LCSO Investigating Assault on Washington & Old Dominion Trail

[josh]

Couldn’t resist — https://www.strava.com/activities/1525666006

Looks like he hit 30mph a bit before Ashburn Village Blvd.

[Tania]

josh;178413 wrote:

couldn’t resist — https://www.strava.com/activities/1525666006

looks like he hit 30mph a bit before ashburn village blvd.

wtf.

[Brett L.]

Copied over from DC Used Bicycle Marketplace post:

“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2018

Contact:

Kraig Troxell, Media Relations and Communications Manager, 703-771-5278
Kraig.Troxell@loudoun.gov

Alex Kowalski, Public Information Officer, 703-777-0625
Aleksandra.Kowalski@loudoun.gov

Loudoun County, VA- A fitness tracking app and information from the public helped identify a cyclist in the assault of another cyclist last month on the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail

Detectives with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office discovered the suspect was utilizing the STRAVA app as he traveled in the area of the assault. Through the investigation and interviews with independent witnesses, Edward A. Shortnacy, 48, of Vienna, was positively identified as the suspect. Shortnacy was charged today with malicious wounding.

The charge stems from an incident April 22 where the victim was riding his bike west on the W&OD Trail near Ashburn Village Boulevard and was attempting to pass two bicyclists. He was reportedly riding on the center line when the suspect was coming from the opposite direction. The suspect reached his arm out intentionally and struck the victim on his helmet. The victim fell to the ground and was seriously injured. The suspect rode off in the opposite direction.

The victim was taken to the Lansdowne Campus of Inova Loudoun Hospital and later transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital and was later released.

Shortnacy turned himself over to authorities Thursday morning and was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond.”

[Subby]

@SolarBikeCar 178364 wrote:

Can you explain your reasoning? If I pass someone who is biking aggressively in my lane and there is a small amount of contact I would focus on maintaining direction and control. Looking back isn’t on my todo list for at least a few seconds if at all especially if the traffic is heavy. So why would you expect the east bounder to even know there was an accident, let alone that it was serious? Turning around and heading back toward the westbound cyclist could be perceived as escalating an otherwise mild altercation especially if the east bound cyclist sees any mishap as the fault of the west bounder’s bad riding.

If you ever bump me on the trail you better kill me.

[Vicegrip]

@SolarBikeCar 178372 wrote:

I wish I could post about a topic without others trying to hijack it into a conversation about me. At least this reply illustrates how different observers can have different viewpoints on what happened which is relevant to the topic.

First my tricycle has only one rear wheel so I suspect you meant that I dip one of my front wheels into the path. I do this when the oncoming traffic is walking or weaving on my side of the yellow line and I want to give them several feet of clearance. Of course if my wheel is in the bridle path I can’t be taking my half out of the middle of the road so your allegation is inconsistent. I do move to the left when passing walkers especially if they have a pet even if they are walking off the path so maybe you mistaken that as riding down the middle. When my lane is clear I try to ride so the left tire track is 1 foot to the right of the yellow line.

But enough about me. If one’s arm is 2 feet and another foot for wrist and fingers then passing cycles have to be pretty close for one to clothesline another with enough force to swipe them off the bike. Or, the contact is just a touch because otherwise the wrist and fingers would be broken if one hit a helmet at 30mph with a stiff hand.

The reason I responded to your post at all was your striking dismissal of contact between riders.
Secondary as point about relevance is only that you, as a habit, drive your electric car dead center of the trail as a norm and only move over when you see oncoming traffic. You dip a wheel into the bridal path as you move out of the other lane to give way to oncoming traffic.

It is not about you. You have shown quite well in past posts here, your blog and on the trail activities how you consider yourself.

[Mariner]

Any update on the rider who was smacked in the head? Does anyone on the board know him or know how his recovery is going?

[zsionakides]

@josh 178413 wrote:

Couldn’t resist — https://www.strava.com/activities/1525666006

Looks like he hit 30mph a bit before Ashburn Village Blvd.

Max power of 920W on the W&OD on a Sunday afternoon. Wow.

[VikingMariner]

https://www.facebook.com/allen.shortnacy?lst=1162737710%3A1609104612%3A1526904246

[Steve O]

@Brett L. 178415 wrote:

Edward A. Shortnacy, 48, of Vienna, was positively identified as the suspect. Shortnacy was charged today with malicious wounding.

He should also be charged with Hit and Run, which would undoubtedly be the case had he been driving a car.

[dkel]

@Steve O 178501 wrote:

He should also be charged with Hit and Run, which would undoubtedly be the case had he been driving a car.

I’d be interested to hear our resident lawyers argue whether the incident involved vehicles or only pedestrians. Or discuss whether hit and run is about property damage rather than bodily injury.

Then again, maybe I’d get bored with that really fast. :rolleyes:

[Steve O]

@Steve O 178501 wrote:

He should also be charged with Hit and Run, which would undoubtedly be the case had he been driving a car.

It turns out that Hit and Run only applies on roadways and only with automobiles involved in a collision. So, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s office (to which I send an inquiry), no dice.

[mstone]

@Steve O 178531 wrote:

It turns out that Hit and Run only applies on roadways and only with automobiles involved in a collision. So, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s office (to which I send an inquiry), no dice.

I wonder if that’s actually true.

[Sunyata]

@mstone 178536 wrote:

I wonder if that’s actually true.

It is mostly true. The law actually states “the driver of any vehicle”. But bicycles are not considered vehicles when on multi-use trails. Had this happened where a bicycle would be considered a vehicle (say, a roadway), then the hit and run law may apply. As usual, the law is a little fuzzy when it comes to non-standard vehicles. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/section46.2-894

[mstone]

@Sunyata 178544 wrote:

It is mostly true. The law actually states “the driver of any vehicle”. But bicycles are not considered vehicles when on multi-use trails. Had this happened where a bicycle would be considered a vehicle (say, a roadway), then the hit and run law may apply. As usual, the law is a little fuzzy when it comes to non-standard vehicles. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/section46.2-894

I question the idea that hit & run only applies on roadways. (So, if a car runs off the road and then hits someone, it can’t be hit and run? I think the statute very specifically doesn’t say that.) I question the idea that it only applies to automobiles. (I don’t see that in the statute, either. There’s some language about license & registration that doesn’t apply to bikes, but I assume that you can be charged with hit & run even if you’re an unlicensed driver of an unregistered car.) It may very well be that the fact that the dual treatment of bikes under the code makes hit & run not apply in this case, that was even my initial thought, but not necessarily for the reasons stated above. (Or it might–precedents hold more weight than guesses.) My curiosity is mostly because police departments have a terrible record for knowing how to apply the law to bikes (to be fair, the officers tend to get zero bike-related training) and I wonder if, regardless of the merits of this case, there are other cases where hit & run would be appropriate but they won’t even consider it.

[ImaCynic]

I find the other story shown below this one in the link far more intriguing

[Author]

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