Turnabout
August 16, 2010 at 9:21 PM by Dr. Drang
Fair is fair. After writing a couple of posts about cars running into bicycles, I suppose it’s only right that I do one on a bicycle running into a car.
The story comes from Sunday’s Naperville Sun and concerns Stephen Kupelian, who’s had trouble with cars before. On probation for trying to torch a Pontiac with a Molotov cocktail in 2007, he was pedaling out of a downtown parking garage a couple of weeks ago when he hit a parked Mercedes. You will be shocked to hear that drugs or alcohol are suspected to have played a role in the accident.
The photo comes from the Sun story, and is typical of its shoddy journalism. “Death Before What”? Inquiring minds want to know.
But there is a lot to like in the story. First:
[Police spokesman Gregg] Bell said he was chased, stopped and arrested by two police officers assigned to bicycle patrol of the downtown.
There’s comfort in knowing Stephen was arrested by fellow bikers. Also:
Bell said the bike rammed and dented the rear driver-side door of a black Mercedes-Benz parked in or near the deck. The impact also broke off the car’s bumper cover, he said.
This damage came from an impact with a bicycle. Which was ridden away from the accident. If I were a Mercedes engineer, I’d skip Oktoberfest this year and spend a little more time at the office.
