and in Tacoma, at least he's not dead

71-Year-Old Bicyclist Targeted In Drive-By Attack

Posted: 8:21 am PDT July 7, 2011
Updated: 8:32 am PDT July 7, 2011

TACOMA, Wash. -- A 71-year-old bicyclist is in the hospital after he was hit by a car in what a witness said was an intentional drive-by attack in Buckley.

Ron Wingerson is in satisfactory condition at Tacoma General Hospital recovering from a broken pelvis, damaged leg and a bruised body after he was hit by a car as he was riding his bicycle in Buckley on Saturday.

Wingerson told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Alison Grande that he knows the attack could have killed him.

“I would be a victim and they would be killers,” said Wingerson.

Wingerson said he didn’t remember what happened, but witness Shane Rich said he saw the car coming.

“There were two males hanging out (of the car) as far as they could. The first one tried to grab him and missed him. The second one punched him in the back,” said Rich. “They were probably doing 50 mph when they drove through and hit him square in the back.”

Rich said he was out mowing his lawn along Pioneer Way East when he saw the attack.

“His bike hit the back of the car, his bike flipped into my driveway and (Wingerson) somersaulted and slid to a halt,” said Rich.

Rich said he rushed to help Wingerson and then hurried to stop traffic so no one would run over him.

“The guy probably spent most of his life to stay in shape like he was and two punk kids ruined it for his whole life. I’m disgusted, honestly,” said Rich.

“It might of ruined my enjoyment for riding,” said Wingerson.

“I’m surprised we didn’t light pitchforks and go on a manhunt,” said Rich. “I would like to see them put away or (have) the same pain put on them. That was wrong,” said Rich.

Rich said he is looking for the teal green four-door Ford Escort that had a woman behind the wheel.

Rich gave deputies a possible license plate number. Copyright 2011 by KIROTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

We had an older gentleman in Spokane who was not so lucky. He was hit by a car early this month. His story and recovery was front page news a couple of days ago. He died on the 6th, of a heart attack, as a result of his "accident". Police are still looking for the hit and run driver! :mad:

He may actually be "lucky" the guy punched him rather than just hitting him with the car....

That they hit the man with their fists makes it clearly an assault and wipes out the old "I didn't see him excuse that drivers usually use to get away with all sorts of egregious crimes....

Here's to hoping they catch the miscreants and throw the book at the whole lot of them.

This reminds me of when I was a H.S. student, living on a military base in Michigan. Some airmen thought they'd be cute and tried to grab my handle bars while I was riding down the main base road towards the front gate. Unfortunately the curb was square, so I couldn't ride up it to escape. I think I remember hitting the brakes so the car would at least go ahead of me. But we were close enough to the gate that the military police saw the incident... looking up I saw an MP standing in the exit with his rifle at the ready (instead of slung over his back). They stopped the car. When I got to the gate preparing to turn and not leave the base, one of the MPs motioned for me to stop - they just wanted to check that I was OK, didn't know the now detained airmen, and to get my info for their report.

Outcome - crazy airmen got detained, lost liberty, and lost driving privileges for some period of time; and my Dad got a phone call (anything involving an incident with a minor results in parents getting notified).