It's so terrible! I don't understand what happened to cause the bikers to stop like that in the first place. Then, it's too blurry to see exactly what happened when the SUV ran over them. Were the bikers being agressive? Was the driver just annoyed and impatient?

The bikers deserved it for trapping that guy in like that. Hooligans on crotch rockets.

Was the driver just annoyed and impatient?

Generally speaking, many motorists are in this state when they are behind the wheel in their vehicles. Try this little test - next time you are at a red light. When the light goes green, just hesitate for a second or two. You will likley get a long lean on the horn from the vehicle behind you and then some form of aggressive maneuvering to get around and passed you, often with a very dirty look or worse - the finger, foul language, other aggressive gesticulating . . and so on. All that for a one or two second "delay" in their drive, from whatever super urgent trip they were on!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

The comments seem to be largely in defense of the driver.

Here's what I can make out:

it was a "holiday" or a "celebration" for motorcycles that day. That much is obvious, can't even count how many there are. So, drivers are upset that motorcyclists are all over the road. As Fleck said, horns are honked, fingers given, curses yelled, etc etc. It looks like what sets it off is the riders get pissed, one brake checks the RR, and the driver gives him a love tap (it happens just off screen, but I can't see anyone go flying, so I think the rider stayed upright). Don't know if it was purposeful or not, I've never understood the rationale behind brake-checking a 4 wheeled vehicle that outweighs your 2 wheel vehicle by thousands of pounds. After the brake check, they get pissed off, stop traffic, and from there it's on like donkey kong.

Again, I think all sides acted worse. I think the riders over-reacted a little bit in the beginning, but after seeing comrades get run over, I'd be hard pressed to imagine many on this board wouldn't do the same (if we could go that fast!).

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@adamwfurlong

what this does not show is that the group of bikers caught up with him in traffic and smashed his windows in and beat him up with his wife and child in the car

eta - started to show it then they end - the news here showed it going further

Bunch of idiots high on Mad Max and energy drinks. Cyclists would never behave like that.... our helmets would probably break on the window.

Don't dismiss a car hitting a bike/motorcycle as a "love tap". The driver created an extremely dangerous situation, used his car as a weapon, and tried to kill people.

here is the rest of the story:

http://nypost.com/...cops-bust-bike-thug/

He didn't try to kill anyone. He was trying to protect his family when they surrounded him and started to get off their bikes.

The fact that the driver is being portrayed as the victim in this situation is completely ridiculous. He deliberately attempted, several times, to kill other humans with his car.

Deliberately hitting a motorcycle from behind counts as trying to kill someone. Barreling through a crowd of people also counts as trying to kill someone...

We really don't know what happened prior so it is really tough to single out blame. Looks though that there is plenty of blame to go around.

Like when they swarmed his car and he was obviously trying to get away? Or when they tried to open his door and he was obviously trying to get away? Or when he was stuck in traffic and they smashed his windows? I don't think he was trying to end lives - I think he was trying to keep his wife and kid safe and didn't really care if he had to run over a motorcycle to do so.

Read the NY Times article posted above...gives a little more light to the "friendly bike gathering" than liveleak or any of the participants admit.

What the video clearly shows in the first tenish seconds is one rider alongside the SUV turns his head towards the driver for a period of time, then immediately moves in front of the SUV and slows down. I don't think it is shown, but I do not see how the driver could have avoided hitting the biker at this point.

The problem is the video only shows clips of the entire incident. What happened before the start of the video? I haven't found any details about this part yet.
Was the cameraman taping his friend screwing around in traffic when it suddenly went very wrong? Did the SUV driver do something which caused the cameraman to start taping?

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Hey I write a blog!
http://mgotri.blogspot.com

So if someone stops your car on a highway and threatens to beat the shit out of you along with 75 of his closest friends you are just supposed to sit there?

So what would you have done if you were in his place? Gotten out and exchanged insurance details with the motorcyclist whose rear wheel you just tapped (after he deliberately brake-checked you) while a hundred or so of his friends waited politely to carry on with their leisurely Sunday ride?

Read this:

http://nypost.com/...cops-bust-bike-thug/

How do you know that's what was happening? There was no damage to his car before he barreled through a crowd of people. So they weren't breaking down his windows or doors.

How do you even know they were threatening him?

And your response is going to be "Of course they were threatening him!"
And my response is going to be "Yeah. Because he had already tried to kill one of them..."
And then you'll say "Well the biker slowed down right in front of him!"
And my response will be "The driver should not have been following that closely"

Cool. Glad we had this talk.

Deliberately slowing down in front of another vehicle, as the motorcycle did, is reckless driving.

In the video the SUV did not come upon the group from behind and plow them down. The motorcycles overtook the SUV, surrounded it, and purposefully slowed down causing the SUV to hit one of them.

As for trying to kill someone, it appears more that the SUV is trying to escape a situation the group of motorcycles put him into rather than trying to kill someone. When one fears for their own life drastic actions are taken. The video is not clear about what happens moments before the driver runs through the group.

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Hey I write a blog!
http://mgotri.blogspot.com

and another story - you might want to get the facts before you accuse the driver http://www.nytimes.com/...ef=nyregion&_r=0



they were a splinter group from a larger unofficial organized ride that the police had already broken up

Prior to this video footage I guess the Range Rover bumped and knocked down a rider. At least that's what CBS reported. Hit and Run, call the cops follow him and let the cops do their job. Instead they try to pull him over and well you see what happened. idiots! Great video for the police. Now they can charge these idiots for numerous traffic violations and most important assault and battery. Idiots.

What "facts"? All we have is the video, and conflicting witness reports.

did you bother to read the NYT story?

it has been all over the news down here - all different stations and pretty consistent that the driver did NOT instigate this - that he was trying to protect his family

One of the motorcycles cut the SUV off and slowed down, causing the SUV to hit the motorcycle. The collision was probably not intentional but the motorcycle appeared to be toying with the SUV and miscalculated. The motorcycles then swarmed the guy and he ran one over. If I had my wife and 5 month old baby in the car I probably would have done the same.