Yesterday, the police arrested a man who was riding his bike and got into an altercation with the occupants of a motor vehicle in Northeast Portland.
According to the PPB, at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning, 34 year-old Glen Glans spit into the passenger window of a van near the intersection of NE 20th and Irving because he “believed the van drove too close to him as he rode his bike.” Glans was riding northbound on 20th and as the van turned left (westbound) onto Irving, the police say that Glans rode past and spit into the van. Then, both the driver and the passenger of the van got out and the three “were involved in an altercation.”
The passenger of the van alleges that Glans struck him with a bike lock and he suffered minor injuries. The police arrested Glans and charged him with Attempted Assault (a Class C Felony) and Harrassment (a misdemeanor).
But Glans told KGW News that the police report got it wrong and that he was just defending himself. Here’s a snip from KGW.com:
“He said he was headed to work when the van swerved at him, which upset him. When he and the van came to a stop at the intersection, he said the van was positioned in such a way that he couldn’t pass it. Glans said he asked the driver what he was doing, and he spit on the van — but he did not spit into the van. He said at that point the men got out, began attacking him, and he simply defended himself.
“These guys were trying to run me over,” Glans told KGW News. “I was trying to protect myself.”
Glans said he didn’t know what to do after the ordeal, so he just headed to work. He admits that he should have waited for police to arrive.
“I fled the scene, which I shouldn’t have done,” said Glans. “But I was freaked out and terrified.”
He’s concerned that he’s the victim of an anti-bike culture in Portland…”
I’m not sure what to make of all this. There are a lot of people with different types of vehicles trying to make their way around on our roads. Sometimes those people get upset with each other if they feel threatened and/or disrespected in some way. Sometimes people are just rude and they forget to exercise common decency and patience for their fellow humans. Glans is due in court Friday afternoon and I hope the judge can sort everything out fairly.
Thanks for reading.
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If I may cross post this.. PeopleforBikes
http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/portlands_not_perfect_but_still_offers_valuable_lessons_for_improving_
Seems to me that Glans is just a jerk. Spitting at someone is worse than the finger. You talk to them and THEN spit on them? His story is not very believable and, right, if he had nothing to hide than he should not have fled the scene. While there have been some ugly incidents, I would not say there is an “anti-bike culture” in Portland.
There are definitely smarter ways to handle an aggressive driver. Meeting their aggression with your own (even if the feeling is justified) most always turns out bad. I like to be prepared and know what the law actually says (not what I hear it says), because if you keep the law on your side and apply the “reasonable person” test to your actions, I think you would have a good case in court if things should escalate to that. Keep your cool and represent our community and ideology in a positive manner.
so the 1 person to ever get arrested for a road rage incident is a cyclist. wtf.
Ruthie #3
1st ever to arrested for road rage?
Really?
You’re going to need to back that up.
Victim of the anti-bike culture in Portland?
This is the same Portland that has the highest commute by bike percentage, hundreds of miles of bike paths, green bike boxes, and has won the Platinum award?
That’s about as lame an excuse as the Woodburn bank bombers blaming it on Obama.
To be fair, there is a subculture of haters. Regardless of the topic, if it is positive, or “trendy”, or this or that, certain people just go against it for some reason….usually due to ignorance and fear. They are more than happy to cut their noses off to spite their faces. (i.e. the tea-bagger mentality)
I’d like to ask why the van driver and passenger got out of their Van.
They have something called a “gas pedal” that helps those in a car escape angry bikers.
“Lt. Kelli Sheffer said that all commuters should call the police for an investigation if they believe a road violation occurs or if a crime is committed.”
well if she says so, there’s gonna be a lot of calls
If Glans fled the scene and went off to work, how did they find him? Was he already known to police?
“These guys were trying to run me over,”
Seems like they would have actually run him over if that’s what they were actually ‘trying’ to do.
And then both guys get out of the van, but don’t finish the job of ‘trying’ to assault Glans?
I have to ask, how could 2 guys not come out ‘on top’ in a 2 against 1 fight? Could it be that Glans was the only one actually fighting?
Seems like Glans was the one out to hurt people yesterday.
Don’t call ppl names unless you know them.
some riders just kill me going off on eachother.
