Police Deal with Reckless BMW that assaulted Bicyclists

[jkerouac <jkerouac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

     This is followup to the BMW assault on bicyclists I reported yesterday:
     The San Mateo County Sheriff's office has identified the driver and 
passenger of an E46 BMW 3 series that recklessly dodged bicyclists and 
threw water balloons at them.  Five bicyclists were hit, at least one on 
a steep hill where a slight loss of control can send a biker off the 
edge of cliffs.
     It should be noted that the sheriff described the bikers as 
"victims", not witnesses.
The driver and passenger was juveniles.  The victims agreed that the 
action taken by the parents to remediate the situation was sufficient, 
and likely in the range of what a police officer would not be allowed to 
do.  ( Its generally considered that the kids would gladly have suffered 
a barrage of point blank water balloons than the punishment they received.)
     If you are a parent of a child of driving age, would you let your 
kid drive off in your new BMW without knowing where they were going or 
what they were doing?  With your license plates on it no less?  I sure 
hope the answer is "No".  Same as if you left a loaded gun around a 
house full of teenagers in plain sight with the safety off.
     As both a BMW driving enthusiast, and an avid road biker, I know 
there's plenty of room for both of us on the road.  That us on the 
digest both enjoy our cars where we can, and don't impose our will on 
other vehicles, regardless of power source, is a given.  But the 
reputation of BMW's as arrogantly driven cars is all too prevalent.

'jk

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