road rage blinds cyclist

[cindysue]

Published Thursday, May 26, 2005, in the Marin Independent Journal

Friends urge DA to act in bike accident

Group's letters seek harsh penalties in incident that left San
Anselmo man blind

By Nancy Isles Nation

Friends of a 25-year-old San Anselmo bicyclist who went blind after
a February traffic incident want the Marin District Attorney's
Office to fully prosecute the driver.

Friends of Torrin Arnold say they believe the driver of a green
Silverado pickup intentionally hit him in an attack fueled by road
rage.

They want to be sure the district attorney treats the case as a
serious criminal matter, particularly since Arnold's doctors say
his blindness is probably permanent.

To get their point across, about a dozen of Arnold's friends rode
their bikes to the Civic Center to present the district attorney's
office with letters of support for their fellow cyclist.

Arnold rode to the event on the back of a tandem bicycle and waited
in a parking lot while his friends climbed up to the office to
deliver their letters. The office had closed for the day, so they
slipped their letters under the door.

The driver, James Arrigoni, 44, of San Anselmo, is expected to be
charged with felony hit and run and reckless driving causing bodily
injury, a misdemeanor.

Arrigoni is the son of former Supervisor Peter Arrigoni. He is due
to be arraigned in Marin Superior Court on June 1.

Arrigoni's lawyer, Paul Burglin, said his client will enter a not
guilty plea.

Arnold and Arrigoni told San Anselmo police their versions of the
events on a Saturday morning when both were traveling westbound on
Red Hill Avenue toward Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

Arnold, an avid cyclist and College of Marin student, told police
he had crossed traffic lanes to turn left on Sir Francis Drake
Boulevard.

When he looked over his shoulder he noticed a green pickup truck
close behind him, according to a police report.

Arnold said he motioned to the driver to slow and signaled to cross
into the turn lane. As he merged across the lane divider, Arnold
said he heard the truck accelerate and pull up on the right to pass
him.

Arnold made an obscene gesture as the truck approached. He said the
driver then swerved toward him, crashing into his hand. The bicycle
slid out from underneath Arnold and he fell to the ground, hitting
his head. He was wearing a helmet.

Arrigoni told police he saw Arnold merge left in front of him, and
said as the cyclist passed, he "flipped off" Arrigoni, according to
the police report.

Arrigoni said the gesture upset him so he decided to drive parallel
to Arnold to have a word with him. As he accelerated, Arrigoni said
the cyclist reached his arm out and struck the driver's side mirror
of the truck.

Arrigoni said he panicked and drove off to get away from the
bicycle. From his rear-view mirror, he saw Arnold wobble and then
fall, the report said.

As he was driving down Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Arrigoni said
he realized there had been an accident and he should not have left
the scene.

He decided to drive to the San Anselmo Police Department to turn
himself in when two other cars sped up behind him, cut him off and
began yelling at him, saying he had hit someone and needed to go
back to the scene.

Arrigoni told the two drivers he was going to the police station
and they escorted him.

Witnesses said they saw the pickup swerve into Arnold's lane in a
way that could have caused him to lose his balance. One said it
looked like Arrigoni was trying "to make a statement with his
vehicle," according to the police report.

Burglin issued a statement on his client's behalf, saying the fall
was an accident.

"Jim Arrigoni is a lifelong Marinite who wishes Mr. Arnold a full
and complete recovery. That being said, we take issue with the
suggestion that Jim was even a party to this accident. Mr. Arnold
negligently cut across two lanes of traffic on a very busy street,
flipped Mr. Arrigoni off, and then fell to the ground on his own
volition.

"As a responsible citizen, Jim went directly to the San Anselmo
Police Department to report the matter. Getting out of his vehicle
at the scene to encounter an outwardly hostile individual is
precisely the kind of thing that law enforcement discourages. I
expect that Mr. Arrigoni will be fully vindicated in this matter,"
Burglin wrote.

Sean Daniels, Arnold's roommate, said he and his friends want to
raise awareness of bicycle safety issues and want to see that the
law is upheld.

"It is our hope that justice is served in this case," Daniels said.


Contact Nancy Isles Nation via e-mail at civiccenter@neteze.com

[RoadRaven]

Can you please keep us (read 'me' ) posted about this? Over here, half a world away, I don't know if i will hear the outcome.

I'd really like to know

It absolutely should be a criminal matter, its assault for goodness sakes...

[Yubagirl]

AS A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER THE WAY I READ THAT WAS THAT THEYRE WERE SEVERAL WITNESSES THAT OBSERVED THIS FOOL SWERVE INTO THE RIDER. IN MY OPINION THAT FULFILLS ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON-ADW -245 PC, ITS NOT A 'COLLISION' A COLLISION IS DEFINED ROUGHLY IN THE CA VEHICLE CODE AS AN 'UNINTENTIONAL INCIDENT ON A HIGHWAY' IF HE WITNESSES ARE CREDIBLE THEN ITS AN INTENTIONAL CRIMINAL ACT AND NOT A COLLISION, OR ACCIDENT -BUT A FELONY ASSAULT WHICH COULD BE HANDLED BY EITHER CHP OR THE LOCAL JURISDICTION. GOING BLIND CONSITUTES A TRAUMATIC INJURY AS DEFINED IN 245 PC AND NOT A 'MISDEMEANOR ASSAULT' I WONDER WHO THE SUPERVISOR FROM CHP WAS AT THAT SCENE..
I USED TO PATROL HWY 1 IN SAN MATEO CO. COAST AND TOOK REPORTS OF VEH VS BIKE REPORTS..I FIND MYSELF SOMETIMES SCARED AS A RIDER KNOWING AND HAVING SEEN WHAT I HAVE.. BUT WHEN I START TO FEEL THAT WAY I SAY TO MYSELF self...you can't live your life in fear, once I start it could make me freeze up and miss out on the greater idea of it -which is that there is more chance of positive than negative experiences

[Trek420]

I agree, you can't live your life in fear, then they win.

What's wrong with people? Even in the worst traffic, running late, can't imagine using my car aggressivly.