Outer,
also note that the the van was ahead of Glans…and THEN he spit on it.
Also, if the van had moved over sufficiently to NOT allow Mr Gans to pass, how could he have managed to spit into the passenger window (or at the very least onto the passenger side?
Several things in Mr. Gans comments simply do not add up.
How do you run someone over when you are in front of them?
oops. “Glans”
I’ve been yelled at, cut-off, taunted and harassed by bikers in pdx. I share the road as I’m a biker too, but there are a few out there who seem to believe they must aggressively take their share. No, I don’t know how to solve this. No matter what – it seems there’s always a few who spoil it for the rest.
Believe it or not there is a large part of the car drivers in Portland that are not very happy about all these bikes and they feel they own the roads, plus they are ignorant about cars/bikes rules of the road. Examples: just biking along on rural road north of 26, grey pick up coming opposite lane swerves towards us for fun, stopped at the light downtown car goes by and the guy is yelling at me from the passenger seat, several times being cut off as car passes me and decide to go right without signaling, and the list goes on.
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
cue the folks saying awful things about people they don’t know in altercations of which they were not present.
i patron Glen’s place of work often. he always has a great attitude and i love talking bikes with him.
of course i don’t know what really happened and won’t comment like i do, but has anyone had someone swerve very close to them – like they are trying to threaten you? it sucks, and takes everything you got to keep your cool (at least it does me). i agree that it is nothing short of waving a gun around (if it was indeed on purpose).
was it a white mini van? like the one that pushed the guy off the road a few days ago?
I had a white mini van making it hard for me to get through in a bike lane in Milwaukie yesterday… had to slow to a crawl and brace myself on it as I went by to avoid falling into blackberry bushes…
and yes, people blocking bike lanes deserve for their cars to get spit on… they should be happy about it because it’s a lot cheaper than a ticket…
it’s not nice but until there’s a cop on every corner people will continue to dish out justice themselves as they see fit…
in less civilized countries you don’t cut people off because they will stop you and beat you up and the police will agree you deserved it…
Back in the day, Car with 2 guys
over took me as I was on my way to work so I waved my hand as to say leave me alone, well.. they pulled over and it was me an 2 guys, one ran at me while the other ran around me, Dude took a swing and just tagged my jaw.. They sped off after that. no lic number and I was running late for work.
Ohh the days, be safe all, things happen out there.
Joe
Last week I stopped my motor vehicle at a cross walk to let a woman and her toddler cross. Cars on both sides of the street stopped for them, too, as the law requires. But a bicyclist then approached the cross walk and did not bother to stop and nearly ran down the pedestrians. I guess that he felt he was too special.
So let’s get this straight:
1) Van buzzes cyclist
2) Cyclist spits at/on/into van (allegedly)
3) Van stops, multiple occupants get out of the van and go after cyclist, presumably to injure or kill him
4) Van occupants, who are now outside of the van, proceed to get their asses whooped
5) Cyclist arrested.
How you gonna start a physical altercation, get your ass whooped, and then call the cops?
Better tho — how you gonna be an officer and arrest a guy on a bike who was not in a van, and the people in the van were obviously not in the van at some point, presumably to defend themselves from ‘the mad spitter’ (allegedly) — i guess rolling up their windows was not an option? And calling the cops was not an option, because the van occupants thought they could beat the biker’s ass, but when he defended himself they got all scared and dialed 911.
The van occupants, after terrorizing the biker once by buzzing him, decided they’d further display their cowardice by trying to tag-team an individual in an outside-the-boxvan altercation. Then, after getting their asses handed to them, they call the cops, hoping to convince the cops that the ‘dirty hippie biker is probably a criminal and probably belongs in jail anyways’ — and, to no one’s surprise, it works.
Listen, once you leave the comfy confines of the van, all bets are off — you’ve now become the primary instigator and agitator in this affair. This case had best get thrown out of court, and the van occupants should be arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, and assault and battery against the cyclist once they got out of their van to try to injure/maim/kill the cyclist.
Portland #1 for cycling? No.
Remember, a lot of people posting comments jumped to conclusions with the “Bus runs bicyclist off the road (Hawthorne)” story. Then the bus video came out and showed a very different story.
