(Photo: Donald Hinson)
“He accelerated towards me… I had nowhere to go.”
— Scot Hinson
If you live in southeast Portland and order food online via Uber Eats or other apps, it might have been delivered by Scot Hinson.
Hinson was in the middle of a delivery, riding northbound on Southeast 18th between Stark and Washington on Monday, when he became one of the victims of Paul Rivas’ intentional vehicular rampage.
Here’s what happened to Hinson, in his own words (edited for clarity and brevity):
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“I had just come from Pad Thai Kitchen with two orders, soups, ice teas and like ten pounds of food on my back in one of the big square boxes. I was headed north on 18th between Washington and Stark when this [Honda] Element came around the corner going really fast.
He drifted in my lane, so I tried hugging the parked car on my right. But then he accelerated and turned even more towards me. I had nowhere to go, but was sure he would correct himself somehow.
Instead he hit me head-on, lifting me and my bike (my feet were in pedal-straps) up onto his hood as he accelerated more. My bike dropped off the side after about 5 yards or so, but I was still on the hood with the box of food on my back for another 20 yards. He then seemed to swerve to the other side, dropping me onto the street.
Somehow I landed on my knees and elbows and face on the asphalt. Luckily the visor on my helmet hit the ground before my face. It snapped off but my helmet did alright. I’ve used this old horse-riding helmet that I found in a free box for years. It has saved me a couple times already.
I lay still for a minute partially under a parked car trying to figure out if I could move and what might be wrong. I un-wedged myself from under the car, stood up and walked towards my bike a few yards back. It was mangled with the forks pressed up against the frame, handlebars bent towards the center on one side, and the rear wheel at the end of the block. By the time I sat down on the curb next to the bike, people from the houses and apartments were coming to see how I was.
Not much longer after that I started hearing sirens and heard the revving engine of the Honda speeding down Stark and slamming into something. I couldn’t see what it was, but quite a few officers showed up on the scene and I just sat for a while longer.
I remember thinking I will just sit, catch my breath, and put my bike back together so I could go home. I didn’t realize how jacked-up my bike was.
I called Uber and told them what happened and waited to talk to the police and get checked out by the EMT. They recommended I go the hospital so my wife came and got me. I actually fed my kids some of the food I was about to deliver. The soup and everything did surprisingly well.
I went to the ER and they stitched up my knees and told me I had a small fracture in my tibia. I’m hoping I don’t have much of a cast because just two days sitting in a chair is about to kill me.
All-in-all, in hindsight I realized my bicycle saved me from much worse injury as it took most of the impact.
I am lucky compared to some others involved.”
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Glad you are not doing worse, Mr. Hinson.
This is why any time I see someone speeding or moving their vehicle dangerously, I move to the curb. So glad Scot’s seems to have recoverable injuries. I wish we could request delivery by bicycle.
Many of the streets in east Portland are so tight with parked cars that it can be next to impossible to get over to the curb, even if you realize that you need to and have time to react.
Yes. I’m always listening for a motor revving beyond normal or tires twisted on the pavement by unusual forces. I’m with Road Guy on this one thing, I never ride with head phones and never will.
Scot I am very sorry it was you in that place and time.
eawriste, if you talk to the people at restaurants or other businesses they may be able to help you get your wish. If you order within about a mile radius you’re somewhat more likely to get bike delivery. In many cases local businesses are getting ripped by the net delivery services they encounter but roll with it to keep their volume up.
I am glad, Scot, that you are minimally injured as you are. I can’t grasp the setback to your finances though. Aside from getting the property replaced, your body needs to heal. Then there’s the mental aspect.
Did they tell you how long you need to wait before riding again? Let alone work.
I know how you must have felt before you were hit. You take it on faith that the motorists, speeding down narrow side streets, will do their best to avoid hitting a cyclist. I can only imagine how this common occurrence will present new challenges for you.
That was an utterly terrifying attack. It’s simply miraculous that Scot not only survived, but got away with relatively minor injuries. I’ve been traumatized by near misses and collisions that were caused by drivers of vehicles who were simply acting absent mindedly or recklessly. To come face to face with someone intentionally and maliciously attempting to inflict death, pain and destruction is a whole other level that I struggle to even comprehend. I hope that Scot’s mental scars are no worse than his physical injuries and that he is able to recover quickly.
This truly was an act of terrorism. The fact that the police were so dismissive in their description of the motivations of the maniacal Paul Rivas before they had even completed their investigation is just scandalous.
I too have wondered why officials are so reluctant to attach the word “terrorism” to what Rivas did. Maybe cuz he wasn’t wearing Muslim garb?
More likely because he didn’t have a political motive.
We don’t need to call this incident terrorism to acknowledge it was a terrible thing.
First off: Get well Scot!!!
Next, of much lower importance… Not to be Mr. Merriam Webster by the book definition guy over here, but the word “terrorism” has a specific meaning. Paraphrasing, it is the unlawful use of violence, again civilians (generally random, but representing a targeted population), with the additional intent of intimidating that larger population (and often with ‘political’ aims).
So, yeah, barring some yet undisclosed intent, there is a difference between Rivas plowing through Portland and the guys in say Nice (just to pick one…) that plowed through crowds in a vehicle under the direction of the Islamic State and while screaming whatever BS they scream.
What Rivas did was terrible and terrifying and caused terror in the streets, but I’m not seeing “terrorism.” Again, barring some undiscovered intent that may arise.
Yeah it’s easy to push words out of bounds. In this case I think the dictionary may be a little behind the times. Definitions can be difficult. This could be a “…but I know it when I see it” moment.
Does a person have to put up a manifesto before they go out and commit several scattered acts of violence to be considered a terrorist? Is this just a normal spate of mayhem tossed off as a prelude to a Costco run or a trip to the car wash, a thing that anybody might do?
I think the (alleged and untried) driver of the car set out to pursue and injure as many people as they could and the place and manner of their attacks has a message if we could riddle it out. Perhaps they only stopped because the depravity of their actions overcame the mania they were experiencing, at long last.
Is it a fact that this 64 year old man, approximately my own demographic, backed up in order to run over a 77 year old woman with a car, again? We were absolutely not brought up to act in this way. Appalled and near despair I’m trying to understand this thing as the action of a human being.
You are one tough hombre, Scot. All the best with your recovery and see you back on the bike soon.
Perhaps Portland (and other US cities) need to add the action of “overtly” repeated vehicle engine revving as a verbal threat to vulnerable roadway users. (Assuming it is not already such.)
I get you, but it’s either unenforceable or would fill the jails SRO.