2 injured as driver rams motorcycle in road rage incident
CLEAR LAKE, Wash. - A man intentionally rammed a motorcycle twice with his car Saturday in a road rage incident on a Skagit County road, knocking a man and woman off the motorcycle and leaving them lying in the roadway with multiple injuries, the Washington State Patrol reported.
State troopers responded to the scene, near the intersection of Highway 9 and Old Day Creek Road, shortly after noon after receiving a report of a road rage incident with injuries.
Arriving at the scene, troopers found a heavily damaged Harley Davidson FXDB motorcycle and an injured man and woman. The driver of the car that hit them had fled the scene.
An investigation found that the motorcycle, driven by a 37-year-old man with a 38-year-old female passenger, had been traveling along Highway 9 as a 1994 Mercury Sable followed behind it. When the motorcycle turned east onto Old Day Creek Road, the Mercury followed.
The driver of the Mercury, identified as Michael P. Stickels Jr., 36, of Lopez Island, then intentionally rammed the motorcycle, according to troopers. The impact knocked the woman off the motorcycle and she landed on the pavement.
The car and motorcycle continued another 100 feet and Stickels again rammed the motorcycle, knocking the man off, troopers said. The heavily damaged motorcycle fell onto the roadway.
Stickels then drove off, leaving the man and woman lying there, the State Patrol reported. The two were taken to Skagit Valley Hospital for treatment of their injuries.
Troopers later were able to identify Stickels. He was located and arrested, then booked into Skagit County Jail. He was uninjured.
State troopers responded to the scene, near the intersection of Highway 9 and Old Day Creek Road, shortly after noon after receiving a report of a road rage incident with injuries.
Arriving at the scene, troopers found a heavily damaged Harley Davidson FXDB motorcycle and an injured man and woman. The driver of the car that hit them had fled the scene.
An investigation found that the motorcycle, driven by a 37-year-old man with a 38-year-old female passenger, had been traveling along Highway 9 as a 1994 Mercury Sable followed behind it. When the motorcycle turned east onto Old Day Creek Road, the Mercury followed.
The driver of the Mercury, identified as Michael P. Stickels Jr., 36, of Lopez Island, then intentionally rammed the motorcycle, according to troopers. The impact knocked the woman off the motorcycle and she landed on the pavement.
The car and motorcycle continued another 100 feet and Stickels again rammed the motorcycle, knocking the man off, troopers said. The heavily damaged motorcycle fell onto the roadway.
Stickels then drove off, leaving the man and woman lying there, the State Patrol reported. The two were taken to Skagit Valley Hospital for treatment of their injuries.
Troopers later were able to identify Stickels. He was located and arrested, then booked into Skagit County Jail. He was uninjured.
This same man ran over my Boyfriend last December. He was in a car and my boyfriend was on foot. He hit him with the car and knocked him over and drove over both his legs. The police did nothing and he got away free and clear of any charges. I hope they put him away this time.
@oldskool Your boyfriend was totally innocent and sober right? Could that be the reason for a hung jury?
 @oldskool Hey, I agree, maybe the judge in Friday Harbor will have second thoughts next time......Hope the motorcyclists are okay.
@Lori J. Time to get over it Lori and grow up. You Know who the motorcyclists are or at least one of them. You weren't so concerned when you were dumped for her were you? I do remember that conversation.
Hey! Where are the people who spout off that "he's innocent until proven guilty" like the comments posted about the judge who got busted for DUI last week and got a ride home?
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They are pretty quiet today.
Could we just shoot him. He ruined his right to live.
@Thyroid so you are the judge and jury? Hope you aren't a parent.
Simple solution here.. take this POS and send him to the chair/chamber/firing squad/ whatever cheaper way of exectution. He tried to kill these people and he deserves the maximum penalty as he is obviously too unstabl to be with the rest of us!
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I am a rider and drivers like this POS deserve to be removed for the rest of ours company... permenantly!
@Freespeech So you and Thyroid are judge and jury.
Wow, the trash is really out on our roads (and public for that matter). What a coward. Off your meds are you? I'd charge the POS with attempted murder and a litany of other charges. What the hell is wrong with people these days? If the motorcycle riders had a concealed weapon permit and were carrying, they would have been in the right to use deadly force for attempted murder.Â
Wow, this is messed up and close to home. I drive that stretch of road often and this incident seems very out of place for what is usually a peaceful and beautiful drive. BTW, speed limit is posted at 25 mph there. This idiot was probably upset that the motorbike was actually obeying the law.
Prison time for this one.Â
I want to see attempted murder charges filed. Since the state won't do that (motorcyclists are a small voting bloc), impound every vehicle his immediate family owns to protect the public.
@nkroadcaptain You're an idiot!
