So you think a cyclist decided to reach out and grab the car as it sped past him? That seems most unlikely of all the hypothesis so far.

Three eyewitnesses say no.

At this stage, the mayor's wisest course of action would be to resign, offer the cyclist an apology and restitution, and voluntarily enter into some sort of anger management program. That seems like the only way he'll be able to avoid criminal prosecution and/or a civil suit.

...said the anonymous poster.

Probably the mayor himself or one of his lackeys.

I don't think the car the sped past him. I think they argued at the stop sign, then he held on to the car. There is 0 proof of anything except this guy's word that something happened with 0 evidence. He even told the police over the phone he was fine, that the mayor was turning around voluntarily and seemed to have nothing to say to cause alarm until after he found out the guy was the mayor. I'm not saying for sure the mayor is 100% innocent, I'm saying this guy seems pretty suspicious. There have been plenty of other local cyclists to call him out too. Apparently is reputation in general isn't a favorable one. Just because someone cries wolf, doesn't mean there is a wolf.

I love the term "Cyber Bulling".....if you PM me you contact info I'm more then happy to come and bully you in person.

I didn't sign up just to post this, but yes stayed anonymous. Who wouldn't when so many people think that harassment is acceptable? I'm not bullying anyone, I don't even know who this guy to be honest, but I logged in under an anonymous ID because I don't think it's acceptable for anyone to be treated that way, and call it cowardly but I'm not going to get so involved that my own life has to be unsettled over it.
My whole point of all of this was just to say that it's not always black and white and this man is trying to ruin the career and public opinion of another. The mayor is a voluntary, unpaid position. It's not like he's some big time politician. Let's at least wait to see all the facts come out before jumping to conclusions and crucifying the guy.

Evidence? I've been reading various local fora since the story came to light, and from what I've seen people have been nothing but supportive.

So you're regular member hiding behind a different user name? Don't you know that's a bannable offense?

You say you're not new here, then want ST to wait for all the facts before jumping to conclusions?

I'd also like to see evidence where local cyclist aren't backing the victim and how he isn't credible.

I like the way the members of the Board of Alderman acted here, showing support for cyclists' rights (even showing up for a Saturday morning ride) while remaining neutral on the mayor.

http://www.stltoday.com/...c9-c2ce765816e5.html

That's fine. Ban me because I think it's wrong for people to evoke gang mentality and try to ruin someone's life. Read the other sites out there, not everyone is behind this guy. The evidence is not clear, it's not even there. There is a lot of he said/he said argument but I'll wait for someone to show me some actual evidence before jumping to conclusions or getting over emotional about something that I don't have any facts about.

Please link those sites. Based on what I've been able to find there's a couple witnesses that saw what happened. As you pointed out they can't see him cut the wheel at the cyclist, but can see the cyclist wasn't holding onto the car and the car hit him.

Your just randomly adding read other sites, people aren't all behind him, without linking anything isn't helping at all.

Hmmm...


This whole concept makes no sense. Why would you not just pull over to the side of the road after being involved in a vehicular collision? How would turning around and coming back on the other side of the road be a better option?

Well you don't have to see the steering wheel; all you need to see is the *actual* wheels turning sharply and the car swerving violently to the side. Not difficult to spot.

It might, but a cyclist initiating a collision with an innocent MOTOR VEHICLE sounds a lot more far fetched if you ask me. Also, the mayor's own statements verify that HE initiated contact by approaching the cyclist to verbally chastise him for a perceived traffic violation.

I could see how you might not realize you're injured when you're amped up on adrenalin. This is common place after many vehicle accidents, and the individual at fault is still liable even if the victim doesn't give an itemized list of ailments to the 911 operator.

Well the eye witnesses told a different story. So basically you are saying the cyclist plus three eye witnesses' word is worth less than the word of the person charged with the crime. That doesn't make a lot of sense.

I would say it's not looking good for your friend....

I find it fascinating that each and every report deems it necessary to state the value of the bicycle.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident.
577.060. 1. A person commits the crime of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident when being the operator or driver of a vehicle on the highway or on any publicly or privately owned parking lot or parking facility generally open for use by the public and knowing that an injury has been caused to a person or damage has been caused to property, due to his culpability or to accident, he leaves the place of the injury, damage or accident without stopping and giving his name, residence, including city and street number, motor vehicle number and driver's license number, if any, to the injured party or to a police officer, or if no police officer is in the vicinity, then to the nearest police station or judicial officer.

Thanks!

I doubt they are going to pin this on him because he returned to the scene in a short period of time. Wish the law was more explicit, but there is a lot of room for interpretation.

There is 0 proof of anything except this guy's word that something happened with 0 evidence.

Can this shill be banned please? He signed up just to spread lies on this topic.

I just have one question.

Do you have any relationship with the Mayor in question, his representatives or the city he is the mayor of, either financial, personal or contractual?

