The irony never ceases to amaze me.

[stomachmonkey]

REPORT: Politician known for harsh motorist laws arrested in brutal hit-and-run death

by Chris Shunk (RSS feed) on Sep 10th 2009 at 6:58PM
Former Ontario, Canada Attorney General Michael Bryant made a name for himself as a tough-nosed lawmaker that took a hard line against street racing. Among Bryant's hard stance anti-racer policies was a law that gave the police the right to crush any car that was modified for racing – even if the vehicle had no complaints against it. If a report from The New York Times is true, Mr. Bryant could ironically spend the rest of his life behind bars for a brutal hit-and-run accident involving a bicyclist.

The incident reportedly began as a minor event and quickly escalated. Bryant allegedly brushed the bicyclist while he was driving, who then held on to the driver's side door of his black Saab convertible. Witnesses told a local Canadian television station that Bryant was heard swearing and swerving in an apparent attempt to shake the biker from his door. Bystanders told police that Bryant was driving on the sidewalk near lamp posts at a high rate of speed, in an apparent attempt to knock the biker off.

The incident ended with the bicyclist, Darcy Allen Sheppard, striking a mailbox. Sheppard later died due to injuries sustained from the accident. According to the NYT, Bryant went to a nearby hotel after the incident where he was later arrested for what appears to be a most heinous hit-and-run incident. It looks like Bryant was right when he said that cars could be as dangerous as explosives...

[The Gaijin]

"....anti-racer policies was a law that gave the police the right to crush any car that was modified for racing – even if the vehicle had no complaints against it..."

That can't be true.

[berettafan]

sounds like captain spandex was due anyways. holding on to a speeding car? wtf is that?



edit: better clarify before the spandex mafia moves in on this thread that BOTH parties were idjuts.

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by berettafan

sounds like captain spandex was due anyways. holding on to a speeding car? wtf is that?

Right on.

2 idiots - Bike ride could have let go at any time.....

[Gogar]

Yep, definitely two fools in that story.

[Pazuzu]

Canada

Originally Posted by Gogar

Yep, definitely two fools in that story.

Duh.

[s_morrison57]

I know Ontario has really cracked down on the street racer thing, I don't know about crushing the cars that have been modified though. I asked a guy about this law and he lives there and said that if your 30(??) mph over the limit they can sieze your vehicle and suspend your licience for a week, with the fines and towing , impound etc, he said it could cost up to 10K to get your car back. You don't have to be racing someone it applies for fast driving as well. This is what I was told any Ontario guys out there to set the record straight? No doubt about it though, one less idiot and 1 guy going down for a while. 25 years to life in Canada means your out in 7, so unless he's really old it won't be life in prison.

[The Gaijin]

A drunk almost killed my cousin in Ontario and she is still suffering as a result of the accident.

So far, nothing has happened to the P.O.S. that caused this.

Good think he did not add a "high performace" air filter. The Mounties would be after his loser asz.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

The incident reportedly began as a minor event and quickly escalated. Bryant allegedly brushed the bicyclist while he was driving, who then held on to the driver's side door of his black Saab convertible. Witnesses told a local Canadian television station that Bryant was heard swearing and swerving in an apparent attempt to shake the biker from his door. Bystanders told police that Bryant was driving on the sidewalk near lamp posts at a high rate of speed, in an apparent attempt to knock the biker off.

The incident ended with the bicyclist, Darcy Allen Sheppard, striking a mailbox. Sheppard later died due to injuries sustained from the accident. According to the NYT, Bryant went to a nearby hotel after the incident where he was later arrested for what appears to be a most heinous hit-and-run incident. It looks like Bryant was right when he said that cars could be as dangerous as explosives...

That is one EXTREMELY stupid cyclist.

[flatbutt]

unless letting go of the car would have left him in the path of other traffic. But the biker's relative intelligence aside, why didn't the driver just stop? Why did he have to kill the cyclist? Stupid biker or no, the driver is guilty of at least vehicular manslaughter.

[m21sniper]

This does not change the fact that the biker was a stupid azz, assuming the story is accurate.

[techweenie]

Politicians and judges who are especially harsh on one type of offender are often guilty of that crime themselves.

Don't have the fingers and toes to count the strident anti-pedophile judges caught with kiddie porn.

[Jeff Higgins]

Tell you what, if some whacked-out nut-job Seattle cyclist ever grabs onto my door, he is getting brushed off on the next oncoming car, lamp post, mailbox, or whatever (depending on which side he grabs onto), too.

Screw those guys. I'm not sure about Ontario, but here in Seattle, they are out of control. These "critical mass" ass holes recently drug a man out of his car (after vandalizing it first) and beat the hell out of him for some perceived slight or another. Cyclists seem to have adopted this militant, "we can do anything and get away with it as we disappear into traffic" attitude. Obviously, Mr. Sheppard was wrong.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by s_morrison57

I don't know about crushing the cars that have been modified though. I asked a guy about this law and he lives there and said that if your 30(??) mph over the limit they can sieze your vehicle and suspend your licience for a week, with the fines and towing , impound etc, he said it could cost up to 10K to get your car back. You don't have to be racing someone it applies for fast driving as well. This is what I was told any Ontario guys out there to set the record straight?

