The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7.

Jun 7, 16 21:15

Post #1 of 145 (13728 views)

Nine adult cyclists, both male and female, were struck by a blue Chevrolet pick-up truck at approximately 6:36 PM on Tuesday, June 7 near Markin Glen Park outside Kalamazoo, Michigan. Five of the victims were declared dead at the scene according to reports from WOOD TV 8 Live.
In a press conference held at 11:00 PM Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Gedding told reporters the cyclists were “All adults, both male and female, and were riding together in a group”. According to witnesses the cyclists were riding north bound on the right side of the road and were struck from the rear. An unidentified witness told a news reporter “We didn’t see anybody walk away”.
Prosecutor Gedding also told reporters that in the minutes leading up to the collision with cyclists there were at least three calls made to local law enforcement agencies to report erratic or dangerous driving from the blue Chevrolet pick-up truck involved in the accident.

Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Gedding delivers press conference at 11:00 PM on Tuesday, June 7 about the accident.
At 6:08 PM the area public safety agency received a phone call about the blue pick-up truck driving erratically, followed by a call at 6:13 to the local sheriff’s department and a third call to township police at 6:21 prior to the accident report at 6:36 PM. There was no on-going pursuit of the suspect vehicle at the time of the accident according to police.
The blue pick-up truck was recovered by police at the scene after the driver had abandoned it. The driver/suspect was apprehended by police near the accident scene and remains in custody.
Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Gedding told reporters there was very little information he could provide about the accident pending a review of the official report as early as Thursday. Gedding said the Michigan State Police would conduct “A reconstruction of the accident” based on the report.
Names of the victims and of the driver involved will not be released by police until deemed appropriate by law enforcement.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]

Jun 7, 16 21:37

Post #2 of 145 (13503 views)

Thanks for posting, Tom.

It's time to hold reporters more accountable for their words. The writer should have used neutral words, not "accident."

Incident, collision, crash, impact, what else could work here?

Calling it an accident tends to excuse the driver, when no evidence exists that it was unintentional and/or unavoidable.

Sharon McN
@IronCharo
#TeamZoot
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Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [SharonMcN] [ In reply to ]

Jun 7, 16 21:47

Post #3 of 145 (13485 views)

I'm just gonna go out on a limb and call it manslaughter. Or perhaps murder.

Eta for the record, MI defines second degree murder as "a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life.". Could be....

Last edited by: ChrisM: Jun 7, 16 21:53

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]

Jun 7, 16 22:26

Post #4 of 145 (13412 views)

Wow. 30 miles from where I grew up. Thoughts with the riders and their families. Hopefully justice will be served...

"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 4:38

Post #5 of 145 (13153 views)

I went to school in Kzoo and live an hour away... maybe they need to check the water or something b/c there has been some craziness of late!

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [ChrisM] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 4:46

Post #6 of 145 (13119 views)

ChrisM wrote:

I'm just gonna go out on a limb and call it manslaughter. Or perhaps murder.

Eta for the record, MI defines second degree murder as "a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life.". Could be....

Yep, I agree, this is murder. It would not be surprising to find out the driver was drunk. I bet the defense will use some stupid excuse like "side effects from doctor prescribed medication". There's no excuse. This guy should go to jail for the rest of his life after killing five people.

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 4:54

Post #7 of 145 (13085 views)

It is stories like this that make me want to ride more and more on my kickr in the basement.

Joel

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [eye3md] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 5:32

Post #8 of 145 (12952 views)

I'm sure this is a very trying time for the driver... hasn't he suffered enough?

eye3md wrote:

ChrisM wrote:

I'm just gonna go out on a limb and call it manslaughter. Or perhaps murder.

Eta for the record, MI defines second degree murder as "a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life.". Could be....

Yep, I agree, this is murder. It would not be surprising to find out the driver was drunk. I bet the defense will use some stupid excuse like "side effects from doctor prescribed medication". There's no excuse. This guy should go to jail for the rest of his life after killing five people.

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Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 5:37

Post #9 of 145 (12921 views)

Well Garmin Varia and a new compatible cycling computer just went into the Amazon cart. If I dont stay ahead of this the wife might try and keep me off the road.

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [joelt] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 5:46

Post #10 of 145 (12879 views)

joelt wrote:

It is stories like this that make me want to ride more and more on my kickr in the basement.

Joel

I feel the same way.

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [ericM40-44] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 5:46

Post #11 of 145 (12879 views)

ericM40-44 wrote:

I'm sure this is a very trying time for the driver... hasn't he suffered enough?

That's the new defense after it appears to have been used successfully in the Stanford swimmer's sexual assault defense....."are we gonna let 20 minutes of action ruin this kid's life"

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [eye3md] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 5:50

Post #12 of 145 (12855 views)

the "accident" and "cyclist collided with truck" or the passive "cyclists were struck by a truck" phrasings really disgust me as well.

