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tomwald

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From: 78722

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 290

"Man who struck, killed Hays Co cyclist convicted of reckless driving"

http://www.kvue.com/news/green/stories/ … 0d470.html

Man who struck, killed Hays Co. cyclist convicted of reckless driving

10:30 PM CST on Tuesday, February 17, 2009

By SHELTON GREEN
KVUE News

Friday, February 13th, 2009 is a day Libby Raibstein says she thought would never come.

"Honestly, I started crying," the nurse practitioner said in an interview Tuesday.  "I was just so … I couldn't believe that there was that hope of getting some type of closure."

In March of 2007, Raibstein's husband, 36-year old Adam Raymond, an Austin optometrist and father of a newborn at the time, was killed while riding his bicycle on Mount Gainor Road in Dripping Springs.  Raymond was three weeks away from redeployment to Iraq.

D.P.S. investigators say 26-year old Bradly Danz of Wimberley, who was travelling in the opposite direction, was speeding and entered Raymond's lane hitting him head-on with a Dodge Ram 3500 pick-up truck.

On Friday, February 13th a Hays County jury of six convicted Danz of reckless driving, a charge which could bring 30-days in jail and a $300 fine.  However, Raymond's family, defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed on two-years probation for Danz.

"It's a small victory," said Raibstein.  "I don't think it fully fits the crime, but I'm happy.  It does bring me some sense of peace that, unanimously, six people saw that he did do something wrong and they called him on it."

A few months after the accident, a Hays County grand jury declined to indict Danz on any charges.   A few months later, in an unusual move, Hays County District Attorney Sherri Tibbe filed her own charge against Danz for reckless driving.

"It's a culture," said Al Bastidas, a cyclist and founder of an organization called "Please Be Kind To Cyclists."

Bastidas says the move by the Hays County district attorney to charge Danz and the jury's decision to convict him means that attitudes towards cyclists may be changing.

Libby Raibstein is hoping her husband's death serves as a reminder to cyclists and to drivers to obey the laws and to look out for each other.

"Just watch what you're doing, you're not the only one on the road in a car that's protecting you, and cyclists just keep an eye out for the motorists" she said.

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: "Man who struck, killed Hays Co cyclist convicted of reckless driving"

So this guy KILLS another human being, gets no fine and no jail time, and we consider this a victory?  Our standards must be low.

But one of the problems is that the penal code usually lists fines or jail time as the only possible penalty.  We need a third one:  License suspension.  If someone KILLS another human being with their vehicle, I believe they've revoked their privilege of being on the road.

tomwald

Moderator

From: 78722

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 290

Re: "Man who struck, killed Hays Co cyclist convicted of reckless driving"

There are these too:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ … _driv.html

Man convicted of reckless driving in crash that killed cyclist

By David C. Doolittle | Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 02:15 PM

A Hays County jury found an Austin man guilty of reckless driving Friday for his involvement in a crash that killed a bicyclist in 2007, said Fred Weber, first assistant district attorney for Hays County.

Bradley Danz, 26, will probably face two years of probation when he is sentenced next month on the misdemeanor charge, Weber said.

Danz hit Adam Raymond, 36, of Austin, head-on while rounding a curve on Mount Gainor Road just south of Dripping Springs on March 23, 2007, killing him, a Department of Public Safety report said. Danz's Dodge Ram 3500 pickup swerved into the middle of the road as he rounded the curve about 6:30 a.m., the report said.

A Hays County grand jury declined to indict Danz in June of 2007 on felony charges of criminally negligent homicide.

The district attorney's office then filed the misdemeanor charge of reckless driving against Danz on June 21, 2007, Weber said. Danz turned himself in several days later and posted bond of $2,000, Weber said.

"It's not what we originally hoped for but it's a small victory in light of everything that happened and I was glad to see that the jury was unanimous in its vote that he did do something wrong," said Libby Raibstein, Raymond's wife.

"We felt like he was responsible for the death of the victim and felt like the charges were appropriate," Weber said. "I think justice was served and hopefully people will be more cautious in the future."

Read Pamela LeBlanc's commentary on the conviction on Austin 360's Fit City blog.

Pamela LeBlanc's commentary:
http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/ … yclis.html