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doitroygsbre t1_ja7jt5m wrote

Reply to comment by GeekFurious in Pickup driver arrested after crash with cyclists killed 2 and injured 11 by besselfunctions

He's also being charged with three counts of aggrivated assault (basically intentionally attacking a person with a weapon , most likely the truck in this instance).

Charging him with assault should require intention. Of course police file the charges, and the prosecutor can amend them as more details come to light. There isn't exactly a lot to go on in the reporting I've seen.

I hope this isn't a case of road rage or intentionally targeting a large group of cyclists. I don't like losing my faith in humanity, but I can't just write this off as a tragic accident either.

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GeekFurious t1_ja7r0f7 wrote

> He's also being charged with three counts of aggrivated assault

If he said he was fucking around and meant to "scare" someone and accidentally lost control this would be a reasonable charge without him intentionally meaning to hit anyone.

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psychicsword t1_ja80koe wrote

Just attempting to scare someone us by itself assault. The act of carrying out that threat is battery.

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NetworkLlama t1_ja8ow9f wrote

Depends on the state. Assault covers both in some states.

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Panzerdrek t1_jabj1c4 wrote

That's the common law tort definition. For various reasons lots of states call what would be a battery as a tort an assault under criminal statutes.

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doitroygsbre t1_ja7xowc wrote

I'm not sure which is worse: doing it out of anger or out of complete disregard

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GeekFurious t1_ja7xvyz wrote

For the law, it is always worse when you do it intentionally/plan it out.

For the victims & their loved ones... not sure. Maybe it doesn't matter.

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commandrix t1_ja900s1 wrote

Either way, it ended with two people getting killed and eleven people getting hurt. That's the result, regardless of whether it was intentional or not.

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pm_me_ur_pharah t1_ja859oc wrote

how can it be anything but a targeted rage attack? You don't just "oh whoopsie" into 13+ people.

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doitroygsbre t1_ja86y35 wrote

I've been driving for a number of years. I've seen people doing their makeup, eating, trimming their fingernails, shaving, and reading (all before self driving cars were a possibility). And of course, drunk, drugged, driving while exhausted, or texting are all a possibility.

It is unlikely that the truck driver drove into the cyclists without at least knowing that they were there, but there is a possibility that he was just unfit to operate a motor vehicle.

Edit: just to add ... as a cyclist, I've been pushed off the road by drivers, and I've had a tanker truck blow their horn at me while passing mere inches from my handlebars at 60mph ... fuck cars, but I'd like to hope that most drivers aren't out to kill us for not driving.

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cwmoo740 t1_ja92xrr wrote

People absolutely do that. A few weeks ago I was almost taken off my bike when someone ran a red light because she leaned all the way over into the passenger footwell space to retrieve her phone from her purse while she was still moving towards the intersection. She was still going ~10mph and took her foot off the brake entirely and put her head below the dash. People take their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel for like ~10 sec to fiddle with their phones, which is a lifetime while traveling at 100km/h.

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