The Chainlink

My friend: Attacked at Damen and Madison

Saturday night round 11pm my friend was riding north on damen. He stopped at the top of the overpass at 290 to wait for the lights to change so he wouldn't have to stop at those lights. Out of the shadows somebody ran at him and knocked him off his bike. This caused him to break his clavicle. By the time he hit the ground another person was on top of him taking his bag and bike. They tried to get into his pockets but he started kicking then and traffic had caught up by then and they were honking and stopped these aholes from getting anything else. The cops came and he said that they were very helpfull. He got an abulance to county and was out after a long wait with only the broken clavicle. They eneded up finding his bike at a nearby bar. This majorly sucks for him since he has no insurance. I know that some of you have had simular experiences and I have heard about the victum insurence that would help pay his hospital bills. I would appreciate any info that I could pass on to him about this.

 

Keep it safe out there and keep your eyes open.

Views: 493

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Little Phil on May 26, 2010 at 8:15pm
I just wanted to say that me and a fellow chainlinker rode north on damen and everything was fine @ about 8:50
Permalink Reply by chixieonfixie on May 26, 2010 at 8:35pm
Monday night violence along the bike path. Be careful..

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/05/8-arrests-in-incidents-o...
Permalink Reply by mike w. on May 27, 2010 at 8:03am
Sad to say, it's an old story along the LFP (and on a couple of other city paths.) i've know a few people over the years who were knocked off their bikes -mostly between Lawrence and Belmont- in broad daylight.


chixieonfixie said:
Monday night violence along the bike path. Be careful..

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/05/8-arrests-in-incidents-o...
Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on May 27, 2010 at 12:50pm
Gangs of feral youths are potentially an infinitely worse deterrent to people getting around on bikes than road raging SUV drivers, and there's nothing much that can really be done about them. I think this is going to be an ugly summer, especially as a lot of people have now grown up taking a certain level of minimum city safety for granted and thus haven't developed the hypercaution that a lot of my friends and I developed growing up in New York during the days of wilding, low grade race riots, etc.
Permalink Reply by Pablo on May 27, 2010 at 2:19pm
Anybody know where can I purchase bear spray?
Permalink Reply by steve rulz on May 27, 2010 at 2:41pm
I guess I'll add pepper spray to my growing collection of shit I carry with me while biking and keep it at hand. Last summer I had two kids jump out and both punched me in the face at the same time. I some how stayed on my bike and kept going. Little bastards *SHAKES FIST*.
Permalink Reply by Chuck a Muck on May 27, 2010 at 3:31pm
I'd prefer the right to carry my legally registered Kimber .45 on my right hip to pepper spray for this law abiding citizen...
Permalink Reply by JD Churchill on May 27, 2010 at 4:19pm
i think developing an intimidating look or presence also helps. wacky facial hair and tatoos! i too frequent this route but it's my commute so it is rarely after 8pm. i agree with the problems along damen and second whoever nominated oakley. however some young boys shot at me with a pellet gun last summer near oakley and jackson; they missed.
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 27, 2010 at 6:17pm
Maybe, maybe not JD.
The best thing you can do is to stay alert and watch way ahead for possible trouble, and be ready to stop, turn around, turn a corner, go a different way on the spur of the moment if there appears to be trouble ahead. I've heard my share of reports now of people trying to look innocuous before jumping out and ambushing a cyclist and have broadened my criteria for who or what could be trouble . . .

Thanks for mentioning the Pellet gun-- can you say a little more?
Were these kids on the corner, near a residence, in a lot . . .? It's been several years since I've had any trouoble in that stretch. They've got a squad stationed within a block of Crane most of the time now, and there were 4 police cameras in a row on Oakley between Van Buren and Madison (I think there may be only two at this point?).
JD Churchill said:
i think developing an intimidating look or presence also helps. wacky facial hair and tatoos! i too frequent this route but it's my commute so it is rarely after 8pm. i agree with the problems along damen and second whoever nominated oakley. however some young boys shot at me with a pellet gun last summer near oakley and jackson; they missed.
Permalink Reply by JD Churchill on May 27, 2010 at 7:05pm
ok there's a church just north of an alley on oakley after you pass jackson, i think i really should post again after i go through there tonight, but i think the church is a good landmark. they came out of the alley. i mean we're talking like 11 year olds here. but at first i was like holy shit is that a real . . . and then i heard it make that piddly thwack that beebee guns make and heard the pellet hit a car behind me. not surprising as the dude wasn't using the sight thingy and shooting from the hip. i turned around and they ran like hell down the alley. i tried calling the cops on my cell phone and it rang like 10x so i just hung up and chalked it up to childish mischief and went on my merry way
Permalink Reply by Chuck a Muck on May 27, 2010 at 7:10pm
Police cameras are a false sense of security, since they are not live monitored... Only after you have been beaten and robbed of your shit will they look at your blue light camera.. If then....
It's all smoke and mirrors folks...
Indoor vs outdoor shootings?
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 27, 2010 at 7:25pm
From what I'm hearing, sounds like it may be a rough summer. There are more incidents than usual, in many locations where we don't usually have problems with this kind of violence. Be careful out there. Keep your eyes and ears open.

Dr. Doom said:
Gangs of feral youths are potentially an infinitely worse deterrent to people getting around on bikes than road raging SUV drivers, and there's nothing much that can really be done about them. I think this is going to be an ugly summer, especially as a lot of people have now grown up taking a certain level of minimum city safety for granted and thus haven't developed the hypercaution that a lot of my friends and I developed growing up in New York during the days of wilding, low grade race riots, etc.

RSS

Groups

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service