like saying a sex offender doesn’t have to rehabilitate or register himself, because he paid the victim enough money.

This is a terrible way to hold together a society. No one with any sense of decency should visit Ski Bowl while this loser’s making a dime.

When I was injured in a bike-truck collision back in 1997, the owner of the truck was at fault — and said so at the scene. Still, I’d never been hit before so I called a lawyer to find out my rights/responsibilities.

My injury was also career-ending (I used to be a professional pit orchestra percussionist), and I required two surgeries and a year of PT to become “medically stationary”.

I had a VERY strong case. Even so, my lawyer advised me to accept a settlement if at all possible. The rationale? Statistics show that juries consider adults who ride bikes for transportation to be something less-than-fully-adult; and as a result are biased against them in 50 to 60 % of court cases that go to trial — EVEN WHEN THE MOTORIST IS CLEARLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COLLISION.

In the end, I got my medical bills and time-loss paid for, plus a lower-end, five-figure settlement that allowed me to replace my bike and go back to school. It wasn’t much, but it was better than having the whole thing tossed out by a jury.

I could lose sleep over it, or take the money and move on. I chose the latter. Today I have no regrets. It’s the best outcome I could’ve hoped for in a car-centric country whose laws are so skewed to the rich and to motorists in general.

“I’m the victim, and I have no money for a lawyer, and I’m just grateful I wasn’t killed.”

I would say a victim is rarely wrong about any decision they make regarding prosecution of the crime against them–they are the wronged party and should have the right to agree to whatever benefits them the most.

However, in the example provided by Helen above, note the part of the quote that I emphasized. The implication is that if the victim is too poor to engage in a legal battle, a perpetrator with money can buy their own custom “justice” package. That is the essence of the injustice–not that the victim makes the “wrong” choice in such matters, but that they don’t have much of a choice.

Also, where are people getting the information about the victim’s lighting situation?

Further, who in their right mind drives an SUV at 80mph on an urban highway at 2:43 AM while drunk? What did they think would happen?

Rich mans justice, only spend the weekends in jail.

Sad, these were all serious crimes, this isn’t even a slap on the wrist.

Don’t feed the trolls, folks. Jonathan does a great job of shutting up the sock puppets, let’s do our part by ignoring them and keeping the conversation civil.

hasn’t Oregon passed a vulnerable road users bill yet?