The 36-year-old cyclist who allegedly blew through a red light in the Castro District, causing the death of a 71-year-old man, was ordered to appear in court this morning to kick off his preliminary hearing.
Chris Bucchere, a San Francisco resident, was charged with felony manslaughter after the speeding cyclist hit and killed 71-year-old Sutchi Hui on the afternoon of March 29. Hui, a San Bruno resident, was walking with his wife on Market and Castro streets when Bucchere hit him. Initially, doctors believed he would survive, but Hui died on April 2 from blunt force trauma injuries.
District Attorney George Gascón claims he has plenty of evidence to prove that Bucchere had acted with "gross negligence," and is prepared to prove the cyclist had broken plenty of traffic laws leading up to the accident.
BART took its first stab at journalism today with this man-on-the-street report detailing how riders felt about today's first Bike Friday, where cyclists were allowed to bring bikes on board BART trains during rush hour.
We know as BART riders there's a lot of mixed feelings about whether bikes should be on board during the commute crush. But, naturally, this video only lets us hear from people who are rather "optimistic" about the pilot program, which started today. That's what we would call biased reporting.
In any event, here's the "wide range of opinions" from BART riders.
BART is bending the rules a bit this month, saying bikes are welcome on trains any hour of the day on Fridays, including during the crowded and stressful commute crush.
Currently, bikes are persona non grata on trains during commute hours for obvious reasons -- they take up too much damn space.
But starting tomorrow -- and every Friday in August -- BART will run a fun experiment, allowing bikes on trains during the morning and evening commute -- just to see what happens.
"Bicycling is booming on both sides of the bay," says Leah
Shahum, Executive Director of the 12,000-member San Francisco Bicycle
Coalition, which worked alongside BART and the East Bay Bicycle
Coalition to shape this pilot. "Allowing bikes on BART
during peak commute hours opens up cross-bay travel by bike."
San Francisco police are asking the public to be on the lookout for a black pickup truck that allegedly smashed into a biker pedaling near the Panhandle neighborhood this weekend.
According to police reports, the cyclist was riding northbound on the 200 block of Masonic Avenue just before 2 a.m. on Sunday when a driver in a black pickup with a camper shell was seen weaving between lanes.
The driver hit the cyclist, then sped off, police said.
A San Francisco teen was slapped with 20 felony charges for allegedly stealing more than 100 bikes and selling them on Craigslist and at Oakland flea markets.
The District Attorney's Office says that 18-year-old Irving Morales-Sanchez appeared in court today, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was arrested in May after police found 114 stolen bikes in his possession.
His bail was set at $75,000. Needless to say, District Attorney George Gascón was rather delighted to file these charges.
"This individual was a big seller of stolen bicycles and fueling thieves to steal bicycles for a quick buck," Gascón said in a statement released today. "By prosecuting the defendant, we are dealing a blow to the marketplace of stolen bicycles."
Cyclists everywhere will be happy to read that the guy who may have stolen their bike is now being hit with charges.
Tomorrow, the District Attorney's Office says it will announce the charges against 18-year-old Irving Sanchez, who was found with over 100 stolen bicycles this summer.
A warrant led police to Sanchez's house on the 200 block of Charter Oak Avenue, where they found eight stolen bikes in the suspect's kitchen. The cops looked harder at Sanchez's property, and came across two self-serve storage
lockers located on the 5200 block of Coliseum Way in Oakland, where they
found another 106 stolen bicycles. In addition, they discovered 80 bike
ties and a bicycle frame inside the storage locker, police said.
A cyclist was taken to the hospital this morning after being hit by a car at the corner of Cortland Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard.
Officer Gordon Shyy had very little information at this time, but said that the cyclist, whose condition is unknown, was at the intersection about 8:37 a.m. when the accident occurred.
Had your bike stolen within the past few months? If so, hold your breath. Your ride just might be in the pile of bikes that police recovered from an alleged serial cycle thief. And to make this news even better, you might be able to partake in some of that sweet revenge you've been craving since becoming Schwinn-less.
Not surprisingly, the District Attorney's Office announced this morning that it will charge 36-year-old Chris Bucchere with felony vehicular manslaughter after he allegedly
ran a red light in the Castro, hitting and killing 71-year-old Sutchi Hui.
District Attorney George Gascón had already indicated in April that prosecutors had plenty of evidence to file felony charges against the local cyclist, who they say acted with "gross negligence."
For starters, a surveillance camera on 17th and Market streets caught Bucchere blowing through the intersection at Market and Castro,
making little or no attempt
to stop before hitting Hui. What's more, witnesses also reported seeing the
cyclist plow through red lights and stops signs minutes before the
accident.
"Mr. Hui was a husband and a father and he was killed because of a bicyclist's need for speed," said District Attorney George Gascón. "This incident could have been avoided and we can do better as a city to avoid these tragic consequences. In order to preserve our diverse transit community, everyone has to follow the rules of the road."
Just when we thought the world was full of callous thieves, a Berkeley nonprofit helped us see the light.
The Chron brings us this uplifting story about the Bay Area Outreach
and Recreation Program's generosity. The group was kind enough to loan Krzysztof Jarzebski a specialized, hand-cranked bicycle, after the double amputee's cycle was stolen in San Francisco last week.
That means the cancer survivor can continue his ride across the country, which he had planned to do for charity.
The nonprofit surprised Jarzebski on Saturday when it gave the Polish native his new set of wheels before he was taken to
Reno to start the first stretch of his cross-country trek to New
York.
