Scary bike incidents

Triathlon Forum
1

I got this from a local mailing list I’m on. I hope this kind of thing is considered a felony and not a misdemeanor. People should spend serious jail time for this kind of thing.

I wanted to share with you a very scary incident that happened to me
Tues. evening. I was heading up the normal SE heights route like I
would or any of you would on any given day to get some fingers work in
before I head out of town for a few days.

Heading East on Singing Arrow, I had just leisurely past a guy who was
commuting home. I approached the 4 way stop at Singing Arrow and
Dorado. (Dorado is the North-South street before you make the final
right turn up to Tramway by those apts.) As I was turning left I rode
around some young girls who happened to be crossing the street at the
same time. As I was clearing the intersection a car was sitting at the
stop sign heading West on Singing Arrow caught my attention as I
started to ride North. The passenger in the car was holding a pistol
out the window that appeared to be pointed at me. I had this flashback
of a scene from Boyz in the Hood. In the next 2 seconds I heard this
yell “get out of the way” which I guess was directed at the young
girls. Immediately following, the sound of a semi-automatic hand gun
was being fired. I was hit immediately on the back of my right leg just
below my hamstring and below my shorts. At the same time I heard many
ricoches. After the massive stinging sensation, I figured that it was
just a BB gun, thankfully. When I realized what the hell was going on,
I turned around and saw the car full of what looked like young
teenagers drive away. I noticed the bike commuter was about 20 feet
behind me. He was hit in the ass. I stopped to assess my damages which
was just a bloody pelt mark. I wanted to make sure the BB wasn’t still
lodged in my leg which it was not, although there was an immediate
lump. The commuter, whose name I didn’t get was OK also, he did not get
hit on bare skin.

I cannot believe that it happened. Afterwards I was thinking that if I
was hit anywhere else above my legs it could have been much worse or if
it was a “real” gun I may not be telling this story. I feel very lucky.
Although the probability of this happening again is slim, it really
makes you think!

2

Too bad you didn’t get a license plate…those little bastards need a visit from law enforcement. Kids doing that crap with paintball guns have done jail time.

3

I agree these little punks should be locked up…But, I believe it stems from the parents not teaching these kids anything but buying them things to shut them up. Drop them off when they are babies & kids for some other no name to teach them right from wrong so mommy & daddy can drive big hummers & live in a big beautiful house with 4 bedrooms. Ignore the kids which turn out to be troubled youngsters then pay attorney fees to keep them out of jail. Just read this incident that happened this past winter on Long Island. Punks out for a good time…belong in jail locked up for a long long time…then maybe some of the other future baby punks will learn not to do such things. I doubt it.

Members of a heartless Long Island gang that hurled a 20-pound turkey through a driver’s windshield were nabbed last night as the victim lay in a coma, cops said.

Nearly every bone in the woman’s face was broken when the bird was tossed from a moving car - hitting her with a force equivalent to a bowling ball dropped from a 20-story building and causing her to lose control of the steering wheel.

Suffolk Detective Sgt. William Lamb said five teens were under arrest, including the suspected turkey tosser, Farmingdale State University student Ryan Cushing, 18, of Huntington, who was charged with first-degree assault.

Four others - driver Jack Cutrone, 18; Steven Manzolina, 17, and Amanda McDonald, 17, all of Selden, and Rachel MacDonald, 17, of Centereach, were slapped with lesser charges, cops said.

“My son was involved, and it’s appalling to our entire family,” said Jack Cutrone Sr., 45, reached at his home last night. “We’re in shock, but we’re praying for the injured woman.”

“He turned himself in, which helped lead the police to the others,” Cutrone Sr. said. “He’s a good kid, but we can’t believe he would be involved in something this stupid.”

The senseless attack was “done on a whim,” the father said his son told him.

More suspects were being sought.

“This is something all of us can sympathize with,” said Suffolk County Chief of Detectives Kenneth Rau. “I mean, a person, innocent, just riding down the highway. This is a very tragic event.”

“It’s just a stupid act of violence,” said Pete Iglio, 33, the victim’s tenant.

Doctors said it was too early to tell whether the 44-year-old woman suffered significant brain damage in Saturday’s attack on Portion Road in Lake Ronkonkoma.

As she underwent six hours of grueling surgery to repair shattered bones in her face yesterday, the woman’s sister called for prayers.

“Right now, we’re just praying and thank everybody for their help,” she said. “We’re praying that my sister wakes up the way she was.”

The victim, who is single and lives by herself, has been in a medically induced coma since the Saturday morning crash.

Police originally planned to release a video surveillance tape of seven suspects who bought the turkey minutes before the bird-toss attack.

But they abruptly changed their minds as they narrowed in on arrests.

The horrifying incident took place shortly after midnight Saturday morning as the victim drove home with a friend.

Earlier, the gang had smashed a car window and stolen a purse containing a credit card from a car parked outside a multiplex movie theater.

The youths first went to two nearby Blockbuster Video stores, then moved on to a Waldbaum’s supermarket, where they used the card to buy a heap of groceries, cops said.

Among the purchases was a 20-pound fresh turkey.

Some of the suspects were traveling westbound in Cutrone’s car on the busy artery when they spotted the victim’s car coming the other way, just around the corner from her home.

Cushing, who has a prior arrest for criminal tampering, then tossed the turkey out of the rear passenger-side window, police said.

The missile smashed through the windshield and into the woman’s face, sending her car careening out of control.

The passenger managed to grab the steering wheel, regaining control of the swerving car before it crashed.

As the victim, one of seven siblings, recovered at University Hospital in Stony Brook, relatives and neighbors described her as a kind, selfless woman.

“She’s just the sweetest person you’ll ever meet,” one neighbor said. “You’re always looking out for road rage, not a flying turkey coming through your windshield.”

4

I actually read about this incident and I remember when it was on the news because my parents live on Long Island. I wonder partly if the kids knew anything about physics and how much impact it would generate. If they really were dumb, they might think it would splatter on the windshield or something that wouldn’t actually injure a person…at least that’s what I hope because to think that it was a horrible malicious act so near to where my parents live troubles me a great deal.