It was a locksmith emergency

Nat Wilson met up with an allegedly aggressive driver in Georgetown.

I had taken the lane and was traveling with traffic which was stop and go through all of the stop signs on 39th St.  About 30 seconds later he completely ran me off the road into cars parked on the side and passed me at a high rate of speed nearly striking me and another cyclist who was traveling more slowly ahead of me.

But he didn't attack the driver or take the law into his own hands, he called the police.

The driver sped off blowing through the next few stop signs to get away but I quickly caught up with him when he got boxed in at a red light and took out my iPhone and started taking pictures of his van.  Despite being out of breath I was able to get in a couple of good photos of the driver and his license plates.

A half hour later when I got home I called 311 to report the incident to police.  They sent an officer out to my house and took a report.  I printed out some of the pictures I had taken earlier and the officer radioed the tags and a description of the driver into headquarters. The officer said they where operating in “all hands on deck” mode so all officers would be on the lookout for the van and pull the driver over and check his ID if they spotted him.

The officer said  that was all he could do.  There was no incident number and he didn’t  even take my name. 

Really, that was "all he could do?" With the license plate and a witness they have no other way to find this guy other than hoping an officer spots him - hello the phone number is right there on the van. Shaggy and Scooby could solve this mystery while the others took a nap. The MPD needs to get its act together.

Photo by Nat Wilson

Comments

[think a little]

Forget MPD, you could try calling them yourself. Ive found that the dispatcher at most companies is pretty good at dealing with driving complaints (its a risk management/insurance issue)

[too frustrated to think]

... But it is more fun to rag on the police.

[anonymous]

@think a little

Most Def'

Keystone Kops > MPD

[ontarioroader]

If there was no incident number generated [CCN # in MPD-speak] then the info you gave was just 'notebooked' and for all practical purposes doesn't exist. It's sitting in an officers little notepad in his pocket.

As the first commenter suggested, try calling the company, ask to speak to the owner [who's hopefully not the operator of the van] and pursue the issue that way. It's much more likely to yield you results than a police complaint of any sort - at least in this town.

[Roy]

Kinda makes you wish the cyclist just bypassed the system and deployed a bike lock against the van.

[Jack]

Don't worry, Montgomery County police are no better. If they didn't see it, and nobody got hurt, it didn't happen.

[Chris]

I am not a lawyer but interact w/ them enough to get the sense that 1) the threat of significant harm qualifies as an assault (or something) and 2) that you can file a civil lawsuit against both the company and the driver. Further, while not a fan a frivolous lawsuits, that's how the law is supposed to work (by protecting people w/ no other recourse).

This being DC, I am sure you could find some competent can-do lawyer to take the case and effectively represent a cause w/ growing public support, and to do it for minimal fees. I am also guessing that you could get some donations to help cover the fees.

All of this, though, seems to depend on having a solid witness. W/ that, you get $10 to $20 out of me.

Who knows, it might be worth a shot.

[Rich Wilson]

I agree with Chris. I'm not a laywer either, but I've taken enough law classes for fun to know that this was assault. If the van made contact with you, even if you weren't hurt, then it was agravated assault.

I'd talk to the DA. It would probably take some pushing, but it's worth a try. The one downside to your case is that you don't have the driver's ID, just the van. But since it was a company van, the empooyer should have that info, and in any case is responsible for the actions of their employees.

[bobArlington]

Do you really want to waste all that time with litigation or legal proceedings. Seeking legal recourse means committing a lot of your life to it - life that could be spent doing fun things - like riding your bike.

Here is a simpler solution. Do you subscribe to Angie's List or Washington Checkbook - or I think even Google and Yahoo post reviews. Post a negative review of the company noting that its vans run bicyclists off the road. If I were a consumer - and I am - and I saw a review like that for the company, they would not get my business. These consumer contributed-to sites are becoming very popular.