Someone used their pickup truck as a weapon to assault a bike rider in Portland on Friday. The altercation followed an interaction between the two road users and might have been fueled by road rage. It’s still unclear what – if anything – might have provoked the assault.
Footage shared on Reddit less than an hour ago shows the driver of a small red pick-up follow a bike rider into a parking lot at Southeast 3rd and Taylor. The driver then intentionally rams their truck into the man before reversing and driving away. (It’s a felony crime in Oregon to hit someone with your vehicle and not stop to investigate it.)
The video (below) from a nearby business surveillance camera was uploaded to YouTube by a user named Aaron Sturgill who claims to be friends with the victim.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHpl32MYyyU&feature=emb_title
On Reddit, another person who claims to know the victim shared this comment:
“My friend trying to make a living with postmates was almost run over by someone in a red truck. He says the guy blew threw a stop sign and my buddy yelled out “ stop sign” but didn’t flip the bird or cuss and the guy circled around the block came up behind revving his engine so he turned into a parking lot trying not provoke a obviously unhinged person. The dude followed him revved his engine and struck him. He was totally in shock and wasn’t thinking when he chased the guy. After what happened the other day [on SE Stark] he’s pretty shook up.”
That comment is of course in reference to the intentional mass vehicular assault that took place in the Buckman neighborhood on Monday.
With this clear video evidence and a license plate visible in the video, we hope the victim will get some justice and the perpetrator will be caught. We’ll share more details and updates as they come in.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Wow! I for sure thought the driver with this vehicle-as-a-weapon tried to strike this vulnerable roadway user a second time. Thank goodness for front license plates [looks like an Oregon vehicle].
And the truck operator has a bicycle in the rear bed of his truck? Odd based on his behaviour to this cyclist. I doubt he / she rides it.
Looks almost like a ghost bike…
If the cops are interested at all that’s a Ford Ranger,
Model year is somewhere in 82-92
License plate
Oregon
473 LHV
That depends? Do they have to do anything? Does the victim live in the West Hills? If you have to answer “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second, PPB isn’t going to do a thing.
89-92
to be exact. Headlights recessed 88 and before. Ranger totally revamped in 93.
This is a 1991 Ford Ranger. VIN #1FTCR10AXMTA49101.
How did you get that info?
Certain websites will give you the make, model, year, and VIN # if you know the license plate.
It’s not listed as stolen on the NCIB database so hopefully police can track down the driver and arrest them.
Thank you! How can I direct message you… I was assaulted by someone in a car and I was on bike and I think he worked for the Tualatin police or fire dept. He harassed me online after the event which means he was able to see that I called 911 on him. I have his plates and a lot of info. I’m gonna get him in court one day. He deserves a fair trial. Help me @Eastsider
You may be able to get help from a private investigator to determine who owns the vehicle if you have the license plate. Attorney Ray Thomas in Portland specializes in legal matters related to bikes, he could also be helpful. As you probably know, just going to the police with info like this is useless. If its not an active murder taking place they pretty much don’t care and will lie to you. Good luck and I hope you get him fired!
I was once threatened to death and shoved to the ground over a similar ‘stop sign’ dispute once by a woman from Tualatin. We even had her plates I think. Witnesses called the cops and they said it’d be hard to deal with charges for someone in a different city even though they knew where she lived. I had a head injury so just got a ride home and wish I’d pursued it. Dont let that discourage you, just know the PPD acted that way. I’d like to still pursue it if they could find record of it from circa 2012 on about 16th North of Clinton Street.
I’ve gotten a few stolen cars off my street that way.
Imagining the PPB statement/ news headline “Cyclist collides with avid cyclist’s vehicle.”
But seriously, this and whenever someone uses their car or truck as a weapon, should be attempted manslaughter.
Came here to say the same thing that the truck driver must be an “avid cyclist” since he has a bike in the bed of the truck. Maybe they were coming back from the I-5 bridge meeting?
Close. You forgot to mention that the cyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet.
…and the cyclist was wearing dark colours…
The other ‘wrinkle’ will be that since this incident occurred in a parking lot on private property (outside the public right of way) then traffic safety data will miss it. It will however go to the PPB database as any of the following: assault, assault and battery, or aggravated assault and possibly a hate crime(?), etc.