Maybe people should wait to see what other information comes to light before jumping to conclusions, calling people names, and casting judgment.
Just saying…
Started cycling to work this summer and I have been surprised to find that the only road rage and lunacy I have witnessed so far has come from cyclists, not drivers. It seems that some are just arrogant and ride with a false sense of entitlement. And I hate to say it, but these usually appear to be experienced riders with flashy gear and nice bikes, or those of the more-hipster-than-thou variety.
@Spiffy >>people blocking bike lanes deserve for their cars to get spit on<<
this is the kind of mentality that escalates a situation. just b/c someone aggravates you does not mean that you have to retaliate. if they are already anti-bike, do you think spitting at them will soften their attitude? or maybe they don't hate bikes, but they will after you get through with 'em. good job… an eye for an eye – biblical justice on bikes!
Wow, second degree assault. That carries prison time and a five-figure fine, not to mention probationary terms. That’s deep doo doo. Also, there’s so many holes in Glans’ (Seriously dude, two words: Legal alias.) story, that I have trouble believing anything he’s stating. Moreover, isn’t deliberately spitting on some one fourth degree assault in Oregon? Pretty sure, so dude’s already getting some breaks from our anti-, “double-bangning”, legislation.
There’s no thing in the world though, stopping a DA from charging him with several other fairly serious crimes here, given of course Glans’ statements are NOT true. His solo testimony isn’t going to fair well either, against two others’.
What happened to reports that the two men in the van were, “elderly”?
doesn’t matter who’s right/wrong, spitting doesn’t help.
Were the guys in the van cited too?
Since they had to physically get out of their vehicle to confront Glans, they were the ones who escalated the encounter to the level of physical violence. They were the ones that initiated the actual assault, no matter whether there was legitimate provocation. That should have been clear to the police. The driver should have also been cited for improperly parking his vehicle in the middle of a traffic lane.
It should also be obvious that in a two against one fight with attackers, it is appropriate to use a bike lock, tire pump, or any other non-lethal weapon in self defense. Glans should use that defense in court.
Commenters, why does it matter what mode of transport he was using? He wasn’t arrested and charged because of a bicycle; why justify (or condemn) what he did based on the vehicle he drove?
In other words, change “Man on bike arrested” to “Man in car” arrested, and if your answer is different, you might want to consider carefully what your world view implies.
EmGee #21 – not a peep of it now, but the earliest reports I read on this, stated that the vehicle operator and passenger were elderly. Got to be SOME mitigation there. What of illegally stopping in the highway though? Inherent in even being able to exit their vehicle, right? You can’t just park on a highway, and exit your vehicle. Regardless of the outcome regarding who started it, watch as this little fact is completely ignored. In Denver CO, for instance, exiting a vehicle in that manner triggers their own so-called anti-road-rage law, and is in and of itself, a misdemeanor assault; and furthermore this triggers a Denver citizen’s right to self-defense. If somebody gets out of their car there, you have a license to unload on them.
False sense of entitlement? I wish someone would explain how cyclists, who RIDE BIG, are asking to be entitled to anything more than to be seen and respected on shared roadways (how many of you morning commuters are ever truly one bike in a sea of cars four lanes wide -some of us are). I’d wager most of the accidents (even near accidents) in Portland are at the fault of car drivers who don’t see cyclist. Even when cyclists out-rightly break the motor vehicle laws there is hardly a chance of collision (shooting red lights aside). **Spitting is foolish, but give Glen Glans a break. We all get frustrated and at times we act on it. He’ll pay for his mistakes. Glen’s militant approach is an example cyclist need not follow, but we shouldn’t cower in the bike lanes either.
doesn’t matter who’s right/wrong, spitting doesn’t help.
it really does matter who’s right/wrong, and trying to run someone off the road doesn’t help, nor does unintentionally running someone off the road, cut them off, driver recklessly around someone, etc.
it was wrong for the van to buzz the cyclist and/or try to run him off the road. it was wrong for the cyclist to spit at/on/into the van. it was wrong for the van people to stop and get out and escalate the situation by attacking the cyclist. it was wrong for the cops to arrest the cyclist, and/or it was wrong for the cops to arrest only the cyclist.
there’s no way this holds up in court if the biker can afford a half-decent lawyer.
and, if the portland bike community is worth its salt, it’ll drop a phone call to their city councilpersons, the mayor, and the DA’s office to find out why bikers are always being arrested instead of drivers. in car vs. bike altercations, the motorists/drivers should always bear the heavier burden of proof — if they can’t prove their innocence, and it is clear in this case that they could not and can not, then if anyone goes to jail, it’s the motorist(s) who have to go. that’s just common sense. which is why the police did just the opposite.
