This is horrific and I sickening. I'm stunned. I feel our society/humankind is deteriorating at a much more rapid rate. I know this is an outlier, but harassing cyclists is not a new occurrence these days.

From my perspective we are not hard enough on crime, especially in my state. We had this criminal dirt bag recently robbing retail stores over and over again and getting released. Finally he robbed a bank and because that is considered a "violent crime" he didn't get released. A few years ago, the wife of a cop was driving drunk and killed a cyclist on a popular cycling/training route not far from where I lived. She got off scott free. I could share many stories about scum bags getting off and no justice being served here. I have no answers. It's just sad and depressing. Our society is sick.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

My God ... what has our world come to ... 😢

The victim used to be a police chief.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

i have a feeling this kids will get off easy. Saw the video and kid recording said something where he was shocked the guy was hurt more than they wanted. But in my book... its flat out first degree murder

That is the token wok thing to say. But on the contrary, I think a bunch of dirtbags like the ones in the video would think twice to do something as stupid if they risk of getting to ride the needle as opposed to a trip to the big house only.

Horrible video. Thoughts and prayers are with the family. Hope justice prevails, but unfortunately a savvy defence lawyer will argue that beavis and butthead here never meant to kill the victim and will push for a manslaughter. They will probably do a few years.

Wow. That's crazy. It almost looks like he may have hit his head onto he curb. I don't want to go back and watch it again, as I am recovering from an accident (no witnesses, but I think I was hit from behind)...so crazy.

I can't imagine being a family member knowing that my husband, father, brother etc was targeted as a game to kids and purposely hit and killed.

Agreed!

From the outside looking in (New Zealand) it's easy to see why there could well be a loss of faith in your justice system in general.
There clearly needs to be some harsh justice but I suspect the age of the perps will be used to justify leniency.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

I have heard some derision for vigilantism in this thread, and I'm sure that I am going to be accused of being an internet tough guy..... But if someone did this to someone I loved, they should beg the judge to put them away for life. Because I would be waiting when they got out. Hurt me and I might forgive you. Hurt my family and I will get even. It would be worth the consequences.

Overall, I think I am a nice, reasonable person. However, there might be something wrong with me.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

Does anyone know if there was ever any "justice" for the rolling coal teenager in Waller County (I thought it was Montgomery County - similar "locals" in both counties). Similar case (but thankfully without death - "just" multiple cyclists run over) - by a jerk recording videos for likes.

Your family being without you because you're in prison for years/decades is worth it?

I think so.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

Not by my personal calculation. Two for one for the bad guy.

The kid was 16 at the time of the incident so I believe the criminal case isn’t public record as he was a minor. Civil case is also ongoing.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

We are 100% in agreement, except that I KNOW there is something wrong with me when it comes to this kind of thing

In an instance like this it’s a shame “eye for an eye” justice doesn’t exist in this country.

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Let food be thy medicine...

The personal moral outrage we feel and the desire for certain harsh punishment to be applied in these cases is human nature.

One reason we (in the USA at least) have a government of checks and balances, and a court system that reflects that sentiment, is to prevent the power of the mob from being harnessed unjustly. The short term gain from making a public example out of evil criminal behavior has the potential to cause serious long term consequences if those tools against malevolence ever get wielded by the malevolent themselves. Then we will spend or suffer far more blood overcoming those malevolent actors than was ever saved by making an example of the initial malevolent few. If you look at this as a cyclical trend, we as a society have certainly already progressed down this road to some degree and we'll suffer both more consequences of enabling these desires, as well as suffering the consequences of trying to fix them in the future.

Due process, constitutional punishment and the rule of law is costly to endure. But I think we need to endure it, especially when confronted with addled brains such as these.

How true is this given what we see outside the US of the abuse, (figuratively and literally) of the judicial system by certain high profile people?

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

I agree with all of this, and think we should have a more rehabilitative rather than punitive justice system.

However

The justice system is terribly favorable to motor vehicle drivers. DUI's are punished with a suspended license. Killing someone while DUI is often a few months in lock up then driving again a year later. Running over a pedestrian is more of an insurance issue than a criminal one. Somewhere along the line we decided driving is a right not a privilege, and collisions are 'accidents' without criminal liability. It's absolute insanity that we allow people to operate 2 tons of metal at 70mph so long as they have minimal liability insurance and showed someone they could parallel park when they were 16.

So yes, there is a cyclical trend, but it's favoring drivers at the expense of everyone else. How about this for a start: Texting and driving=7 days suspended license. Not enough to upend a persons life, but enough to deter.

You and I may not agree on many issues, but I couldn't agree more. I realize the murderer is 17 but I would not be opposed to the death penalty for something so blatantly intentional (it won't happen and he will probably get off easy). The world would be a better place without this kind of human trash destroying lives simply for his own enjoyment and amusement. Fuck this kid.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

Texting and driving should be 6 months suspension. That's actually a great start. I really like that idea...

If you need to find a location, use Google maps, etc., pull off the side of the road.

Why haven't the phone manufacturers considered doing something? Like disabling certain features when you're driving a car? Sure, I get it that it's hard to decipher between driver and passenger, but still, give us something.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

When I do food delivery, texting is not enabled while moving.

I'm guessing because if a phone did that then no one would buy that phone. Everybody hates when people text and drive, "but it's ok when I do it because it's only for really important stuff." Without government intervention no phone company will stick their neck out like that.

The solution is easy. If the phone is moving at >5kph, the screen initially turns black with a message, "By proceeding further, you certify that you are not the driver of a moving vehicle that you are operating and rather the passenger in a moving vehicle and this information may be provided to government authorities if requested in case of accident" (or something like that...I am not a lawyer, but it would keep the honest people honest if they have to scroll thru that). Sure, someone could borrow your phone and operate it while driving, and therefore it could not incriminate the person who owns the phone (as the phone owner and driver may be different people or not), but if all those selling phones had to do this, we get somewhere. I also get that you can turn off the phone GPS, but motion of the phone can still be deternined from the LTE connection anyway (at least from what I understand....just doppler effect on frequency shifting should be sufficient...red shift moving away, blue shift converging)

All this is going to do is get people to text for 18 seconds at a time instead of 15