Maybe, definitely. You forgot the first rule of making it stick: stay on the ground and get transported to hospital (get out of range if necessary and you are able, lay back down).
Of course the thing that puts you in the strongest legal position also results in the biggest medical bill.
PPB: no blood no foul. Did you exchange information? K, our work here is done. Oh, hit and run? Too bad you can’t describe the driver.
Whenever I flee cars, I try to escape onto a sidewalk or someplace where it would be hard for the driver to follow me with his car. I’m not victim-blaming, but just surprised the cyclist didn’t ride onto the sidewalk rather than into the parking lot. Parking lots are made for cars but driving on a sidewalk is clearly a no-no.
Sure in hindsight, but I can’t imagine the cyclist thought this was going to happen and was planning accordingly for it.
Horrifying and unacceptable.
I called Hardesty’s office. I am asking/demanding a joint press conference with ALL the commissioners and PBOT to straightforwardly and firmly condemn this and ALL traffic violence (intentional or not) and to bring to the table plans to **immediately** work on safety issues for peds, people using mobility devices and people on bikes. If our leaders let another day go by without acting to enforce traffic laws and fixing our infrastructure they will have the blood of (more) Portlanders on their hands.
And, let me pre-empt those who are about to say that the police have been “defunded” so they can’t do their job. This is nonsense. The police have plenty of money to keep their force militarized but not enough to enforce basic traffic laws like stopping at stop signs?
I am kind of feeling like the cops are just doing the blue flu thing right now to try and convince us all that they don’t have enough funding. My truck was stolen last weekend and during the 1-2 hours that I didn’t know it was gone the thieves drove it into a farm field and then were trying to recover it. A person living by the field called the police to report a stolen vehicle stuck in the field because the spot is a common drop off point for a major car theft ring. A cop showed up and ran my plate but because I hadn’t noticed it wasn’t in the driveway anymore yet he told the people who called he wouldn’t do anything. I reported it stolen about a half hour later. He didn’t even make contact with the thieves. It was very obvious the truck was stolen if you walked up to it because they punched my ignition, he also might have noticed the crack pipe that they left in the console. The people who called it in also asked him to contact me by looking up my plate, he left them with the impression he would but he didn’t. Luckily the truck was very stuck so they weren’t able to get away with it but I didn’t end up finding it until 5 hours later because he couldn’t be bothered… I sent him an email when the people who had spotted my truck contacted me on monday to let me know that they had tried to help to understand why he didn’t do anything, but have not heard back.
Glad to hear some people still care…and took additional effort to help you get your truck back.
Yeah, that sucks. With the amount of taxes we pay in Portland, we should get better service. I guess putting up port a potties for people from far and wide to use is more important than providing adequate public safety response for taxpayers. Of course while not to be condoned I can see why some officers are less than enthusiastic about their jobs given the lack of community and elected official support for their hard work. There is a new Portland non profit called Face to Face PDX that is attempting to improve relationships between the community and the PPB.
http://www.facetofacepdx.com
To be clear the problem isn’t money being spent on port a potties which is probably a good idea, it is spending money on a cop who after being told by a nearby resident that stolen cars are regularly passed off at the location where my truck was stuck in a field and seeing some real shady folks trying to pull it out of a field that was clearly not theirs the cop who wasn’t in a hurry to go do something more important couldn’t be bothered to make contact with the thieves. I don’t know why he didn’t try to identify the folks, or contact me, maybe he didn’t want to get his shoes dirty, maybe something more nefarious, but for sure this wasn’t a funding problem, we paid a cop to respond to the scene, he just didn’t actually do anything.
I totally get your frustration. Yes, that cop shouldn’t have been more proactive. I do wonder if there is a “blue flu” but also wonder if we as a community (not you personally diPBB) are the ones responsible. The “hate on police” mentality seems to be rampant in Portland right now from criminals all the way to liberal soccer moms. One poster on this comment page said reduce their salaries to zero. I mean come on, how do you expect to attract and retrain quality officers with that kind of approach? Unfortunately, police are a needed entity in our society. We need to work to improve community and police relations not just hate on the cops. Many great Portland police officers are retiring early or leaving the city because of lack of support. This needs to change.