I am a cyclist in the same area of PDX and am familiar with Glen. He seems like a nice guy–the same scenario has happened to me in the same area multiple times–minus the spitting. Basically the lloyd district can be rather bike-unfriendly…I’ve had cars continually try to squeeze me out of the bike lane…or slow down and verbally harass me–while I was following the rules.
I hope the judge listened to Glen’s side for sure. He should not have spat…but the car shouldn’t have put his life at risk either. Which is worse? Fairly straightforward…
Peter #18 –
Why is #1 a fact and #2 an “allegedly”.
How is it that you seem to know all the facts of this story? If you were there, why didn’t you help him beat up the suspected senior citizens?
#28 – “why bikers are always being arrested instead of drivers”
Care to back this up with proof?
@Travis: Yep, I see more cyclists with a false sense of entitlement than I do drivers. I see riders weave into traffic when they have their own bike lane; blow through red lights, bomb down sidewalks and up one way streets. I see riders pass other riders going very fast and close with no warning, and I have been insulted by other riders for politely using my bell. Sure, there are bad drivers, but in my experience here in PDX, I see one bad driver for every ten bad (or road raged) cyclists.
I ride every day so I wish it weren’t so, but there it is…
Why is #1 a fact and #2 an “allegedly”.
you think cyclists get all bent out of shape for nothing? like, they’re just cruising along, headed to their destination — chilin — and then all of a sudden they just explode with anger for no reason at all? c’mon, now — let’s pull it together.
Care to back this up with proof?
no.
Having been actually struck in traffic by motor vehicles a couple of times while i was riding safely, and nearly hit numerous other times, I would attest that adrenaline skyrockets and the immediate response is some sort of lashing out, either verbally, gesturally, or otherwise.
I would bet this bodily chemical response to the sudden subconscious awareness of imminent mortal peril is there for a vulnerable, exposed cyclist in a way that an armor-enclosed motorist doesn’t experience when versus a bike. People become temporarily insane when their actual life is physically threatened.
A cyclist can never be wrong for reacting instinctively when assaulted with a vehicle. Instinctive self-defense actions include aggressive gestures, shouts, and other animal displays of strength.
If Glen had tried to to put his hands on the motorist to attack him, that would be going beyond, like shooting an intruder in the back as they flee your yard. But he didn’t, according to accounts. The motorists exited the safety of their vehicle to get into a physical altercation.
Uhmm, if spitting on people who crowd the bike lane is the appropriate response, I’d run out of saliva long before I ever got anywhere. In any case, responding to stupid behavior (bad driving,) with antagonistic behavior, (spitting,) doesn’t accomplish anything ever.
Not that I think much of the van occupants either, (getting out of your vehicle in this sort of situation is just plain a bad idea.) Most “incidents” (road rage, bar fights, police shootings, whatever,) like this are the result of both parties having anger/control issues: If you have one person that escalates the situation, and one that tries to deescalate it, the issue almost never makes the news. (Yes, police shootings: Some officers make the news all the time and some never do. Now, do you expect the average criminal to deescalate situations? That just leaves the officer to do it, and some aren’t very good at that.)
Now, I’ve had things thrown at me, (by bored high school kids, not people on their way to work,) while I was minding my own business, I’m not saying that one party couldn’t be completely at fault, but still…
Fred #20: same here — started commuting over the Hawthorne Bridge this summer, many of the riders there are ruder than any motorist I’ve ever encountered, in over 40 years of riding.