 @nkroadcaptain I doubt the legitimacy of your statement. Attempted murder is attempted murder. Vehicular assault is a possibility. Neither charge has anything to do with the victim's voting record. Charges will be determined soon enough, so we can all follow up.
 @nkroadcaptain I am not a lawyer so don't know what attempted murder involves. Does it require the intent to kill or only an action that would reasonably result in killing? As a layman, though, I completely agree. I'd like to see attempted murder charges.
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The state can either deal with this now, with injured people, or put the matter off until the time comes when he is successful in killing his victims. I can't see him changing his behavior voluntarily.Â
I Â guess it comes down to respect for "ALL" who use the highways, Cars, Motorcycles, Bicycles, road rage is out of control, why just yesterday I had a person in a very large SUV ride my bumper (I was going the speed limit) for miles and when he finally passed, he came close to sideswiping me and pulled in front with no room to spare and braked suddenly, Why? Â I could have retaliated,which might have turned really ugly, but why should I act like him?, road rage can turn deadly fast, it's bad enough to be on the receiving end of road rage in a car, but on a motorcycle or bicycle............Our court system is so congested with "MAJOR" crime, and the Jails and Prisons are so full, they consider "Road Rage" minor unless there is a death involved, I can see sometimes why people get so frustrated they take the law into their own hands, but, vigilante justice isn't the answer, that makes us no better than the road rager....vengence is a human emotion that has no place in a civilized world.
WOW ! You people think he hit them just because he doesn't like bikers ??? My guess is his girlfriend was on the bike , and well figure out the rest. Jealous guys kill their exes every day . If it's just road rage , ( doubt it ) then the guy is an idiot. But, I've seen a lot of morons on bikes these days. They may have the same rights to the road as cars, but they ARE harder to see and sometimes come out of no where because they are speeding or just being jerks . I've seen thousands of stickers saying "Watch for Motorcycles", but there are blind spots every where in cars , trucks, vans , and suvs.Bikers need to learn that they can't be seen all the time and be prepared for anything. I would never condone what happened here, I'm just saying to bikers ," Watch for Cars "    I drive an '84 Harley FXST Soft Tail.
 @BonoEdge44 He's also a Harley owner and driver....go figure???
@Lori J I do believe you were gifted a full set of riding leathers by him and myself so YOU could ride with him when you lived together!
 @BonoEdge44Â
 @BonoEdge44 You could be correct, there could be a personal motive- but I suspect this has something to do with the idiotic and possibly under the influence guy not liking the 25 mph speed limit on HWY 9 through Clear Lake. I have seen that before, in the form of tailgating, on that bit of road.
I'm guessing they flipped him off, and he in turn, was off his rocker and took action. Either that, or he knew them. That's about it. They did something he took as offensive (not supporting his actions) or he knew them. That's about it on the road as far as simple folk seeking revenge.
As a 60 year old grama who rides my own bike to work as much as I can, there is NO excuse for this!
Michael P. Stickels Jr., 36, of Lopez Island should be in prison. He should never be allowed to drive again.
He is a threat to society. Â He could have killed these two people he INTENTIONALLY rammed. Â
I know someone that got hit by a lady that just plain did not like motorcycles and intentionally ran into him, breaking both his legs. She went out of her way to cross the roadway and hit him while he was sitting in a parking space. She got off for temporary insanity. There are a lot of people like her on the road, is what my friend found out, happens all the time. So if you are riding a motorcycle be careful out there!
 @Grumpa They do for bikers too. I've seen people intentionally drive dangerously close bikers. Glad WA state passed that law requiring cars to drive 3' away from bikers about 4 years ago, but I notice many cars are not obeying that law.
By, 'bikers', do you mean bicyclists?
The term is abiguous,here, as motorcyclists are often called 'bikers'.
Didn't you just win the award for worst drivers?
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Well I hope this dumb bell enjoys paying his insurance company back for all the damage they will have to pay, also paying for his legal fees, plus having a felony against him, plus doing time in jail....
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hope it was worth it.
 @sunnysandiego I believe you are referring to Washington, D.C. and we're the ones to the north between Oregon and British Columbia.
 @sunnysandiego Yeah, we need to ship him down to San Diego then you guys can take over the No. 1 spot.
@Scoondog
 or put him away for good so he never gets a chance to do this again.
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have you driven in san diego?
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it's night and day better than seattle. Â is it perfect heck no. Â but we don't have nearly as many idiots driving here who simply cannot figure out how to merge into a freeway or maintain a speed in lane 1 which is conducive with the "flow". Â Also as mentioned we don't drive like it's a competition against ones manhood we drive to get to point b from where we are. Â In seattle people take driving personally and that is what leads to this
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As a bicyclist I logged a few thousand miles in Tacoma and in that time I had things thrown at me, several rude comments thrown at me, and the best was a fat lady in a mini van stops and yells at me because I am too close to the road (even though I was in the bike lane).