Correction:
“Yes, that cop should have been more proactive.”……
*citation needed
Cops leaving Portland has been a long-term problem since before BLM though. Our neighbor was a Beaverton officer with many friends in PPB, and he constantly talked about their frustrations with city hall. They too often felt their hands were tied to do anything about the 205 and Springwater path for example.
I don’t know if I would blame the “community” over leadership (both internal and external).
City of Portland is absolutely determined to make sure not a dime of federal grant goes unspent. It’s all part of government contracting cronyism.
The red port-o-potties administered by the HUCIRP dolts are funded through federal money. In other words, City of Portland’s morally questionable behaviors of spending money just to spend it is causing a burden to tax payers through the entire nation.
Exactly. The #BlueFlu copAganda that they have “low staffing”
The truth is we could have a grid of speed cameras and plate readers all over this city funding their own installation cost. The grid would bring us much closer to vision zero but what we have is the fake “alternative” news like WWeek publishing this copagana.
Look how those “reporters” turned a Vision Zero photo essay into a bunch of Cop talking points.
And now, with our staffing level…we only get drunk drivers after they’ve crashed.”
https://www.wweek.com/blindsided/
I also just called and left a message for Commissioner Mapps’ office. I ask anyone who is concerned to do so as well. Thank you!
Mapps’ office quite responsive and concerned. They were unaware of the incident.
Hardesty now leads PBOT… but why Mapps? “He is the Commissioner in charge of the Water Bureau, Bureau of Environmental Service and the Bureau of Emergency Communications. He is also the liaison to Travel Portland, the Visitors Development Fund and the Fair and Moral Claims Board.”
I think Emergency Communications is part of the chain that broke during this escapade. Victim called 911, part of Emergency Communications, who should have sent the message to PPD, who then sent it to the cop responsible for notifying other cops who were investigating the vehicle stuck in the field, who did nothing. They may have done nothing because they didn’t get the message, or they may not have cared because they just didn’t care. There is no amount of money that will get someone to care about their job except lowering that money to zero for not doing their job.
If the community and its leaders didn’t hate on the cops so much they might be more interested in helping, Right now I’m sure they are just trying to keep their heads down. They get bludgeoned for any kind of enforcement. It’s “inequitable” or it’s “excessive use of force”. They are being told to quit their jobs and have feces and Molotov cocktails thrown at them and then criticized if they respond. Of course they are a bit burned out. Wouldn’t you be?
The poor dears. Six figure salary, unaccountable for all but the worst of crimes, and armed & dangerous. Meanwhile, I’m burnt out at my job too, but I still manage to do my f’ing job with pride.
I Called Mapps because he seems inclined to care about those who ride bicycles as a mode of transportation.
Seems like one or more shootings every night nowadays – I think the police are pretty busy 🙁
Yea – really busy….https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2021/01/911-calls-on-hold-for-hours-then-portland-police-closed-them-without-response-records-show.html
Hey Hamiramani can I come to that meeting and I have a plate I need to run. I was assaulted by a pickup like this and the cops had the plates and did not cite the driver.
Actually they don’t. The violent protests over the summer sucked up an incredible amount of taxpayer dollars earmarked for public safety. But all the leftist antifa members/anarchists don’t care about that. They just go out and vandalize businesses, intimidate elected officials and damage our local economy. Due to the lack of adequate police funding, the department has had to prioritize 911 response and riot control over less imminent threats (traffic enforcement, property crimes, bike theft, etc).
I don’t know if you noticed, but they weren’t great before that. Try to blame antifa all you want, the cops weren’t doing anything about the traffic violence long before any of that started.
Can you clarify what you mean by “not doing anything”?
In the early days of COVID the Mayor said that the police weren’t going to enforce laws. AKA not doing anything about crime before the fascists started rioting downtown.
More and more people were dying due to traffic violence over the years. Crime was going up in general since 2014. Cops didn’t have a great reputation before the pandemic and it was only getting worse. The pandemic just accelerated it and provided opportunities for the cops to show exactly who they are, attack the left and leave the right wing people alone, because of how much the alt-right has penetrated the police force and they are essentially held unaccountable.
