Oregon Cycling Magazine

by Ray Thomas

In July of 2006, I wrote an article on how cyclists can deal with “neighborhood crank” drivers, who for some reason have it in for bike riders. The article discussed the case of the “Red Pick-up Guy,” who was the bane of cyclists in the West Salem, Oregon area for years before local cyclists finally organized themselves and engaged law enforcement to take action against him. (See “Dangerous Neighborhood Cranks and what to do about them,” July 2006). Using this driver’s case as an example, I described in detail how local cyclists and communities can take constructive action within the legal system against these dangerous drivers rather than confronting or engaging them out on the road where close contact can be both dangerous and counterproductive. We also provided an update in August 2007 on how the “Red Pick-Up Guy” was been tried, convicted, and fined for following too closely and illegal use of the horn in the Polk County, Oregon Circuit Court. (See “Harassment of Bicyclists,” August 2007). Although the driver was also charged with harassment, the judge could not find him guilty on this charge due to the tight restrictions on that crime under Oregon law.

To provide you a non-attorney citizen’s view of the case of the Red Pick-Up Guy, as well as some additional and very valuable wisdom and information from the primary community members involved in seeking justice for the local community against the driver, I reprint below a letter written by Grace McCabe (with some editing). As Grace’s writing shows, cyclists can obtain justice against dangerous drivers with determined and focused efforts. With the sunshine and cycling season approaching, we also wanted to share Grace’s thoughts on how being prepared generally for potential encounters with cranky motorists out on the road can be very valuable in calling them to account for their hazardous and frightening actions. I hope you enjoy Grace’s insights.

- Ray Thomas

Red Pick-Up Recap

I’ve been asked to write a short recap of the infamous Red Pick-Up Guy Case from a non-legal perspective, so here it is. I’ll start with a review of the case, from the beginning to the end of the legal paperwork trail, and then summarize with a few items I’ve noted for future events of this kind. This all started back on a sunny afternoon in February, 2006, when I was cycling up Brush College hill, heading back into Salem from the west. As I rounded the turn at the bottom of the hill, I heard a truck coming up behind me. Suddenly, the driver hit the horn—a loud, long blast of about ten seconds. He paused for about a second, and then did it again, so I headed for a small gravel driveway about 20 feet further up the hill to get off the road and let him go by, since it sounded like the safest thing to do. As I pulled off the pavement and dropped down onto the gravelly, hole-pocked driveway, I heard the crunch of gravel behind me, so I knew the truck had pulled off with me. I turned the bike around as quickly as I could and dismounted, facing the truck, which had by then blocked the entrance to the driveway by parking straight across the end. There was about a foot or so of clearance on each end of the truck and a ditch on either side of the driveway, so I was essentially trapped unless I wanted to try and squeeze by the front or back of a truck that its driver had just shown to be very aggressive towards cyclists. Behind me was a field with a broken down wire fence, so the only option was to stand where I was or try to hoof it across the pasture in cleated bike shoes carrying my bike (I was NOT going to leave it there!)

The driver wasn’t clearly visible since the female passenger on my side of the vehicle blocked most of the view into the truck, but I could see most of his head and certainly heard the start of his tirade against cyclists on roads. Then, my hearing shut down as I studied what to do next and I focused on the rear tires of the vehicle, watching for any sudden movement. After what seemed like an eternity, the driver decided to leave and pulled away up the hill about 25 feet or so, when I suddenly snapped and lost my temper and gave him a full arm gesture and yelled the famous F-word. I don’t think he could hear me, but the gesture was clear enough (even without a single digit), and the next thing I saw was him hitting the brakes and backing back down towards me. I had that sudden “uh-oh” feeling and then the truck was back in front of me again. The driver started up the verbal barrage again, so this time I pulled out my cell phone and tried to call 911. Something wasn’t quite right and I couldn’t get through, and then the other cyclist that I was riding with earlier came back down the hill towards me. She had crested the hill earlier (yep, a stronger rider) and had waited at the top until I didn’t show up, so she had come back to find me. As she got about halfway down the hill, the driver decided to leave again and gunned it up the hill, crossing the double yellow line to blast her with the horn, and then disappeared over the hill towards Salem.

I was pretty shaken by this whole event, since I had never before been actually pursued off the road by a vehicle while cycling, so I decided to go ahead and call Polk County Sheriff’s Dept and report the driver. Unfortunately, the plate number that I remembered had some of the letters reversed by the time I got home, so they were unable to trace the license.

