Yesterday AM, while on my way to work, I'm sitting at the intersection of Shute and Evergreen, waiting for the light to turn green so I can make a right turn onto Evergreen. I'm the first car in line, at the intersection. The light goes green, I start to let out the clutch and roll forward....and two jersey clad cyclists roll in front of me not more than a foot off my bumper....and give me the finger as they dash by. Guess a silly old red light didn't impress these cycling studs. If I'd been a couple hundred milliseconds faster when the light turned green, they'd have both been hood ornaments.

Sure would be nice if EVERYONE, cars and bikes alike, would simply follow the laws. I know, I'm dreaming......

Granted, these two idiots deserved their assault charges, but since the other guy threw the first punch (a "preemptive strike" if you will), shouldn't he have an assault charge too?

I think anyone who attempts to intimidate someone from a vehicle, and then gets out of the vehicle and gets close enough to get hit, is committing assault, and therefore fair game.

Excuse me, but the alleged assailants were not driving anything when the cyclist threw the first punch.

Nonetheless, the guys formerly in the truck were arrested. Sounds like some prejudicial treatment to me. Suppose the fight had broken out between two pedestrians and this bicyclist with otherwise similar circumstances...

Legally, it doesn't take much to be considered intimidation (according to a cop I know). I was personally shocked by how low the standard is. Anyway, I would assume since the cops arrested the guys in the truck it was considered a case of self defense.

Yep, the cyclist throws the first punch, and the other guys get arrested. Typical. Notice how the article fails to mention, specifically, just what the motorist did to deserve being punched ?

Just two aspects?

What about 'windshield riding'?

Or, the "dismount and flog with bike'?

Oh, and according to the second comment to the article, the cyclist admitted to antagonizing the motorist with obscene gestures on the TV news. No mention of that in the article, either.

All the more reason to avoid eye contact, and all interaction with cyclists in general, period. Never know when they are going to attack you and then have you thrown in jail...

So, for the sake of argument, if a cyclist spit on a vehicle and flipped off its driver while screaming obscenities at him for "passing too closely" (in the cyclist's professional opinion), then, no matter what any other party says about the incident, further actions by the cyclist are deemed "self-defense"?

BS

...just while we're assuming, mind you.

A new slogan for the tourism bureau -

Portland: Where likes-to-fight-guy can also be likes-to-bike-guy!

I think anyone who attempts to intimidate someone from a vehicle, and then gets out of the vehicle and gets close enough to get hit, is committing assault, and therefore fair game.

I assume your position covers bicyclists too, right? After all, bicycles ARE vehicles.

And therefore their riders are "fair game" if they dismount and "...(get) close enough to hit...".

Fair enough.

No doubt the both the law and enforcement practices take account of the relative vulnerability of those in cars/trucks and those on bikes, and are accordingly more concerned with the conduct of those wielding the big weapon.

No doubt the both the law and enforcement practices take account of the relative vulnerability of those in cars/trucks and those on bikes, and are accordingly more concerned with the conduct of those wielding the big weapon.

No doubt you read you the part where the "asssailants" were not in their ...big weapon... (oh, please) at the time of the alleged "assault".

Everything else is pure conjecture.

I'll bet the charges are withdrawn or dismissed.

...any takers?

asssailants?

oh, the shame...

I have a double barrel shotgun hanging on the gun rack in the back window of my old pickup truck. I have never been yelled at, spat at, or accosted in any manner by bicyclists. It must be the considerate way I drive.

Artsasinic, when has it become that the size of your vehicle, the horsepower determined who has assaulted? Try this thinking next time you may want to assault a burly truck driver who you may have cut off. Use some common sense.

"TUALATIN — The road rage trend against bicyclists seems to be traveling into Portland suburbs."

Is this the trend? Or, are the vehicle drivers just as often the victim?

Ok, so the cyclist gets squeezed by a vehicle 10-20x larger than him. The vehicle stops and the passenger gets out and makes verbal threats at the cyclist. And you all think the cyclist was in the wrong?!

The first assault occurred when the vehicle tried to force the cyclist out of the way. The second assault could certainly be said to have occurred when the passenger came charging out of the vehicle at the cyclist. Never mind that it was two against one and the two had the bigger weapon.

Yes, the cyclist could have handled things differently, but I fail to see how anyone can side with the driver and his friend in this case.

"but I fail to see how anyone can side with the driver and his friend in this case."

I personally celebrate every time a biker bites the dust. They should get off the road and stay on the sidewalk -- where they belong.