What were they doing before the pandemic that was so great? So what were the doing except getting worse while getting more funding? That’s what I meant by not doing anything. What I should have said was they were actually worse than not doing anything, they were regressing.
Edit:
@solareclipse this was going on long before the pandemic. Cool story tho.
“Crime going up” is not (at all) the same as “cops not doing anything”. It is also not (at all) the same as “doing worse than not doing anything”.
Do you know what a figure of speech is? It is literally impossible to “not do anything”. Even if they simply sat there, they were doing something. This just is another demonstration of your bad faith arguments.
I do, and I didn’t interpret you literally.
Your complaint that crime is rising because the cops just aren’t trying hard enough is simplistic and without any factual or logical basis.
So why do think crime is and has been going up? Have you literally tried to call the police for anything??? Seriously, people get cars stolen, broken into, stuff stolen out of yards, no one will do anything about it… where do you live? Not Portland… I live in the NE neighborhoods and except for the Starbucks on Fremont, I never see a police car drive through the neighborhood.
This is for Kitty.
Without factual basis? Ok – how about when they needed federal oversight because of all their racism? Seems like after Trump ended the federal oversight to correct their racism, it just got worse. Is that a good example? How about an ever increasing budget for the cops and them not having better stats, yet clamoring for more budget? Is that good evidence?
It’s their job to enforce the law. Things just continue to get worse and their reputation has been horrible for years (decades). I mean, your lack of any knowledge of local history is pretty astounding.
It’s not just them “trying” hard enough, it’s that they are broken. They are doing the wrong things and any time there is pushback from the community, they cry and say they can’t do their jobs. In fact, their vision of their jobs is inherently broken. I am curious about their lawsuit against the public oversight committee that our town passed, I hope it doesn’t get thrown out. They might actually be held accountable for something.
If you have evidence that what they are doing is working, I would love to hear it. You should provide something other than ill-intentioned comments with no evidence to support your side (whatever that is).
> “Crime going up” is not (at all) the same as “cops not doing anything”. It is also not (at all) the same as “doing worse than not doing anything”.
That is you not taking me literally? You directly quoted me and used it as a very literal argument.
Sorry — it was your metaphor. I thought you would recognize it.
“Not doing anything”: metaphor for “not working hard enough” (or not being effective, or whatever).
HK: “Crime going up” is not (at all) the same as “cops not doing anything”. Translation: “Crime going up” is not (at all) the same as “cops not working hard enough”.
Reasoning: There are at least a dozen, probably more, factors that contribute to increasing crime and rates of crazy driving. Policing is certainly one, but there are others that are more obviously at play here, so claiming police effort is determinant without any evidence has no basis and is probably wrong. It is certainly simplistic.
I predict we will see support for the police increase moving forward. More and more people are simply sick of the problems in Portland, and the obvious (but probably wrong) solution to many of them is stronger police. As we exhaust or fail at other solutions, tough cops will become more attractive. This is unfortunate, but probably inevitable. How ironic would it be if continued anti-police protests contributed to the loss of momentum towards much needed police reform?
You can have the last word. Your repeated personal attacks do not take the place of good argument, and are exhausting.
This was originally specifically dealing with traffic violations. Let’s keep that scope in mind.
I think that the PPB just cutting their traffic division shows just how much they prioritized doing anything about traffic. Are there other factors? Sure. I hope they start getting addressed, as well. That being said, when police have a completely racist history and fail to hold any of their members accountable, I doubt it’s going to get better.
The police force has been increasing and the only thing that has stopped them from increasing is that no one wants to do the job. Even the budget cut didn’t cut any FTEs, it only stopped them from having a couple positions open (that they couldn’t fill). More and more people are simply sick of the failures of cops – they aren’t proving to be the solution, and they are very expensive. Do you seriously think there would be police reform without protests? Who would be bringing it up? There really is no track record to that. There have also been many studies done that change actually occurs when there is destruction, so there’s that. If you have any evidence of protests slowing down reform, I would love to see it.
What’s exhausting is seeing you ramble on and on, responding to every person’s comment thread, and bringing bad faith arguments in the mix. I hope I exhausted you enough to quit typing for a while so you can listen to what others have to say.
