The perpetraitor was impersonating Paul Stanley from the band Kiss. He had a history of prior arrests, was driving without a license and had open alcohol in the car.
The victim was just in our store. She is doing fine.
glad to hear she is ok.
not to steal your thread, but Saturday I did my first Olympic distance race. I remember you describing an Olympic as being in a hurt locker. Now I know what you mean.
But you did it and that is what counts. Well done. Congratulations. Way to go!
Tom,
On Sunday I met the County Sheriff on Hines Drive when he stopped to inquire if I was okay after noticing I was a cyclist and stopped on the shoulder with my bike lying on its side. (I was trimming overhanging branches on the westbound shoulder.)
He introduced himself and informed me he was the officer who ultimately caught this perpetraitor. I was surprised by how small the world really is. The woman is a member of the cycling club I belong to
The sheriff explained he was new on this assignment (this season) and he was cyclist friendly. He wanted me to know he cared about my safety as a cyclist and that I truly had a right to be on the roadway. As well, I acknowledged I had a responsibility to follow the same laws as motorists while using the roadway.
With this perpetraitor’s priors, it will be interesting to see how he is prosecuted and what his punishment will be if he is even convicted. Let’s leave the door open to plea bargaining, etc.
I would think that under the circumstances it would be reasonable to throw the book at him and charge him with intent to do great bodily harm. However, my pessimism leads me to believe it will never come to this. They likely will permit him to plead guilty to crossing the white line and entering the bike path (some mild form of endangerment) that failed to result in any “real” or “serious” injury to anyone and let him go after paying a fine and court costs.
Then everyone will express outrage when his next incident results in a serious injury or death to someone. Will it really be any surprise?
I agree. I spoke with Carol this morning and mentioned to her how pleased we were that she escaped unscathed, although understandably frazzeled.
We also spoke about how much different this would be had the perpetraitor’s car door been four more inches to the right.
“and had open alcohol in the car.”
Was it by any chance a bottle of Cold Gin? boom tish
Oooooh, a rim shot (baddabing!) !!
That guy’s nothing but a “Parasite”, though. 
K.
That guy’s nothing but a “Parasite”, though.
K.
Parasite? He sounds more like a War Machine. Better watch out.
It’s a good thing he didn’t show up at the palace with his Love Gun. Then there’d have been real trouble, no doubt 
K.
“I remember you describing an Olympic as being in a hurt locker.”
Don’t know what that means, the hurt locker. Can you explain?
Mark
It’s a good thing he didn’t show up at the palace with his Love Gun. Then there’d have been real trouble, no doubt
K.
I don’t know what you know about triathlon, but when it comes to KISS, You Sure Know Something!
“I remember you describing an Olympic as being in a hurt locker.”
Don’t know what that means, the hurt locker. Can you explain?
Mark
I think what Tom means is it’s all about that Sweet Pain. ahhhhh…
A “hurt locker” is more of a military slang term for when someone suffers a lot of pain or frustration etc. It’s especially used in the naval services (Navy, Marines, Coast Guard), as a “locker” is usually some sort of storage place such as a “paint locker” or the “dive locker” (where all of the various paraphernalia used to conduct underwater diving operations is cossetted).
A favorite phrase used by military members is something to the effect of “I really put that guy in the hurt locker” (I caused him a ton of physical or mental pain and anguish).
K. (retired Navy person)
Tom was describing what it was like to race different distances.
A sprint is a good hard workout, an ironman is a true endurance event, a half is a pretty good race, and an Olympic hurts. a lot.
Haven’t done an Ironman or a half, but I can concur with the sprint and Olympic. Next day after a sprint (even a long sprint) my body feels fine. But 3 days after the Olympic, my quads are still sore. I can’t even imagine what the body feels like after an Ironman
Mark
Kahuna, We used the term alot in the Airborne (Canadian) as well, but it likely is a naval term. If you were “only” hurting, you were in the hurt locker. If you were hurting like after doing an I.M, you were DEEP in the hurt locker.
John
Tom,
A further update on Carol’s incident.
After yesterday evening’s Monday night Club ride, the sheriff pulled into the parking lot where we assemble to start the ride. This was after the ride and after it was dark. We thought he was going to shoo us out of the park because it was now after dark.
Surprise, it was the same sheriff deputy as before on the shoulder. I recognized him and introduced him to the other cyclist with me. While discussing Carol’s incident, I shared my pessimism about the perpetrator’s likelihood to get off with only minor consequences. The sheriff explained that because Carol was not struck, that charging the perp with assault with intent to do great bodily harm would result in the charge immediately being thrown out! This was surprising to discover.
The sheriff explained that he has never had one of his citations thrown out of 20th district court where this case will be settled. He also advised us that the perpetrator did admit he committed this act to the sheriff. The sheriff attached a report of his own comments regarding this incident as well as Carol’s statement of the incident… He indicated this will not be ignored by the judges in 20th district court.
The sheriff explained that he charged the perp with a “gross” misdemeanor? He said that was the most severe act he could charge this individual with and still be sure that the perp could not weasel out of the charge or consequences by plea bargaining, etc.
The sheriff said to rest assured that this individual will be much poorer as a result of his bad judgment. Thousands of dollars poorer! Sorry Tom, I guess he will be starting over again to save up for that new bike from your store.
The sheriff also indicated that the people in the vehicle were banned from the park permanently. They will be arrested on sight and charged with a felony should they ever return to the park. He felt confident that they would find someplace else to “play” in the future. He also advised that because of the alcohol use in this incident and operating a vehicle while intoxicated (the driver not the perpetrator) the judge was responsible for determining the consequence of this act and trying to protect the rest of us from these individuals should they have a desire later to find another place to “play”. It is the judge’s responsibility to impose sufficient consequences that these individuals will choose not to drink and drive in the future.
We invited the sheriff to come back next week before the start of our Club ride and we would introduce him to the Club members and others who showed up to ride and he could address a large group of cyclists and share his offer to help us as well as any other concerns he might have. We thanked him for his involvement and his interest in us and to let us know if he had any problems with cyclists that we could help him with.
He indicated that if he was unable to attend next week’s Club ride (he was planning to go to Florida to check up on his Dad after all the hurricanes, especially Ivan, that was possibly heading in his Dad’s direction) he would make it the following week. He said if the weather was too bad, he would wait a week to go South and would be at next week’s ride.
He thanked us and drove off without shooing us away from the park even though it was after dark. Maybe that was preferential treatment?