Deathrace 2007

On Thursday, A truck coming out of Home Depot parking lot struck a woman and three children walking across Highland Avenue in East Liberty. This made all the news reports (Post Gazette, WTAE, WPXI, KDKA, etc). And while this is certainly newsworthy, a much more terrifying story from the day before was covered only by the Bike-Pgh message boards. Here's an excerpt; a Letter to the Editor concerning a Post Gazette article:

My name is Shaun, and I am one of the coordinators with the Free Ride project that Michael participated in and wrote about. Sadly, one of our volunteers who is featured in this article, Elijah, was violently and intentionally struck by a vehicle at Baum and Liberty Avenue on Wednesday, the same day Michael's article was published.

After exchanging words with Elijah at an intersection, exclaiming that he needed to get off the street, the driver accelerated as the light turned green in an effort to chase Elijah down. Realizing he was in danger, our friend rode his bike up onto the sidewalk to escape - only to be followed by the car onto the sidewalk and struck violently. The "gray sedan" stopped just short of hitting a utility pole before reversing quickly into oncoming traffic and speeding off. Nobody who witnessed this assault, which amounts to an attempt at murder with a motor vehicle, stopped or was able to provide any information about the driver. This happened at around 4pm in the afternoon.

To be clear, Elijah suffered minimal injury given the circumstances - a broken wrist, badly burned leg, and a destroyed rear wheel. Given that all of this happened on his 25th birthday, he's remained in great spirits, never one to let something like this wipe the perennial smile from his face.

Unfortunately there is a tacit assumption by members of the cycling community that the police will not follow up a situation like this past the initial report that is filed, and further that the local media will not give a terrible story like this - an attempt at murder with a motor vehicle in broad daylight - the proper attention and follow through it deserves. It is all too typical that cyclists are blamed in situations where they are attacked, as though each of us on a bike in Pittsburgh is asking to be treated with disdain.

I hope you will consider a follow-up to Michael's story regarding this situation. At the least, please print this letter in the hopes that anyone with any information about this assault will come forward and help. Elijah does not have medical insurance to cover his injuries, and the people who attacked him should not be allowed to get away with it. Please contact Free Ride at freeride@bike-pgh.org or 412-731-4094 with any information.
Thank you...

So, a stupid driver who makes a turn blind and hits a family gets headlines and film crews while a homicidal madman who goes up on the sidewalk to run down a bicyclist gets away clean. No headlines. No reporters. No investigation. Not even any witnesses.

Does Pittsburgh hate cyclists so much?