It was not an accident, it was a murder, and they were hit by a person, not a truck.

eye3md wrote:

ericM40-44 wrote:

I'm sure this is a very trying time for the driver... hasn't he suffered enough?

That's the new defense after it appears to have been used successfully in the Stanford swimmer's sexual assault defense....."are we gonna let 20 minutes of action ruin this kid's life"

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [eye3md] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 5:54

Post #13 of 145 (12827 views)

eye3md wrote:

ericM40-44 wrote:

I'm sure this is a very trying time for the driver... hasn't he suffered enough?

That's the new defense after it appears to have been used successfully in the Stanford swimmer's sexual assault defense....."are we gonna let 20 minutes of action ruin this kid's life"

Yep, I guess we should just make all punishment times proportional to the length of the crime.

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 6:00

Post #14 of 145 (12780 views)

Former reporter here. You absolutely canNOT use words that would imply the driver is guilty before he has been convicted or you risk getting sued. Up until one second before the conviction you'd have to say he "allegedly" drove through a crowd of innocent people.

As a cyclist who has had my share of "get off the road"s yelled at me, and Michigander, I was heartbroken to see this yesterday. I take very small consolation knowing that he was apprehended and will hopefully be prosecuted.

Stay safe out there.

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Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [GAUG3] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 6:18

Post #15 of 145 (12686 views)

GAUG3 wrote:

joelt wrote:

It is stories like this that make me want to ride more and more on my kickr in the basement.

Joel

I feel the same way.

I already posted this response to similar comments in another thread on the same topic so forgive the repetition but I think it bears repeating and hope you agree:

There is a danger that stories like this make us think we're taking part in a hugely dangerous sport. I do think incidents happen more often than they should on the roads but I also think we need to maintain some perspective. Do motorists have these discussions every time they hear about motorists dying in a collision? Should they?
Stories like this, while horrific should not be the core basis of our risk assessments.

There is no such thing as complete safety. There's only the illusion, which stories like this can shatter.
We need to try and see the reality instead of jumping between illusions of invincibility and extreme vulnerability the whole time.

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [ericM40-44] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 6:21

Post #16 of 145 (12648 views)

ericM40-44 wrote:

I'm sure this is a very trying time for the driver... hasn't he suffered enough?

eye3md wrote:

ChrisM wrote:

I'm just gonna go out on a limb and call it manslaughter. Or perhaps murder.

Eta for the record, MI defines second degree murder as "a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life.". Could be....

Yep, I agree, this is murder. It would not be surprising to find out the driver was drunk. I bet the defense will use some stupid excuse like "side effects from doctor prescribed medication". There's no excuse. This guy should go to jail for the rest of his life after killing five people.

Yep, why should his life be ruined for 20 mins of action? Seriously though, would anyone be surprised to see this guy get nothing more than leaving the scene of an accident? It would be par for the course.

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [SharonMcN] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 6:27

Post #17 of 145 (12614 views)

Just as awful were the words a doctor from one of the two local hospitals used when he was interviewed via phone on the local news station. He was asked about how bad injuries typically are in these situations. He answered that it's hard to tell because it depends on factors such as the driving speed, etc. But then he was asked about the recovery for the specific victims in this situation and said "they don't stand much of a chance" or something very close to that. The problem is that this doctor wasn't working the cases for the two victims that were at his hospital (nor the two at the other hospital), doesn't know the specific injuries, and isn't privy to the details of the crash scene investigation. I know that one of the injuries was a broken femur; another was transported to the hospital but is OK (unsure if that person is one of the four that were counted amongst those injured in the news reports).

We're not a large city and the cycling community here is tight-knit. For those of us that don't know details of who was killed and injured nor the full extent of their injuries--knowing that among those there's an extremely high probability that someone we personally know or are friends with was impacted--it was an offensive, insensitive statement on the part of the doctor. There are many of us messaging each other making sure everyone is OK, waiting to find out which of our friends was a victim of this senselessness, and the insensitive, sensationalized statement that makes it sound potentially even worse is infuriating.

SharonMcN wrote:

Thanks for posting, Tom.

It's time to hold reporters more accountable for their words. The writer should have used neutral words, not "accident."

Incident, collision, crash, impact, what else could work here?

Calling it an accident tends to excuse the driver, when no evidence exists that it was unintentional and/or unavoidable.

Last edited by: MidwestRoadie: Jun 8, 16 6:30

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [joelt] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 7:22

Post #18 of 145 (12451 views)

joelt wrote:

It is stories like this that make me want to ride more and more on my kickr in the basement.

Joel

My condolences to the family and friends of those killed and injured. Joel, do you use a rearview mirror when cycling? I didn't until last year because it looked geeky, but I feel more comfortable now on the roads since starting to use one. I don't know whether anyone in this group was using a mirror or if the truck made any erratic movements when it would have been visible on the road behind the group, but I do feel more comfortable being able to see what's coming up behind me and how each vehicle is traveling. I'm certainly not blaming the cyclists for this collision, but to cyclists out there who read about such an accident and say they are going to quit riding on the roads or drastically reduce the amount of riding they do on the roads, I'd recommend a less drastic step of getting a helmet or eyeglass mounted mirror if you're not using one. I assume you use rearview mirrors when driving?