I found out, after discussing this with other Salem bicycle riders, that this was a driver who was notorious as the “Red Pick-Up Guy” on Brush College. This was the first time that I had seen him during the years I had been riding, so I guess I had been lucky before. The more I looked into the past driving history of this guy, the more stories I heard from other less-fortunate cyclists—and it appeared that this had been going on for about 15 years! During this time, I also found a cyclist who actually knew where this guy lived (not far from Brush College), so my husband took a look and sure enough, the truck was sitting there in the driveway. He got a digital photo of the truck and I was able to see that the letters and numbers were nearly the same as the ones I remembered, just that I had reversed the second two letters, so I called Polk County again and reported the correct license plate (the truck was the same one, dark red with a canopy). The Sheriff’s office sent a deputy out to talk to the driver, who admitted the events listed above and also stated that bicyclists shouldn’t be on the road and could only ride on bike paths. The deputy told him that we had the right to ride on the road and then suggested that the driver could ask to have bicyclists barred from using Brush College because it was dangerous (the driver told the deputy that he knew of lots of car/bicycle accidents on Brush College – interesting, because I’d never heard of any).

The deputy told me this and then proceeded to ask me why we (cyclists) couldn’t just avoid Brush College altogether, since the guy was 75 years old and probably wouldn’t change. He suggested Hwy 99W and Hwy 22 as “safer” alternatives. After this call, I got angry. Why should cyclists avoid a road because of one driver? And worse yet, the deputy suggested that this guy contact Polk County and ask to have the road designated as off limits to cyclists! Where would this end? So, I contacted our local Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) representative Doug Parrow and emailed Ray Thomas, the well known Portland bicycle attorney to see what could be done to educate the Polk County Sheriff’s Office on the rights of cyclists to the use the roads. The result was a meeting in Salem and a decision to go forward with a complaint to the Polk County District Attorney’s Office. Ray donated his time to prepare the complaint and the BTA paid the filing fees. I helped by rounding up the witness information and was the main contact person for anything related to the Red Pick-Up Guy. Unfortunately, we had another incident.

The second known incident that occurred last year was on July 4, 2006. Mark Masthoff was riding up over the top of Brush College hill heading towards Salem when he was approached from behind by the Red Pick-Up Guy and pursued for two miles down Brush College road to the intersection of Doaks Ferry and Orchard Heights, where Mark took evasive action and turned right, up the hill, to get away from the truck, which continued east towards Salem. Mark did not know about the legal action going on concerning this driver, so he sent a fax to the bike shops warning cyclists about a red pickup and its aggressive driver on Brush College. One of the bike shops gave a copy of the fax to me, so I contacted Mark and let him know about the legal work in progress on this same driver. This is why Mark and I were listed as the two victims on the formal complaint. The irony of this was that the Red Pick-Up Guy was served court papers within a day or so after Mark’s incident, which did not at that time include Mark, because the most recent case we knew of was mine. More on this later.

To shorten this recap a bit, we’ll fast forward through the many delays caused in the criminal case as it wound its way slowly through the legal process. We were also able to add Mark as a victim after one of the many delays. Many bike club members gave their time to show up at these hearings, some using personal leave from work. I thank all of you for your efforts. Without your help, we would not have been able to get this case into court.

The case finally came to trial in July 2007. The defendant had requested a bench trial (judge only) instead of a jury trial, so the subpoenaed folks as well as the supporters of free cycling showed up at the Polk County Courthouse. We had about 13 cyclists in attendance, of which several were asked to give supporting testimony to the evidence given by Mark and me. It seemed a long way to the back of the courtroom from the witness stand, and I think there were more cases of stage fright than just mine!

However, I think everyone did very well and that we presented a good representation of respectable local citizens. The deputy involved in the case was also on the witness stand, and we all heard him say that cyclists have a right to the road and did not mention riding elsewhere and avoiding Brush College (a change for which we were appreciative). The one witness that the defense brought in turned out to be the brother-in-law of the defendant and actually caused more harm than good with the testimony he gave, especially when he said that one should never honk at a cyclist because they were likely to be easily spooked like a horse.

Unfortunately for us, although the judge tried very hard to find the defendant guilty of harassment, the laws were changed back in 1971 to a very restricted version (he would have been guilty using the pre-1971 rules); so we were only able to get him fined (the maximums) for following too closely and illegal use of the horn. The judge also lectured him to leave cyclists alone, as did his own attorney after the trial.

The good news is that we did get him in court and he now has a record. However, that may not prevent him or others from continuing to drive dangerously around cyclists, so be sure to stay alert if you are out riding on Brush College, just in case. If you do have an incident, make sure to let the local community and authorities.

-Grace McCabe

Possibly Related

• May 2007: What to do about bicycle theft
• January 2007: Cell-ebrate this!
• September 2006: Accidents that result in property damage
• January 2008: Oregon's new passing law
• October 2007: Vulnerable Roadway Users