Bicycle Austin forum

Darron

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 131

Jerry Milner DDS slams on brakes in front of cyclist, flees scene 7/15

Couple things that stood out to me
- The assailant works on Jollyville and there a lot of cycle traffic so if he was this angry yesterday I'm sure this wasn't the first time he was frustrated with cyclists.
- That part of Jollyville is the far north end where there is minimal auto traffic and two traffic lanes so there was no reason to harass a cyclist as traffic is not impeded.
- The vegetation is clearly blocking the lane (it does this in several spots on Jollyville, Braker, Duval)

I cycle on this stretch of road and most drivers are very courteous to cyclists, give them a wide berth even when they don't have to (they will switch to the inside lane just to be nice).

An Austin man has been charged with felony failure to stop and render aid after police say he drove away following a crash with a bicyclist.

The bicyclist told police he had turned southbound onto Jollyville Road from Barrington Way when a man — later identified as 60-year-old Jerry Doyle Milner — honked at him and “yelled” at him to get into the bike lane, according to an arrest affidavit.

The rider said he wasn’t in the bike lane because of overgrown vegetation. The rider also said he yelled back at the driver, at which point the driver got in front of the rider and “slammed on his brakes,” the arrest warrant states.

The bicyclist hit the back of the pickup truck, leaving a dent in the truck. A bystander who was about 100 feet away told police he heard a loud impact and looked over to see the cyclist “flying up onto the rear of Milner’s truck,” according to the warrant. A separate witness told police he was driving behind the Ford F-150 pickup truck when he saw it maneuver in front of the bicyclist and “brake hard,” police said.

Both witnesses said they saw the pickup truck leave the scene of the incident, the affidavit states.

The cyclist had cuts, bruises and a swollen elbow, but he refused to be taken to the hospital. He told police he remembered the pickup truck’s license plate, which led police to Milner’s place of work, a North Austin dental office, according to police.

http://kxan.com/2015/07/16/police-man-i … bicyclist/
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/loca … -no/nmzxz/

Darron

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: Jerry Milner DDS slams on brakes in front of cyclist, flees scene 7/15

Scheduled for court 1/22/16, Cause #D-1-DC-15-204124.  Charge is "Accident Involving Serious Bodily Injury", as per 550.021(c)(1)(B), a third-degree felony.

However, note that Dr. Milner's action was intentional, but they charged him as though it was an accident.  He should have also been charged with Aggravated Assault, a second-degree felony.

If convicted of the lesser charge, the *minimum* penalty is 2 years of jail, but of course that's in name only: the judge can suspend the sentence and give him probation, which is likely.  And that's if he even goes to trial and is convicted: he might plea down to a lesser charge, or go to trial and get acquitted.  If there's a bet on whether he gets any actual jail time, I take the under.

Donald Lewis

Member

Registered: 2009-07-11

Posts: 184

Re: Jerry Milner DDS slams on brakes in front of cyclist, flees scene 7/15

There are some highly negative reviews of this man on Google.  He appears to have paid Yelp to pull the negative reviews on their site.

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: Jerry Milner DDS slams on brakes in front of cyclist, flees scene 7/15

You can't pay to remove negative reviews on Yelp.

Yelp might have removed bad "reviews" because they weren't from his actual customers, just stabs from pissed-of cyclists.  Reviews have to be based on actual consumer experience, according to their TOS.

Incidentally, one dentist sued Yelp over negative reviews, predictably lost, and was ordered to pay Yelp $80k in legal fees.

My own former dentist was reprimanded by the state licensing board for ordering drugs for himself, I think it was testosterone.  I went to another dentist and when I found the bill seemed high, I looked it up and found that his rates were in the 95th percentile.

So between assaulting cyclists, shooting lions, losing lawsuits over bad reviews, illegally securing pharmaceuticals, and price gouging, it seems like dentists are in a slump right now.

I like my current dentist, though.  But I hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that....