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#WeAreTheForge #BlackGunsMatter

"Look, will you guys at leats accept that you are a bunch of dumb asses and just trust me on this one? Please?" BarryP 7/30/2012

Let's see now. Having read the entirety of this 200+ post thread and gone to all the video and news reports on this, I'm going to sum up.


MU1998 offers up no evidence supporting his (her?) version of the facts, which exactly match the Mayor's version (which was farfetched, to say the least).
MU1998 signed up and immediately posted.
MU1998 starts spreading rumours about the victim, with no links or evidence. Absolutely abhorrent.

On the other side is the damning evidence.

There are at least three eyewitnesses.
Someone purposely swerving into a cyclist would be easy to observe, and the intention would also be obvious as well.
If the Mayor intended to stop, he easily could have pulled over immediately after making contact. Also, previous accounts state that he was followed by the eyewitnesses before he returned.

Now, I have an interest in this incident not only because it is disgusting but because I witnessed a similar incident. My friend being swiped by a driver who was so impatient after honking repeatedly (this was in a slow moving road around a mall) that he gunned his engine passing and clipping his bicycle. As he was being squeezed, my friend put his left hand out--this is a natural reaction, putting your hand out when you are being pushed to the side to create more room. He fell to the ground. His bicycle sustained minor damage. It is more than a year after that accident and his back is still messed up. An outside observer would think he was just fine after the accident. Even he himself did not know how badly he was injured at the time. The reality is that he spent an entire year in pain that impacted his activities and there is no end in sight as his back is still causing him pain, having shown little improvement for the past year.

Also in that case, the driver sped off. Gunned his engine, actually. I gave chase on my bicycle, and an eyewitness in the car following also gave chase. The eyewitness yelled at him repeatedly to pull over, and when he was stopped at a sign, I told him to show me some ID and he refused. It was only after the eyewitness whipped out his cell phone and threatened to call the police that he turned around some 500m later. In that case it was truly an "accident" as the driver did not intentionally make contact (I hope it was not intentional, any way). Multiple eyewitnesses volunteered to give us their contact information. In THIS case it was intentional, which explains the impassioned attack on the Mayor from the cycling community.

This incident hits way too close to home for me.

Maybe the mayor's lawyer graduated from law school in Michigan in 1998. ;)

Sometimes the only way to get justice from the powerful is for the proletariat to gang up.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

MU1998 could be from Missouri University

No. I have no relationship to the mayor in any way what so ever. I just don't like the way people immediately attack someone based on one someone else's word. I don't like to see this happen to anyone of any community and I think it makes a bad name for the group doing the attacking. There is no independent thinking or critical thinking, it's just people jumping on a band wagon because it's easy and you don't have to think about the consequences, especially if you are wrong. I don't know what happened and I'm simply playing devils advocate here, but I don't think that just because this guy was on a bike means he is telling the truth. Have you ever been on that road where this happened? There is no shoulder to pull over on so even if someone chased him to make him stop he could have intended to stop anyways, but couldn't at that exact moment bc there was no shoulder so he turned around. Yes, I have seen many postings of other cyclists saying "wait a sec, not so fast" and pointing out plenty of reasons not to immediately take this guy at his word. I can't link them because it would take a whole scrolling through the bs posted everywhere else and really don't have time but look through the local news sites and the river front times and you will see them. Everything I've seem about the mayor and his personal and professional life shows nothing to lead me to believe he is the type of person to maliciously attack someone. He appears to be a pretty normal, every day guy who happened to win an election as a last minute write in candidate which leads me to believe he has a pretty solid reputation in the community. No, I don't see any reason for Randy to lie either, which is why I'm saying we can't jump to conclusions, especially when the reactions are hurting peoples families and careers. How many stories have you seen about convicts being declared innocent 20 yrs after the fact? Yet at the time they went to prison everyone hated them and swore how guilty they were? All I'm saying is you never know, so be careful how you act and what you say because it can hurt innocent people.
I worked as a bank teller when I was younger and it was pressed upon all employees with great emphasis that if we were ever robbed not to talk about it with anyone until talking to the police. Why? Because under stressful situations people don't remember accurately and tend to change their minds without even realizing it and start to say they saw what someone else saw, or describe a person wrong, or their ideas of what match those around them. So witnesses in a stressful situation who have had time to sit around and talk to each other before the police I don't think can be trusted. I've seen people describe a completely different person and circumstance after a crime happened because their minds molded to what they were hearing, like a game of telephone the message at the end is completely changed.
I have seen family members of mine personally and professionally harmed by the effects of gang mentality and only later does the truth come out that they were innocent all along, when no one on earth believed them. But once it's said and done even being proven right it doesn't matter bc their reputation is ruined by someone else's false claims.
Is the mayor innocent? I don't know. But that's why I'm not ready to crucify him just yet. No one knows. Just because he is the mayor it doesn't mean he must be guilty. Or innocent. And that's the point - NO ONE REALLY KNOWS.

If there was no shoulder to pull over onto, where was he going to pull over after he found a place to turn around?

All I know is if I hit someone I would stop immediately even if it meant I was blocking traffic.

jaretj