Previously, I wrote about a local doctor, Stan Sabin, who was killed while riding his bicycle. The motorist involved blamed a “sneezing fit” for causing her to lose control of her car, which resulted in her striking Dr. Sabin. Atypically, that driver was charged with motor vehicle homicide. In this case, the driver was probably charged because the cyclist, Dr. Sabin, was a prominent member of society.
Unfortunately, countless cyclists have been killed with little or no penalty to motorists – even when they are clearly at fault.
In the same post, I wrote about media coverage of these incidents. I pointed out how the media always talks at length about the cyclist’s life and why he/she will be missed, and observed that there is very little information conveyed about the accident itself.
Not long ago, on June 6, 2011, another local cyclist lost her life. Christina Genco, 22, of Newton Massachusetts, was with a group of cyclists who were riding across the country as part of a national campaign called Bike and Build. She was a co-leader of this ride and had been trained in bicycle safety.
I learned about Christina’s untimely death on Boston.com. I read their three page account about her life and noticed little mention of the details of the accident. Out of frustration with the one-sided reporting, I did a search to gather more information about the accident.
All of the local publications (in the Boston area) indicated that the accident was under investigation, but none of them followed up on the story to find out what had happened to this young cyclist.
After reading a dozen articles, I was able to piece together some sketchy details about the accident. Most of the accident details were found on news sites in Tennessee and Alabama (where the accident occurred). And most of the details about Christina’s life were found in local articles.
From what I could glean, the Bike and Build group was headed from Fort Payne to Rainsville Alabama. At about 1:30 p.m., Christina was riding uphill on the shoulder of the west bound travel lane of Route 35 when an SUV entered the road and tried to pass Christina and another cyclist. Christina was struck from behind and killed.
Craig Chandler, 44, of Rainsville was driving the SUV. Chandler used to work for the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and their 911 Center and was a former check fraud investigator with the DeKalb County district attorney’s office.
At the time of the accident, the police released very few details about the investigation other than to say that both the driver and the deceased were going to be tested for drugs and alcohol. There were no plans to charge the driver.
A few things stand out. The cyclist was a young person who had no standing in society beyond her accomplishments working for a charity. The driver of the SUV used to work for the DeKalb County Sheriff’s office, so he had a connection to law enforcement.
What we see here, both in reporting and the police investigation, is that the relative worth of the individuals involved comes into play, rather than the letter of the law.
At the accident scene, Chandler’s failure to yield to traffic when entering the road should have been taken into consideration. He didn’t have the right to pass the cyclists as he entered the road. He should have followed behind them since they had the right of way. He also struck Christina from behind. In any motor vehicle accident, a driver who strikes another vehicle from behind is considered to be at fault. But, apparently, even though bicycles are vehicles under the law, in their case the law doesn’t apply.
According to a comment written on Alabama Live, photos of the crime scene showed that either the crash was intentional or the result of an impairment:
“John_Clary_335 June 18, 2011 at 11:39AM
Before the pictures were pulled off the web the crime scene pictures I saw showed an impact about 8″ to the right of the fog line for the bicycle, and about a third of the way to the right of center on the vehicle. This tells me the wreck was either intentional or there was some impairment either temporary (cell phone?) or longer duration (vision defects, health issues?). The fact that the perp was a member of the local LEO community does not bode well for the integrity of this investigation, unless the Troopers they brought in are from some other part of the state and have no connection with the perp or any of his family.”
The police at the scene – and subsequently, as far as I can tell – didn’t perceive Chandler’s failure to obey the traffic laws as evidence of negligence, even though his failure to yield resulted in the loss of a human life.
What we can learn from this incident, in contrast to Dr. Sabin’s case, is that average cyclists are consistently viewed as second class citizens by news reporters and police. The former don’t see any value in following up on the initial report of the cyclist’s death to find out what happened. And the latter are either biased in favor of motorists, or in this instance, partial to their fellow law enforcement officers.
It’s very disheartening to witness these reporting and police investigation trends.
As an avid cyclist, I’m not satisfied just knowing who Christina was; I want to know what happened to her. And, I want to know what is being done about it. It’s not enough to know that she was killed by an SUV.
Christina may not have been a prominent doctor, but she was not insignificant. She was one of us and represented all of us. Each of us goes out onto the road hoping that engaging in safe cycling practices will keep us safe. And when safe practices are not enough, we need to know what failed, who is responsible for that failure, and how to fix the failure to prevent what happened to Christina from happening to another one of us.
Until reporters begin asking questions and police start investigating as if drivers and cyclists have equal value and equal rights on the road, we will never stop the trend of cyclists losing their lives without negligent motorists being held accountable.
The key to rectifying this problem lies in creating equal status between cyclists and motorists and equal value between average people and prominent members of society. Every life is unique and valuable, irrespective of age or accomplishments. Therefore, in order to attain a just society, we must work to eliminate the practice of weighing the relative worth of cyclists and motorists when determining who is at fault – and who should be held accountable – in a car versus bicycle accident.
Update:
A reporter who covers crime in North Georgia for the Chattanooga Times Free Press has followed up on this bike accident. According to the article, the Alabama authorities are in the process of conducting an investigation into Christina’s death.
Rainsville Police Chief Charles Centers was asked to turn over all the evidence his department had to the state to avoid any favoritism Chandler, a former DeKalb County deputy sheriff, might get from local law enforcement.
“After the investigation began, 9th Circuit District Attorney Mike O’Dell asked the Alabama Highway Patrol and Alabama Bureau of Investigation to take the case to avoid any connection to local law enforcement.”
‘State troopers are conducting an investigation that will outline the entire incident moment by moment, spokesman Chad Joiner said.’”
The article goes on to quote an eyewitness:
“But Bobby Reynolds, who was driving behind Chandler and saw the accident, told police he saw the truck drift toward the white line at the shoulder and slam into Genco.
‘I’ve never seen anything like that before,’ Reynolds, who lives in Grove Oak, Ala., said in a telephone interview Wednesday. ‘It just looked like he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing.’”
Some of Christina’s fellow Bike and Build riders told the reporter that they hope Chandler will be charged because they want to see justice done (as do we all).
Update #2: March 19, 2012
A report in the Daily Mail Online says that “Craig Chandler has only been indicted on Negligent Homicide charges, one of the lowest charges he faced, and released on a $3,000 bond. If convicted, he could face up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine.” This outrageously small penalty comes as no surprise, given Chandler’s connection to local law enforcement.
In addition, a foundation — CCGFoundation.org — has been set up to continue Christina’s legacy. The foundation’s mission is: “To inspire youth to find their passion and make a difference in their communities… There are three primary focuses of the foundation: bicycling safety education, athletic scholarships, and support for affordable housing.”
Please consider supporting the foundation. To make a donation, send checks payable to:
The Christina Clarke Genco Foundation
PO Box 610192
Newton, MA 02461
Additional information on Craig Chandler’s indictment: A Hint of Justice
