“He [Christensen] is inciting violence, death threats, essentially begging someone to act violently against another person… Any harm to my son as a result of that language could be construed as a liability on the part of TriMet and on Dan personally.”
— Tom Bennett
The parents of a Paul Higgins, the man who was the subject of the controversial, “Portland! Kill this bicyclist!” blog post written by TriMet bus operator Dan Christensen, feel the situation should have been taken much more seriously.
Higgins’ mom, Judy Bennett, wrote about the situation on her blog last Sunday. After reposting the blog post where Christensen detailed his intentions to “exercise the death option” on her son for his erratic riding behavior, Bennett wrote,
“Freaky, right? Makes you question what sort of person is allowed to drive people around our city in a large vehicle. I’m quite a bit more upset than you might be right now, because the bicyclist he is talking about is my son.”
Bennett likens Christensen’s post to a “a death threat on my child” and says the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office is “chomping at the bit for my boy to press charges so this wingnut can be put behind bars where he belongs.” Higgins’ father, Tom Bennett has emailed BikePortland in hopes of keeping the issue alive.
“He [Christensen] is inciting violence, death threats, essentially begging someone to act violently against another person… Any harm to my son as a result of that language could be construed as a liability on the part of TriMet and on Dan personally.”
TriMet put Christensen on administrative leave for the blog post, and he was back on the job one week later. Citing privacy as this is a personnel matter, TriMet will not discuss what, if any other punishment they gave Christensen.
“It’s up to his son. If he [Paul Higgins] comes forward, we’d re-open the investigation and make a charging decision.”
— John Copic, Multnomah County DA’s office
Multnomah County DA John Copic confirms that he has discussed the incident (he declined to speak directly to the “chomping at the bit” claim) with Tom Bennett, but unless Paul Higgins (the victim in this case) decides to press charges, there’s nothing further the DA’s office will do. “It’s up to his son. If he [Paul Higgins] comes forward, we’d re-open the investigation and make a charging decision.” Copic did not comment directly on how the DA feels about the case.
Mr. Bennett echoes his wife’s claims, saying that the DA “feels it’s an actionable offense” but that they won’t do anything without the consent of Higgins.
As for Higgins, Mr. Bennett says his son is in a “live and let live frame of mind” and just wants it to go away (read our Q & A with him).
Mr. Bennett says he feels this situation is emblematic of larger issues. He was amazed at the “strange way” BikePortland readers reacted to the story. “Instead of indignation at a death threat, all I seem to read is minute analysis of the event, precisely what Paul did (lane splitting or running a red) and endless back and forth about the facts” (comments number nearly 200 and are still coming in). Bennett also claims that the TriMet bus operators union had something to do with their light treatment of Christensen. “TriMet seems to be under the spell/control of the union… I mean, this guy still has a job? Doesn’t make sense to me.”
In the end, Mr. Bennett understands that his son is his own man and makes his own decisions. “Paul just wants to shake this guy’s hand, even though both of his parents have an entirely different view on the situation. At some point your child grows up and takes his own path, even though parental instinct screams otherwise… I am not sure we have much more to say about it.. it’s his call.”