Berkeley hit and run caught on camera

Hit and run against two cyclists in Berkeley California.

Be on the lookout for a black Acura Integra with damage on the passenger side, possible partial plate CA 3LTM91 or 3LTK904.

Update: The rider posted to YouTube: “Thank guys for your support! Yesterday I went to the police department and I reported the crime. I also gave the video to the police officer. It was possible to identify the number of the car on the video. The police have located the car and the owner. Now I’m waiting for the return of the police on the case.

The criminal act begins at 2:39 in the video. I’ve set the starting time at 2:30 for your convenience.



Via Murph and Jason.

27 Comments

  1. Wow. He did not even stop after being so careless. So sad. Special place in hell. He could have killed them. It was like a damn shark. 
    I wonder if the police can see the license plate in the video and zero in on it somehow? 
    America: Invest in proper, safe, complete cycle tracks so we can avoid this from happening, also lower the limits on these streets that do not require 25+ speeds. It saves lives. 

  2. I don’t think the driver was careless — he aimed for the cyclists and hit them. Obviously the driver intended to hit them, but didn’t expect to get filmed doing it.  Hopefully the outlaw gets tracked down and frog-marched to the station. Preferably with the same level of fanfare that the outlaw SF cyclist is receiving.

    Also, the possible plate number was captured in the video — it’s in the first line of the post.

  3. Not to discount what the motorist did but, as a cyclist, the first thing I noticed was that they blew through two stop signs.

  4. I hope that the two guys are okay.  The driver might not have intended to hit these guys; he might been busy texting away.  It is amazing that he didn’t stop, and it will be interesting to see how this case unfolds.

  5. If running the stop sign was the *cause* of the collision with the Acura, that’s one thing. But it clearly wasn’t. The cause of the collision was the driver of the car hit the two bicyclists (why the driver did that is unknown from the video). 

    So there is no equation, legally or morally, with the cyclists running the stop sign and then being hit by the car. (It sniffs of “She was drunk and wearing no panties, so then she was raped.”)If the car driver hit the cyclists unintentionally, s/he still needs to stop.  That’s the law. You don’t hit bicyclists with your car and keep motoring on.  Which is probably why some of us bicyclists who watched this video believe that the driver hit the cyclists intentionally.  

    Either way, a crime was committed and it was by the driver of the car.

  6.  I’ve ridden that road dozens of times. There are no stop signs in the direction they were going. Signs are for side streets that enter at an angle so that the Stop signs are visible.

  7. I noticed that they were just coming from a slight turn and got hit when the road straightened out. Looks to me like a texter. Grim.

  8. Do cyclists EVER stop at stop signs or obey traffic laws?  I never see it in Berkeley.

  9. There are no stop signs in their direction, and .. um.. since when can the death penalty be enacted by random citizens for TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS?

    I mean, really?

  10. I too have ridden those roads and if you watch the entire video you’ll see them blow through two stop signs.

    I’m not at all saying a motorist can take the law into their own hands, hell I doubt they were even there when it happened, all I am saying is that seeing cyclists blow through stop signs pisses me off *as a cyclist*.

  11. Did I say that? No, I didn’t. But as a cyclist who abides by all the rules of the road, lobbies on behalf of cyclists, defends cyclists against the “but all cyclists blow through stop signs”, “ride on the wrong side of the road”, etc. crap, it pisses me off when I see cyclists breaking the law because it makes it *that* much harder to educate motorists to the fact that a *few* do not represent the actions of the cycling community as a whole.

  12. Will do. I ride that exact spot as part of my bike commute. I usually ride through late evening when there aren’t so many cars. This is why.

  13. Seriously, you see a video of two guys getting mowed down by a hit and run driver and you’re focusing on the stop signs? 

    Yes, they should have stopped.  It’s irrelevant to the point. 

  14. Next up: Matier & Ross print unconfirmed rumors that the cyclists in the video single handedly funded al Qaeda operations over the past 15 years.

  15. That was not blowing through, that was yielding based on traffic coming or not. In Idaho there is a law actually allowing this because it makes sense on a bicycle where you have complete view of the road and need momentum. Blowing would be not paying any attention, not slowing down a bit, making cars slam on brakes

  16. same thing happened to me.  hit me hard enough that the r. front wheel came off his car (>60mph).  made it another couple blocks with only 3 wheels, other people stopped him till the cops showed up.  was driving home drunk after playing golf mid-day.  i flew in the air and landed on my head.  go go helmets.

  17. I see cyclists stop come to a complete stop at stop signs all the time in Berkeley, with about the exact same frequency as car drivers, most who roll through stops at about the same speed cyclists do (5-10mph). Perhaps people don’t see the law abiding cyclists because they don’t fit in with their pre-determined notion of people on bikes as outlaws, or perhaps they are too busy fiddling with the car radio, eating lunch, putting on makeup, texting, talking on a cell phone, yelling at their kids, or any of the other distracted driving habits I notice on a daily basis.

    Beyond this, your comment is a non sequitur.

  18. Actually, the speed limit on this section of Ashby/13 IS 25 mph, but good luck finding any drivers going that speed or being ticketed for exceeding it. The speed limit only goes up to 35 closer to the Hwy 24 on ramp.

  19. This driver is clearly in the wrong. He/she hit them and it’s pretty obvious, unless the driver was drunk. So my point is that justice should be firm on the hit & run charges.
    On the subject of cyclists going through stop signs… Don’t B.S. yourselves we all know damn well that far far too often many (not all, but many) cyclists don’t follow ‘the law’ in regards to street signs etc. I’ve had cyclists split lanes and come up next to me while my turn signal is on to turn (both left and right) thus I almost hit them and then they pull attitude. My experience it’s usually ‘the professionals’ as in guys like these in full attire. As a bike rider myself, this is ANNOYING. I hate when I hear people demand to be given space on the road and treated like another vehicle yet blatantly ignore the set road laws. If my left turn signal is on and you shoot to the left of me, you should expect to be hit and the only words I should hear are ‘I’m sorry for scratching your car.’

  20. The first thing I noticed was not that the 2 cyclists not stopping at a stop sign, but the 5 cars not stopping to assist 2 people who had just been run over.

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