It is called civility, folks. And it is largely a missing component of modern life. Every day in the “news”: some whack job asst. dist. atty stalking a student body president or a tea party patriot threatening a reporter or spittin cyclists or silver subarus running amok. I know this is asking for a great deal. How about the cyclists try leading by example. Many of us are already attempting to do the right thing by riding. I often tell people that cycle commuting is a sort of meditation on either end of a work day. Take a deep breath, assume your place in the world and be the best you can be. Too much to ask?
It’s funny about the silence to my post about a bicyclist almost running down a toddler and his mother (I assume it was his mother) in a cross walk.
Last summer I had an incident when I was a pedestrian with my wife. As we were walking on the way to a restaurant to celebrate her 59th birthday, we observed a bicyclist, a man in his twenties, I would say, barrel through an intersection, not stop for a stop sign and nearly get struck by a car.
Several people on the sidewalks yelled at him to be more careful.
I shook my fist at him and he got off his bike and confronted me, claiming that I was trying to strike him which would have been pretty hard to do since I was about twenty feet from him.
He waved a bike lock in my face and demanded that I apologize to him and continued to block my way down the sidewalk, getting right into my face. Fortunately for him, my wife got between us and pushed him away and told him to grow up and leave us alone.
It seems to me that he was embarrassed by his stupid behavior in almost getting hit by a car and then compouned it by trying to take it out on me for expressing my disdain for his foolishness.
That is my example of a bicyclist and road rage against a pedestrian. Will any of the posters here defend his actions?
Although I can’t comment on this story since everything is “alleged” at this point. I would say that the “anti-bike” people are nothing but bullies. Exactly like the ones you remember from grade school. They do these things to get a reaction from you, so when you flip them the bird or spit on them, you are playing right into what they want.
When jerk cuts me off, honks, or whatever, I just smile and wave. Seeing the bullies disappointed faces when they realize that I don’t give a crap makes it worth it every time.
abused by bikers… (#12) – Unfortunately, that’s the case – there are jerks of all mode shares. Some people feel entitled to the road, some don’t want to share, and some are very vocal with their discontent.
Peter Smith (#18) – I’m sure we don’t have nearly all the facts here, but regardless, that’s a pretty funny account of the possibilities.
ecohuman (#25) – Agreed 100%. Let’s all remember that not only do none of us have the facts of this case, none of us are likely to. At this point, the discussion is more to the point of what *should* someone do in this situation rather than what *was* done – and there’s an easy answer to that question. don’t physically assault people or property. If it’s not ok for a driver to assault a cyclist or their bike, it’s not ok for a cyclist to assault a driver or their car. Anything else is a double-standard.
Fred (#31) – Respectfully, I think either you’re not looking around enough, or you’re expecting to see it in cyclists, and selectively biasing your perceptions. Please consider: cyclists make up, at best, 10% of the traffic in Portland. How often do you see a car cut off another car? Take a parking space in front of someone else? Fail to use a turn signal because the guy in the other lane will speed up? Or the guy in the other lane *does* speed up because of someone’s turn signal? I’ve seen all of these behaviors frequently, and they all are people who feel entitled to “their” stretch of the road. I think there’s a greater percentage of cyclists disobeying stop signs and signals than motorists, but the sense of entitlement seems to be quite prevalent on both sides – and since there are so many more drivers, my experience has been to see it more often by motorists – towards each other more often than towards cyclists.
Peter Smith (#32) – That still doesn’t explain how one item is a “fact” and the other an “allegation”. If you’re looking for your arguments to be taken seriously, I’d recommend reading up a bit on logic, argument, and debate. (I don’t intend that to be patronizing – your posts tend to have what are generally regarded as common logical fallacies, and this will help you tighten up your arguments) If you don’t care about logical arguments please be advised that most of the people who actually read the comments are not going to take you seriously. If this does not bother you, then just ignore all of this.
yes, Spencer – all of the anecdotes you share further illustrate that people who ride bicycles are superior and perfect beings. You should kneel and avert your gaze as we ride by.
feel better now?
I just spoke to Glen. He was arrested as the aggressor only because he left the scene…this AFTER the driver first nearly ran him down, then DID actually run him down (struck him with his vehicle, knocking him to the pavement) after Glen spit on their vehicle and yelled at them, then they got out and attacked him. They tried and failed to overpower him–he succeeded in defending himself–and they then tried to cover their asses by preemptively calling police to say that HE attacked THEM.
