Bicycle Austin forum / Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

dummy@example.com (MichaelBluejay) — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 01:37:09 +0000

dougmc wrote:

Robert "Chopps" Ramirez's killer's next court date is scheduled as 2015-04-23. He's got potential for substantial jail time -- hit and run, and yet they caught him the next morning *still drunk*.

Except his victim was "only" a bicyclist, so the driver was sentenced to only two years.

https://www.statesman.com/NEWS/20160923 … -bicyclist

Bicyclist-killers just don't get substantial jail time, even if they're drunk, even if it's hit-and-run, or both. At least not in Austin.

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

dummy@example.com (dougmc) — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 02:13:51 +0000

Robert "Chopps" Ramirez's killer's next court date is scheduled as 2015-04-23. He's got potential for substantial jail time -- hit and run, and yet they caught him the next morning *still drunk*.

This guy got six years -- he didn't kill a cyclist, but instead a person at his home, but six years is a stiffer penalty than most.

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

dummy@example.com (MichaelBluejay) — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 00:38:51 +0000

Yes, I'm familiar with my work. :) But I haven't been actively researching that topic for many years. I wanted to see if I missed or forgot about some local case where a cyclist-killing driver got significant time. But probably, there isn't one.

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

dummy@example.com (dougmc) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 22:39:17 +0000

MichaelBluejay wrote:

What kind of justice do run-of-the-mill bicyclists get?

That's an odd question for you of all people to be asking.

That said, this is certainly one of the stiffest sentences given out for a traffic fatality that I've ever heard of, presumably because he screwed up in so many different ways.

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

dummy@example.com (MichaelBluejay) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 22:26:51 +0000

Thanks for this. I know it's happened elsewhere. I'm asking specifically about the Austin area? If a local bicyclist-killer has received a sentence as long as this recent driver-killer, then the case escapes me. The guy who intentionally ran Lance Armstrong off the road back in the 90's got ten years, but that might have had something to do with the victim being a local celebrity at the time. What kind of justice do run-of-the-mill bicyclists get?

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

dummy@example.com (Darron) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 21:34:19 +0000

Its Houston but, "Woman sentenced to 15 years in prison in hit-and-run bike death"

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas … 950313.php

Another from Hidalgo County, "18 years for drunken driver in cyclist Arguelles’ death"

http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/ye … f6878.html

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

dummy@example.com (MichaelBluejay) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 16:01:42 +0000

Sentenced to 18 years. Must serve at least half before eligible for parole. Ten years probation upon release.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crim … 3-w/nhxMf/

Refresh my memory: what's the longest sentence an Austin driver has received for killing a bicyclist?

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

dummy@example.com (MichaelBluejay) — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 20:27:11 +0000

He's facing 19 (count 'em) charges.

Some hours before the crash, he allegedly Tweeted, "If drinking before five is wrong, I don't want to be right."

Hit-and-run drunk driver (w/0.27) BAC kills two in Prius, 12/27/13

dummy@example.com (MichaelBluejay) — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 02:49:20 +0000

This isn't bicycle-related, but I'm posting it anyway. I'm curious to see what penalty this guy gets, and how much more severe it is for killing motorists vs. people who kill cyclists & peds.

Witnesses say the driver (Wyzykowski) was traveling between 80-100mph while southbound on RM 620 when he rear-ended a Prius, kiling a kindergarten teacher and her 18-year-old son, and hit a Camry, breaking one person's neck, another's back, and another's femur. He fled the scene wearing only a towel, and police say he was cocky and indifferent when they questioned him.

It's no surprise to me that he was driving a big SUV truck. I've long noted the sizable correlation between the size of the passenger vehicle and the chances that the driver will be rude and/or drive dangerously.

They did charge him with a whopping 19 crimes, and he's due in court on ~~Feb. 10th~~ ~~March 3rd~~ ~~April 18~~ May 30.

http://www.fourpointsnews.com/2013/12/2 … nk-driver/
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/one- … -sc/ncXH5/
http://www.kvue.com/video/featured-vide … 25951.html