Here is a great article talking about the ppb’s role in creating a scene that attracted more alt-right and created violence in Portland:
https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2021/02/01/31563670/crying-wolf-if-portland-tourism-dies-you-can-thank-downtown-business-interests-and-the-police
Protests this summer did use a lot of resources but to be fair, the police were almost completely useless in all regards related to bicycles well before that. Stolen bike? They don’t care. Someone intentionally runs into you with their car? They don’t care. People routinely parking in the bike lane? They don’t care.
City needs to do a better job of meticulously positively identifying houselessness services users. The failure to do so causes our city to become the safe harbor for fugitives and other subjects who have warrants in Oregon or other states. It’s not unreasonable. When normal people check into motels, they document identity and those information and scrupulous hospitality operators gladly provide those information to the police if requested. However, they could consider using thumb prints in order to accommodate those “that don’t have IDs”.
Yep, other municipalities are more than happy to have their lawbreakers and vagrants come to all welcoming Portland where laws are often not enforced. Have you seen the bike trials in Vancouver, WA?— clean and no campers. I’m sure the far left liberal elites that run Portland would say it would be unfair to not provide free services to fugitives. Too “mean” they would say. And all the law abiding citizens get to deal with the consequences. Portland, the city that enables.
https://bikeportland.org/2020/11/20/exploring-vancouvers-riverfront-by-bike-322845
“Yes it was very different than the Portland side. Not one camper anywhere in sight and no garbage”
Quote from Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)
True: Proud Boys & Patriot Prayer are two excellent examples.
I noticed the plate # was posted on Reddit. Vehicle theft is out of control and most stolen vehicles are often used in furtherance of crime, which is why they’re treated differently from bike thefts. Older vehicles were much more prone to theft as the ignition isn’t very secure. So, lets not automatically assume it was done by the owner.
Excellent point. At least as of now that truck is not listed as stolen on the NCIB site.
Also, plate swapping from similar cars isn’t unusual with auto thefts to avoid the plate as appearing as stolen. I don’t know and won’t speculate if the CURRENT legitimate owner is responsible for it or not.
Another thing to consider is that older vehicles are often sold person-to-person without going through a dealer and due to the flaw in Oregon vehicle system, the name of the person who last titled it at DMV indefinitely remains until the new owner goes to the DMV themselves.
If John Smith sells his beater to Jane Doe, but Jane Doe doesn’t get it titled in their own name, the vehicle would be flagged as “sold” if John Smith reported the sale to DMV, but if the vehicle is involved in toll violations, this kind of matter, and whatever, violation notices and notifications still comes back to John Smith.
If you have a jalopy, I strongly suggest you sell it WITHOUT plates to avoid ever getting your name dragged into matters like this. Document the sale with VIN. The new owner can deal with getting their trip permit and applying for replacement plates.
If the cyclist was armed, he would have been well within his rights to shoot the truck driver dead… Try ramming a cop car sometime. This demands police follow up.
It is an obvious murder attempt. A pickup weighs 1450 kgs, a bicycle weighs 10 kgs…the driver used the pickup truck as a weapon. Must be prosecuted.
Also, as I learned in Drivers Ed (here’s another plug for OR to adopt mandatory DE, as most states did decades ago), motor vehicles are deadly weapons. So any assault with a motor vehicle is assault with a deadly weapon, period.
The truck should be impounded immediately, driver’s license revoked for life, and the driver needs to face jail time. This type of behavior is all too common, just doesn’t get caught on video most of the time.
Anger and impatience…the two biggest contributors to bad decision making there are.
It’s high time we have traffic enforcement again. Malicious Idiots have become emboldened.
I agree that enforcement absolutely needs to be part of the equation and there needs to be real consequences for people that put vulnerable road users at risk. Better road design and public education campaigns can help but there is a part of the population that will act recklessly if they don’t think there’s any chance of being caught. We should be relentless is addressing inequities in enforcement and collecting and analyzing data regarding bias but eliminating enforcement altogether is NOT the answer and will making biking much more dangerous. It only takes a few bad experiences with drivers to make someone decide that biking is too unsafe and give up on it.
