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BPD looking for motorcyclist involved in hit-and-run accident

By Howard B. Owens

Police are asking the public to help identify a motorcyclist involved in a hit-and-run accident at about 5 p.m. Aug. 19 on East Main Street in front of Key Bank in Batavia.

The motorcycle hit a bicyclist.

The bicyclist was not seriously injured in the accident.

The motorcycle operator did stop and check on the bicyclist's condition, but then left the scene without providing name, address, license information and plate number.

The operator is described as a white male in his early 40s with a "salt and pepper" beard.

The motorcycle is described as a "cruiser (meaning not a street bike)." It was red and may have sustained damage on the right side of the handlebar and possibly to the front master cylinder.

Anyone with information is asked to call Officer James DeFreze at (585) 345-6350.

Kyle Slocum

David,

The second part of the requirement when involved in a personal injury accident is "provide name, address, license information and plate number" to the victim or police. The first is to stop at the scene to await police, if necessary, or to proceed immediately to the nearest police station to report the accident.

Simply stopping and checking how bad it is, then riding anonymously away from the scene is (while less heartless than simply running) not sufficient to count as a reported personal injury accident.

I suspect it is likely that the motorcyclist figured there were no big injuries and it was all good. Unfortunately, that isn't the end of it. If at fault for the accident, he is responsible for the property damage and expenses related to the injuries from the accident.

Aug 29, 2014, 9:23pm Permalink
Kyle Slocum

"The motorcycle is described as a "cruiser (meaning not a street bike).""

Um, "street bike" includes sport bikes, cruisers and dual-sport bikes. All of which can be registered and ridden on the road. The non-motorcyclist witness, reporter or PR writing cop won't know any of this.

A better construction of the sentence would be:

The motorcycle is described as a "cruiser (meaning street motorcycle having a riding position with the rider's feet resting on foot pegs forward of his body position on the motorcycle and the rider having an upright or rearward-leaning riding position)."

For a sport bike:

The motorcycle is described as a "sport bike (meaning a street motorcycle having a riding position with the riders feet resting on foot pegs underneath his body position on the motorcycle usually with a forward leaning riding position)."

Dual-sport bike:

The motorcycle is described as a "dual-sport bike (meaning a street motorcycle having a riding position with the riders feet resting on foot pegs underneath his body position on the motorcycle with an upright riding position and having a long-travel suspension and knobby tires)."

Howard, feel free to add this to the style book here or forward it to the PD for future reference in their press releases.

Aug 29, 2014, 9:56pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Darlene - You wrote, "... Sounds like you have a personal connection here. Family member?".

I would never attempt to speak for Kyle, but, I can tell you what my response to a question like that would be (had it been asked of me).

I would have responded, "Family member? To whom, Darlene? To Howard? To David? To you, Darlene? Or, possibly, to either the motorcyclist or the bicyclist? To which do you think I might be related? You would need to be a little more specific for me to answer your question, Darlene. And, after all, aren't we all members of the same family, somewheres along the line?".

Anyways, that's how I would've responded to your question.

I'm going to assume (uh-oh, here I go again) that you were refering to Kyle's comments on the article. As Kyle is a retired police officer, I would imagine that he (probably) had occassions to write reports about an accident or two. And, if he were to show up in court as the arresting officer, I'm gonna venture that the court wanted to hear a little more than, "Well, this guy was driving a car, and he hit the other car.".

I'm pretty sure Kyle learned to be quite specific in his reports. Which is probably why he tended to make the distinction between motorcycle types. But, that's just a guess on my part.

Aug 30, 2014, 9:41pm Permalink

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