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Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on November 3, 2010 at 2:04am

Were you trying to quote this and expand on it, or is it just another snarky response?



H3N3 said:

From what I heard, there was an initial crash, then the sound of scraping metal as the car tried to flee about a half block until it was surrounded by about 500 bikers. I heard someone thought the rider was unhurt, but his bike was totally mangled in the front wheel well of the car, which had 3 youth in it. Someone guessed that the biker was standing blocking the car and the driver got pissed and drove into the biker. From what I heard the bike cops were there in a couple minutes to avert a mob scene.

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Permalink Reply by James39 on November 3, 2010 at 3:18pm

I was there and saw the entire series of events unfold.

Before the actual incident, the car involved was sitting in the left turn lane at a red light. I believe it was Van Buren. There were two people in the car, a black man and woman in their early 20s. I don't recall a third person, but I may have missed someone sitting in the back. If they were there, they did not get involved.

I was very near the front of the pack, and riders began streaming in to fill the gaps between the cars at the light. The passenger in the car opened her door to try to "door" the riders that were going by. The person in front of me got taken out, but was okay, and I nearly went down also because of it. The passenger then got out and started yelling at us, followed by the driver. They threw some things and yelled alot, but eventually many riders surrounded the car and they were talked back into their car before it came to blows.

The yelling continued, but it seemed to have calmed down so I continued on. I stopped about 3/4 to the next light to help a rider that had crashed. I then heard the cars tires squeal and looked back to see it run down a biker and continue almost to where I was before being forced to stop because of the bike lodged in the wheel well. Seconds later the crowd of bikes descended on the car and surrounded it. From then on, there was too much going on for me to actually see the car. According to a friend who was immediately behind the incident and followed the car, the driver was pulled out and roughed up a bit; though members of the crowd stepped in to prevent the driver from being severely beaten before the cops arrived. The bike cops were on the scene in moments, and several squad cars arrived a few minutes later. I stayed around for a little while, took a photo of the license plate, and as a witness offered to give a statement. However, I was physically pushed away by a fairly aggressive police officer. At that point, I decided to just continue on with the rest of the ride.

I have not been able to find any information after the fact about what happened, despite extensive searching over the last few days. I had thought that it would be all over the place, but I've made a few posts on other sites, to no avail. This is the first thing I have come across anywhere regarding it. I would like to know what charges, if any, were pressed against the driver. The car was a gold Toyota (or maybe Nissan) with IL license plate "A96 3606." If anyone has this information, I would be very pleased to see it.

-James

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Permalink Reply by Mark on November 4, 2010 at 2:47am

Thanks Brent and James. The car was a Nissan Sentra. It's too bad that this had to happen at the end of what was otherwise a great ride - especially coming down Michigan Avenue. It was like Bike the Drive on Michigan Avenue. Since the car was turning left, they should've just let it go. I was there before the bike cops arrived. Bikers were angry and surrounded the car yelling, but I didn't see any physical altercation.
Brent Sonin said:

ya they corked the car, the lady threw a national geographic at the guy in front of me, the car pulled out into bike traffic, the guys were still trying to stop the car. They were riding really slow in front of the car ( stupid idea should have let them go) The driver yelled some stuff, sped up, kid dodged, bike got hit, slit under car, driver sped up more, bike got mangled, driver could no longer drive due to bike stuck under car. Yelling. Police. I left.

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