I hope the driver is punished to the fullest extent possible.

Last edited by: Mark Lemmon: Jun 8, 16 7:25

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 7:24

Post #19 of 145 (12439 views)

It's early in this investigation. Comments about responsibility and/or cause(s) for the incident are less informed now than they will be once the results of the investigation are published.

I'll suggest that, as with any incident, be it an aircraft accident, military incident or public safety matter as is this case, that speculation may not be the best use of our collective energies.

Perhaps the best use of our collective experience, especially within this forum that tends to be a collective of more experienced cyclists in some cases, is to talk about ways to make ourselves safer on the road.

Again- rather than spend good experience debating the merit of ideas to be safer riding in traffic and/or theorizing about the accident itself, let's talk about ways to be safer on rides.

I'll start with the obvious:

1. Wear bright colors.

2. File a "flight plan" and let someone know when you're leaving and when you'll be back as well as your route.

3. Ride on routes where cyclists are commonly seen. Motorists may be more accustomed to the site of cyclists on these routes and traffic density may be lower while traffic is slower- hence the reason cyclists aggregate there.

These are just three low-hanging ideas. I know you guys have many more.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [Mark Lemmon] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 7:25

Post #20 of 145 (12427 views)

I do ride with a mirror but I have still been buzzed to many times to count and I just don't want to deal with the danger or hastle of riding outside very much anymore. I am doing more on trails on my mountain bike and using my kickr in the mornings before work. It is just more of what I am comfortable with.

Joel

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [joelt] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 7:29

Post #21 of 145 (12389 views)

joelt wrote:

I do ride with a mirror but I have still been buzzed to many times to count and I just don't want to deal with the danger or hastle of riding outside very much anymore. I am doing more on trails on my mountain bike and using my kickr in the mornings before work. It is just more of what I am comfortable with.

Joel

Understand. This driver may well have been driving straight as an arrow until he plowed into the group.

Last edited by: Mark Lemmon: Jun 8, 16 7:36

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [ChrisM] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 7:30

Post #22 of 145 (12383 views)

ChrisM wrote:

I'm just gonna go out on a limb and call it manslaughter. Or perhaps murder.

Eta for the record, MI defines second degree murder as "a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life.". Could be....

I'm sure his lawyer will get it reduced on a plea bargain. Especially since he only killed cyclists. If it had been a motorist, it would be different. Sigh.

This is only 60 miles away from me, so locally, we'll be following this and I guarantee the cycling community will make sure this guy doesn't get off lightly.

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Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [joelt] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 7:32

Post #23 of 145 (12375 views)

joelt wrote:

I do ride with a mirror but I have still been buzzed to many times to count and I just don't want to deal with the danger or hastle of riding outside very much anymore. I am doing more on trails on my mountain bike and using my kickr in the mornings before work. It is just more of what I am comfortable with.

Joel

I've found the mountain bike a valuable addition. I've never been to nervous on the roads, or anything to be scared about, but I know that on my mountain bike on trails, no car can hit me. It almost feels safer, which is funny, because drops and jumps don't sound safe...

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [SharonMcN] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 7:37

Post #24 of 145 (12350 views)

SharonMcN wrote:

Thanks for posting, Tom.

It's time to hold reporters more accountable for their words. The writer should have used neutral words, not "accident."

Incident, collision, crash, impact, what else could work here?

Calling it an accident tends to excuse the driver, when no evidence exists that it was unintentional and/or unavoidable.

The driver allegedly mowed down the bicyclists as if he were intentionally out to murder them. After allegedly killing and maiming 9 bicyclists, the alleged person behind the wheel ran from the scene oblivious of the fatalities and carnage he allegedly caused. Eye witnesses confirm that the alleged perp callously and recklessly took no evasive action to spare the lives of the cyclists and also witnessed the perp leaving the scene of a hit and run, allegedly.

Re: The Kalamazoo Cycling Fatalities, Tuesday, June 7. [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]

Jun 8, 16 8:27

Post #25 of 145 (12238 views)

This is just a very tough day for the Kzoo community. I'm local and the community is shaken but coming together again as one.

As for your suggestions, I believe we need to go even further to seek preventative measures. The cyclists were wearing bright colors, they had a mapped plan, and the road is commonly used by cyclists. Do we possibly have ride volunteers that drive behind groups with flashers? This was just one suggestion I've heard that may sound like a lot of work and not normal... but maybe its time we re-think the safety of how we have organized rides on roads. This was a safe road... but it can't save you from a poor driver.

Anyone in the area, there will be a ride of silence starting at 6PM from Arcadia Ales. There is normally a huge Wednesday Night Ride but that will be put on hold. There have been people asking for motorists to show up and follow with hazard lights on to show a connection within the community of motorists and cyclists.

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