True. The law was passed last fall & has been very successful (from an enforcement standpoint). 50 km/hr over the limit & you walk home. This is a provincial law, not a federal one so it is only applicable in Ontario. A case was just turfed by the courts so a legal challenge is in the wind. For real street racing, a car can be seized & crushed if there is a conviction. I haven't heard of this been applied however.

My local MPP just sent around his newsletter where he is proposing a 150 kh/hr governor on all new cars. He admitted that it won't be popular & he won't have a hope. He also won't get my vote next time.

Ian

[turbo6bar]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

According to the NYT, Bryant went to a nearby hotel after the incident where he was later arrested for what appears to be a most heinous hit-and-run incident. It looks like Bryant was right when he said that cars could be as dangerous as explosives...

I agree the biker should have acted smarter, but the above should end most discussion. Regardless of whether you like bicyclists or not, you'd have to be mentally ill to believe leaving the scene of an accident is kosher. Bicyclist's death aside, this is the primary issue.

[Rick V]

I had a cyclist decide at a stop light that he wanted to tell me I didn't give him enough room (911 and cycle in one lane, plenty of room) He stopped next to me put his hand on the roof to steady himself so that he could lean over to yell at me. I simply told him that is he didn't get his hand off my car I would remove it from his arm. He got the idea and backed off. He may have seen the .45acp in my door pocket. I love the bikers that think I should cross the center line to make room for them, pfft GOOMFW fruit loop.
No sense in killing someone though, I hope they fry the guy.

[m21sniper]

I'm with you Rick.

To me how the pol screwed up the worst was by not stopping after he removed the PERSISTANTLY STUPID biker. I mean WTF, who holds on to a swerving moving vehicle on the side walk?

I nominate this bike for 2009s darwin finalists, right up there with the LI NY 6'5" 911 driver that got ran down by the Altima.

[dentist90]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

... the driver is guilty of at least vehicular manslaughter.

To my way of thinking it was bicycler suicide.

Even if there was a close call between the cyclist and the car, who initiated the confrontation here by (quite literally) not letting it go?
And besides, I don't think I would stop and get out of my car so a crazed cyclist could get a better shot at me. I'm not big and I don't carry a gun.

I don't know all the details, but swerving onto the sidewalk is a bit much. Hit and run, though? The auto didn't strike anything or anybody. Another case of road rage by both parties.

[Jeff Higgins]

There is no "hit and run" involved here - that is merely sensationalist reporting. The only thing the driver did wrong was to leave. Even at that, I'm sure he was quite shaken up. Are there any of you who can honestly say you would not have been? It's one thing to pick his actions to death calmly, cooly, comfortably surfing the 'net, Monday morning quarterbacking every detail.

Bottom line is, this is 100% on the cyclist. He initiated the confrontation. He could have simply let go and ended it at any moment. The longer he held on, I'm sure the more frightened the driver became. The more desperately he would have tried to shake him loose. I know I would have.

The driver had absolutely no obligation to stop his car and confront this lunatic. None. I would not have stopped the car until I either lost him or killed him, either. At the most, the driver should be charged with leaving the scene. Even at that, pleading extreme trauma should get him off.

The news story's focus on the irony of this situation is misplaced. The driver was in no way "street racing" nor, I'm relatively sure, would he have ever driven in such a manner otherwise. I would imagine having some crazed cyclist hanging onto your car, screaming threats at you, might affect all of our driving. Like I said, I would have done my best to shake or brush him off, too. I wouldn't stop until I was sure I had.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

There is no "hit and run" involved here - that is merely sensationalist reporting. The only thing the driver did wrong was to leave. Even at that, I'm sure he was quite shaken up. Are there any of you who can honestly say you would not have been? It's one thing to pick his actions to death calmly, cooly, comfortably surfing the 'net, Monday morning quarterbacking every detail.

Bottom line is, this is 100% on the cyclist. He initiated the confrontation. He could have simply let go and ended it at any moment. The longer he held on, I'm sure the more frightened the driver became. The more desperately he would have tried to shake him loose. I know I would have.

The driver had absolutely no obligation to stop his car and confront this lunatic. None. I would not have stopped the car until I either lost him or killed him, either. At the most, the driver should be charged with leaving the scene. Even at that, pleading extreme trauma should get him off.

The news story's focus on the irony of this situation is misplaced. The driver was in no way "street racing" nor, I'm relatively sure, would he have ever driven in such a manner otherwise. I would imagine having some crazed cyclist hanging onto your car, screaming threats at you, might affect all of our driving. Like I said, I would have done my best to shake or brush him off, too. I wouldn't stop until I was sure I had.

Uhm, He was an Attorney General. Tell me did not know better than to leave. Sorry, that one does not fly.

If he pulls a trauma defense they'll trot out every case that he prosecuted and won when the defense claimed emotional trauma.

They'll use every one of his arguments against him, and rightly so.

Some more info.

"There was some verbal altercation and there was some minor contact," said Const. Smith. "At some point the cyclist became attached to the vehicle without his bicycle."

http://autos.canada.com/news/story.html?id=1950680

Might explain why he did not let go.

And I love how you are so sure of someone's intent without the slightest shred of knowledge of the person. You should write fiction, you have quite the imagination.