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As a way of comparison, in San Diego, I have logged several thousand miles on the road here on a bicycle, and not one I swear by god as my witness incident of someone yelling at me while riding or harassing me. Â The closes thing was I got a whistle from a car driving by (cool I like that chicks enjoying my physique) I hustle to catch up to the car stopped at a light, it was a dude (not cool).
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 @sunnysandiego I think it' s due in large part to the horrible traffic due to geographical obstacles (ie Lake Washington) and just plain lousy planning. Throw in 300 gray rainy days a year and there you have it ; )
 @sunnysandiego I wonder if the idiot driver of the 1994 Mercury Sable even has insurance. If he does, you're right. He deserves all the expenses and consequences you mentioned. My guess is, if he is brazen enough to intentionally hit the vulnerable riders of a motorcycle, then he is irresponsible enough to go without insurance, not even liability coverage.
 @sunnysandiego He belongs in prison. He's worse than dumb, he's dangerous and shouldn't be released in society.
Just because the two riders did not die it was not for lack of trying on the part of the car driver. This is another case of attempted murder which will be prosecuted with much reduced charges.  It might be better to drop all charges but publish the drivers address. Â
 @oldster70 no, it wouldn't. I say this because his mom or whoever he may live with did nothing wrong and your vigilante impulse is strangely near identical to the impulse of this dumb driver who took it upon himself to punish the people on the bike. Please consider that. I hope the idiot rots in jail, but I cannot support the vigilante thing.
@two loons @oldster70 The vigilante mentality is exactly what's wrong with this country! People don't magically appear on the planet. Everyone has either a birth mother or adopted mother or step-mother. Most of us do the best we can. I guarantee, no parent condones irratic behavior but god willing they still love their children! I doubt this young man was not brought up to believe this is how the world works. Wake the "f" up people!
First I hope the riders make a full recovery. Just an FYI the Old Day Creek road is not in Clear Lake, its the side shoot to the east closer to Sedro Wolley just before the Skagit river. I hope the driver of the car is charged with the maximum woos sentence wa has.Â
 @Kodiak The intersection of Hwy 9 and Old Day Creek Rd. is in fact in Clear Lake. Old Day Creek Rd. itself does head over toward Woolley, via Day Creek.
Charge him assault with a deadly weapon and revoke his license permanently! Make him ride a pedal bike and let him try to ram cars with it.
There is never an excuse to ram a motorcycle. Sadly the driver won't get enough jail time. But the driver should be charged with attempted murder!!!! One of my next big purchases as soon as I can is going to be buying a camera for my motorcycle.Â
I hope the riders will be ok.Â
At a time when there are documented issues between motorcyclists and car/truck drivers about sharing the road, this is ridiculous. I hope the man and woman on the motorcycle recovery quickly from their injuries and that the State throws the book at the moron in the car. I think attempted murder fit this crime since it was a deliberate act by the driver of the car regardless of who started it.
No question this is attempted murder. This guy should never see the outside of a prison in his life.
 @eichler34 You're right, but unfortunately, we live in a Hug-A-Thug society. He probably won't even get attempted murder, but first or second degree assault.
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@Lori J @Yadayada @eichler34 You should know, right?
 @Yadayada  @eichler34 It's not even the first time he's run someone over....
 @Yadayada  @eichler34 I have yet to meet anyone who wants to hug a thug for political reasons. Only dumb people who date thugs want to hug them.
****HALF-A-STORY-ALERT****
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And the connection to the two parties was WHAT?
How exactly DID the State Patrol come to identify the driver who fled???
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Come on.
 @DualLeads most likely a witness or two. It is a well traveled intersection.
@DualLeads It was an 18 year old Mercury Sable. Probably the only running one in the state.
@nkroadcaptain That is the most arrogant statement yet.
You trying to say this was somehow justified?
 @DualLeads Okay then lets say they have a connection between each other. Then I would say the driver of the car deliberately tried to hurt these people bad if not kill them. Which it sure seems to me like he was trying to do that.
   There is this little invention called a license plate. It actually helps identify cars. Â
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Wow.
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@Audio Cat No. 1 - that would have been nice little nugget to put in the story, since people are wondering. And 2) Having been a licensed motorcyclist for over 32 years, even I have yet to be able to make out a license plate of a vehicle in my rearview mirror while in the process of being rear-ended & thrown off my bike seriously injured.
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Wow? Jerk.
 @DualLeads  @Audio Witnesses, jerk.
 @DualLeads Not to say there was no connection between the two (because I don't know), but if they didn't know each other, is it possible the bikers (or a witness) got his license plate number?