I hope this gets the legal scrutiny that it deserves, because this kind of situation (up to but not including the attack) happens daily and could in every case easily lead to violence if a driver feels confident enough to leave the safety of his car to mount an aggressive challenge.
eco–
“In other words, change ‘Man on bike arrested’ to ‘Man in car’ arrested, and if your answer is different, you might want to consider carefully what your world view implies.”
Here’s the difference: “Man in car” = “protected by metal cage”
“Man on bike” = “Not protected by metal cage”
Sure, spitting is rude and a bad idea, just like spitting at a gangster with a gun would be. But here is an angle to think about: “both the driver and the passenger of the van got out…”. Glen could not “get out of his vehicle” because on a bike you’re always out. If Glen had been a “man in car”, he could have rolled up his windows and locked the door to afford himself some protection. As it was, his only protection was to put forth some kind of hand-to-hand defense. So no, he wasn’t arrested as a direct result of simply being on a bike, but being on a bike put him in a position of having to use other means of protection than he would have had available in a car.
And Fred, what is a “false sense of entitlement”? Who’s got the “real” entitlement to the road?
Spencer, this is not about the virtue or villainy of a given mode of transport, it’s about the risks to vulnerable road users and the high degree of caution required of everyone using the road.
Motorists need to remember every minute that they’re driving that they can too easily kill another road user who’s not encased in a metal cage, and riders of bikes need to remember that they have the same power to harm pedestrians.
@7 I take it that Lt. Kelli Sheffer has never actually tried to report a road rage incident to the Portland Police. They will not talk to you unless someone is badly injured. I had a guy pass me, pull in quick and then slam on his brakes coming to a complete stop in the middle of the road resulting in me hitting him. I was not hurt and my bike was not damaged because I was almost able to stop in time, but then he started to drive off. I slammed my hand down on his trunk and yelled for him to stop at which point he got out of his car and started chasing me around it. I called 911 and he got back in his car and took off. I had the license plate and a very good description because he got out of his car so I had seen him well. 911 said they were sending someone, I waited an hour before I got cold and left. I tried 3 more times over the next week to file a report but they would not take it. PPB is not interested in preventing road rage.
@18
1) Van buzzes cyclist (ALLEGEDLY)
**Anybody** will have a strong bodily, and perhaps behavioral, response when their physical safety is sorely threatened. That’s animal instinct.
Not just **anybody** will agree with their buddy (conspiracy) to leave a place of safety (the van) together to outnumber someone who is not a threat and commit aggression against him. That’s criminal intent AND action.
Being nearly hit by a van vs spitting on the van?
Spitting is an insult, an aggressive response and poor behavior, but unless the saliva is laced with something toxic, it’s not potentially deadly.
Being buzzed by a vehicle is definitely potentially deadly. As a cyclist, this has happened to me, and it’s very scary. Drivers of motor vehicles should not be allowed to do this with impunity, but usually they just drive away and there’s nothing you can do about it. Here’s a case where they didn’t drive away, and yet they are being let off scott free??
Second, the people in the van stopped and got out and approached the cyclist and what do we make of that? I’m sure they weren’t just asking him for the time of day. You have to assume they stopped to fight, thinking they had the advantage. 2 against 1. Once again you have an intentional act of aggression on their part, with the first being the buzzing.
I do NOT understand why the van occupants are not being charged here.
At the very least, based on the story, all three involved should be charged and the incident investigated in a balanced way.
Let’s see….
Maybe the elderly drivers did not in fact TRY to swerve near Mr Glans, but may have inadvertently come a little close. He may have believed it was intentional, however.
To the driver, nothing wrong occured and they had no intent to scare anyone. Suddenly, there is a guy in hysterics spitting at you. Of course the elderly drivers may feel threatened by that. I mean, WTF is this guy spitting at us for?
People are making the assumption that IF the car came close it MUST have been intentional.
“I often tell people that cycle commuting is a sort of meditation on either end of a work day.”
You are certainly entitled to “meditate” but I am far more interested in vigorous heart-pounding exercise with the occasional dose of adrenaline.