I was ambushed

Let's just say I found another reason to wear a helmet while riding.

I was about a mile from home (Irving Park Road & Sheridan Road in Chicago) when car A cut me off to make a right turn in front of me. She winged me with her car and, when I tried to catch my balance, my chain skipped the ring. The driver of the car is yelling at me to go (which I couldn't do since my chain was still messed up) and then the driver of car B, who didn't like the fact he was being delayed, hopped out of his car, came up from behind and sucker punched me in the head without saying a word. He then proceeded to continue punching me until he had me and my bike on the ground. (It's tough to fight back when you're still clipped in and wearing big ol' expedition weight mittens.)

Anyways, a lot of people saw what was happening. The woman in the car behind hopped out of her car and got his license plate (thanks April!) and a fourth car took chase after the culprit and his group (there were 3 people with him) fled once they saw they had an audience. (But not before stealing one of my mittens.)

Long story short, Chicago Police came and were very nice but, because it was an out of state plate (no one knows what state) and because they couldn't find the car (which had, strangely, parked around the corner for a while before fleeing) they said there's not a lot they can do other than file a battery report. One of the officers did find my stolen mitten. Seems the perp decided to dump it in the road down the block since they didn't want to be caught with evidence.

I'm a bit stiff and my poor Hampsten is a bit scuffed, but fortunately damage doesn't look too severe. I haven't given my bike the once over yet (it's still covered in road grime from today's ride) and my kit is a bit grubby from the city street, but I'm taking it easy for the rest of the day and will deal with that stuff later. Guess it's good I had on so many layers.

But if you see a light colored car with the license plate VQL543 (CORRECTED), the guy's a real dirtbag. And wanted for battery.

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Permalink Reply by dan brown on January 13, 2014 at 10:10am

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:

<snip> (ouch) The police are too busy fighting the drug wars to do much of anything else. Essentially murder or a particularly grusome rape (or a crime which aggravates an alderman) are the only ones being prosecuted.

there is no "DRUG WAR". it's a very well orchestrated arrangement by the "powers that be" - on both sides of the law. Also - there are no sides of the law; just $$$. OK I am done. call me a conspiracy monger if you like; but there is no drug war. it's pretty obvious. but I had to laugh at the comment above because that is what the TeeVee folks want us to believe (i.e. the ministry of dis-information)

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Permalink Reply by Brian on January 13, 2014 at 10:18am

I woke up this morning with a rather seriously sore neck. I'll be going to the doctor to have it checked out. I appreciate all the support and suggestions. Once the dust in my brain settled down a bit, I actually recalled more details that can help ID the culprit and his vehicle. Stay tuned. I'm not going to just let him off the hook and when I lock my teeth into an issue, I tend to persist. If he did it to me, he'll likely do it again and the next person may get hurt worse. He needs to be stopped and sure as heck shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car. I'll update as this moves forward. Thanks again everyone.

Like I told my wife (who was really upset by this), there really are more good people than bad. There's all of you giving your support, there's April who stayed on scene and served as a witness, there's the woman who called the police and offered to get an ambulance, there's the man who tried to help me up off the street, and there's the man who took chase in his car so he could tell the police where the culprit and his friends had parked. See. We do outnumber the bad ones!

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Permalink Reply by Brian on January 13, 2014 at 10:44am

Correction. I mistyped. That was plate #VQL543.

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Permalink Reply by B. Ren on January 13, 2014 at 11:15am

Even without knowing the state, it would take them about 30 seconds to identify the automobile with a plate # and a vehicle description, and it can be done right from the cop's onboard computer.

Even if the number is in use in other states, it won't be in use in all 50, and the odds are low that the same make/color of vehicle will have the same plate #. Once you narrow it down to a handful of possibilities, you bring up driver license photos of each vehicle owner and see if any match the description of a suspect. Extremely easy to do.

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Permalink Reply by Eli on January 13, 2014 at 11:22am

I'm not going to just let him off the hook and when I lock my teeth into an issue, I tend to persist.

I'm glad to hear this. Unfortunately your experience with CPD is consistent with my own in similar situations; they simply do not care about driver assaults, full stop. (Has anyone ever seen an instance where a driver has been prosecuted in such a case?) It often feels like you'd have to have the whole thing on video, get the perpetrator's name, address, and social security number, and then convince them to come with you to the police station and turn themselves in in order for CPD to do anything. I do hope you are able to find a resolution.

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Permalink Reply by B. Ren on January 13, 2014 at 11:28am

Actually, I'd talk to an attorney immediately. Especially if you may be injured. You'd want to get statements of witnesses on record ASAP for a potential civil suit.