Rack up another Vison Zero success! No one was killed in this “incident!” /s/
Platinum City! Not!
Everyone needs front and rear cameras. I tested gopro and several. I stuck with the Cycliq sold at the West End Bike shop and many other stores and online. I even wrote code to ease cleaning off the camera without deleting critical files.
I’m guessing the driver has a record, and the police pattern is to not cite drivers..
Portland cops refused to cite this driver. If anyone in the Mayor’s office can get a ticket going that would be great. Or if you are a cop reading this call me. Your staff have my number in your systems.
https://youtu.be/U0g4ECjzmeU
Cycliq handlebar camera front URL above. I was on foot.
Its also legally possible in Oregon to write a “citizen’s citation.” There is a process outlined in the Oregon Revised Code for it. But you need a police officer to sign the report and my experience is that the PPB doesn’t understand the law or is completely unwilling to follow it. I wasted half a day trying to get an officer to even speak with me about it and they refused.
They didn’t even traffic cite the Golden State Foods (Starbucks supplier) that right hooked, ran over and killed Kathryn Rickson in 2012 either even though investigate effort by her party demonstrated that driver could have seen her riding past the truck.
One more reason to stop using the word “accident”.
Here is the contact page for Postmates. Reach out to them and ask them to offer a big reward for information resulting in this guy being arrested. If you have a NextDoor account, post it there as well. More eyes looking for this red truck the better.
https://support.postmates.com/buyer/contact-us/help
QAnon influence here? Reportedly, even The Kremlin itself is amazed at how the KGB’s disinformation campaign aimed for the American people has flourished. More craziness is on the way. Make it work for you. Stay alert!
Huh?
With outright vehicular attacks the legal course of action must lead through the justice system.
With all of the other “SMIDSY” (British: ‘sorry mate I didn’t see you’) incidents AND the availability of cheap and reliable video cameras I propose the following:
() post the video online. Preferably tagged and titled with vehicle’s plate#, state, zip code, date & time. Include any other salient details like description of the driver.
() bypass the police and forward these DIRECTLY to all of the major automobile insurance companies. Police can’t even issue a ticket unless a flesh and blood officer witnesses it in person; insurance companies have more leeway. They can raise insurance premiums when presented with irrefutable or repeated evidence of driver behavior that will impact their profitability.
() if a particular driver is tagged in enough videos they will become toxic to insurers.
I’d rather that this be solved by the justice system but they are busy coming to terms with the fact that black people are people too; being told that people on bicycles deserve equal treatment would just fry their widdle bwains.
Is there a PPB case number for this attack? Be helpful to have posted in case anyone sees or recognizes this truck.
“You nearly killed a bicyclist with your car! That’s a severe crime! You’re going to jail for like ten minutes!”
Anyone who cycles in Portland needs to get licensed to carry and learn how to use it. It’s an investment of around 400 bucks. It’s time to fight back.
Holy crap, this conversation moved quickly from a person got hit by a jerk using their vehicle as a weapon to a lot of conversation about what the police will not do. There is a lot of conjecture about what the police are doing and how public funds are spent. It is a good conversation and likely a needed story (here if bike related or other outlets). Nice work on the VIN sleuthing and the shared image of the incident. I am glad the rider is okay and feel for you. Big questions for the rider: 1. Did your mode of transport just get destroyed? 2. Do you need assistance in the form of a frame and/or bike parts (many of us here have spares)? and 3. Do you feel safe getting back out there on a bike?
This sort of incident occurs repeatedly everywhere, every day, and there simply isn’t enough community wealth to solve this problem on Effect side; we MUST address the Cause.
So, yeah: we get kinda spun up about stopping this sorta thing before it results in people being injured or killed.
License plate is visible. Should be easy enough to find the dude (and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a dude) and make sure he never drives again.
Is this a parody comment, or do you actually believe that the police are going to do anything to track down the driver?
I think it was a ghostbike in the back and I have found out new information. So I don’t think this changes anything but I was informed that The 2 parties involved know each other and it involves a woman who they both have been seeing. second it was reported to the police however since the only injury was a sprained ankle it is a low priority. for me this doesn’t change anything.