See also: “What is Portland bike culture? Watch this soap opera”
Screaming, yelling and an alert homeowner who is a photographer combined to give us this glimpse into an act of road rage in Portland between a cyclist and a motorist.
Yes, that's the cyclist on the hood of the car and hanging onto the windshield wipers for dear life.
According to reports, a bicyclist yelled at a passing motorist in a Ford Escort to slow down. The driver took offense at the suggestion and started chasing him.
The cyclist got away, but returned to the area and found himself behind the same vehicle. The driver backed up to try and hit him, but bicyclist jumped off his bike, which was hit and damaged. Then he and a couple of witnesses ran around to the front of the Escort, and the motorist drove right toward them. The witnesses jumped out of the way but the cyclist ended up on the hood and held onto the wipers.
The photographer heard the commotion and came running out of the house with camera running and caught the footage. He handed it over to police. The cyclist let go when the driver slowed down.
KATU News reports that Portland police arrested the 21-year-old motorist later Sunday night and charged him with kidnapping, second-degree attempted assault, driving under the influence of intoxicants, third-degree criminal mischief and reckless driving.
This is only the latest confrontation between a cyclist and motorist in the League of American Bicyclists' newest platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community.
A few days earlier, a motorist in Portland yelled at a bicyclist for blowing a stop light. The bicycle rider returned to the car and threw his bike at it, according to reports. When the motorist, a self-described bicycling advocate of 30 years, stepped out of the car, the bicycle rider hit the man with his bike.
In that case, it was the cyclist who was charged with third-degree assault, criminal mischief, driving under the influence of intoxicants and disorderly conduct.
BikePortland.org gets comments from the hood-surfing cyclist, “Words of wisdom from the guy on the windshield,” and reacts to coverage of the cyclist vs. motorist attack in “Road rage incident sparks media frenzy; spurs us-them mentality“.
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