Stun gun-wielding pregnant woman attacks bike messenger
SEATTLE -- Police say a minor traffic dispute took a turn for the bizarre Friday morning when a pregnant woman pulled a stun gun from her bra and attacked a bike messenger.
The bike messenger was crossing 5th Avenue in the crosswalk just after 11:15 a.m. when a man driving a gray coupe pulled onto 5th, stopped abruptly in front of the crosswalk and honked at the bike messenger, according to police.
The messenger yelled something at the driver and kicked the car's wheel well, though he later told police he didn't do any damage.
Assuming the confrontation was over, the messenger continued across the street.
It was only when he reached the other side and was standing on the sidewalk that he realized the fight was just getting started. He said a passenger in the car, who he described as a pregnant woman, got out and angrily approached him.
As the screaming woman got closer, she reached into her bra and pulled out a stun gun, according to police. The messenger tried to make his getaway, but the pregnant woman gave chase and soon caught him, at which point police say she hit him twice in the face.
The male driver also got out of the car, pulled out his own stun gun and swung it at the bike messenger.
After beating the victim, the pair ran back to their car and drove away.
The messenger wasn't seriously injured in the melee and police are now trying to track down the stun-gun wielding couple.
The bike messenger was crossing 5th Avenue in the crosswalk just after 11:15 a.m. when a man driving a gray coupe pulled onto 5th, stopped abruptly in front of the crosswalk and honked at the bike messenger, according to police.
The messenger yelled something at the driver and kicked the car's wheel well, though he later told police he didn't do any damage.
Assuming the confrontation was over, the messenger continued across the street.
It was only when he reached the other side and was standing on the sidewalk that he realized the fight was just getting started. He said a passenger in the car, who he described as a pregnant woman, got out and angrily approached him.
As the screaming woman got closer, she reached into her bra and pulled out a stun gun, according to police. The messenger tried to make his getaway, but the pregnant woman gave chase and soon caught him, at which point police say she hit him twice in the face.
The male driver also got out of the car, pulled out his own stun gun and swung it at the bike messenger.
After beating the victim, the pair ran back to their car and drove away.
The messenger wasn't seriously injured in the melee and police are now trying to track down the stun-gun wielding couple.
I would be extremely interested, for all the complaining people do about cyclists, to see how much physical harm they are involved in during a year compared to automotive vehicles.
I'd also like to see the ratio of how much of that harm is expressed in injuries to the riders as opposed to someone or something else as compared to those numbers for automobiles and passengers/drivers.
For the sake of general comparison, an average sedan weighs 4500-5500 lbs. A biker and bike combined are likely somewhere between 100 and 300 lbs. A usual biker travels at most perhaps 30mph going downhill (and has some nerve doing so) and in general can be estimated at around 10mph in horizontal travel. A car on a flat residential street travels 2-3.5 times as fast with anywhere from 15-55 times greater mass, and a stopping distance to match.
Anyone want to start a pool on the severity of the contrast between these two data sets?
Article doesn't say if he was even on his bike. If he was wearing shoes for clipless pedals just staying upright while walking can be interesting, much less trying to back up with a crazy couple coming at you.
I read the license plate number right off their car to the 911 operator. They know where to find these low-lifes.
This wasn't a 9-month pregnant woman (nor does being pregnant slow anyone down - but that's another story). She and her boyfriend/husband/baby's-daddy were on either side of the guy wielding their stun guns while he kept trying to back out of the way with his hands up in the air (not threatening them in any way), they continued to come after him.
The bottom line? Had they done the same thing at any other crosswalk and any citizen were to yell at them, I suspect they're the type that'd do it again. Hope they aren't your neighbors!
All this activity and nobody has the thought of writing down a plate number?
A pregnant woman chased down a bike messenger and beat him? Â I'm sorry, but I call BS. Â My wife is pregnant and I'm not even in good shape, but I can damn well outrun her. Â Maybe she had prego hormonal rage and became a super hero with Flash Gordon powers, but I doubt it.
Having witnessed this entire event (and being the only person to call 911), I can tell you that this was barely provoked by the bike messenger. He kicked their tire after they nearly took him out at the cross walk and then told them to FO. This hardly warrants a full-on attack. Yes - I was totally appalled at the stun-gun wielding couple. Equally disturbing was the number of people witnessing this event who walked past and did nothing - particularly the girl I saw on the phone giving a play-by-play. I asked if she was calling the cops, and she said no - she was just telling a friend what was happening! Not only was I worried about what was going to happen to this poor guy, but the crazy woman with the taser wand looked like she was ready to use it on anyone who got in her way.
I've had bike messengers grab hold of my mirror to stabilize themselves while waiting to cross traffic, and have had them grab onto the back of the truck to get a pull up a hill or what not, which is really a lot of fun to slam on the brakes or drive em to the curb when they get obnoxious like that. Â i'll have to remember to get myself a stun gun now.
I love this story as I have seen the antics and disruption these bike messingers cause. They are actual hoodlums and malcontents who should be put in prison and their bikes destroyed.
@Cliff Trudeau So what you got out of a motorist honking at someone in a crosswalk and then attacking them is "Bike messengers are actual hoodlums and malcontents who should be put in prison and their bikes destroyed." Interesting... and what should happen to the person threatening and then attacking the cyclist who wasn't doing anything but using a crosswalk legally? Give them a medal? Troll on baby, troll on... Maybe you should realize the 'antics' are reactions to people in motor vehicles acting in manners that threaten the cyclists life. Cowering and supplicating doesn't help... and the justice system looks actively for any excuse to forgive a motorist that maims or kills a cyclist to the point where it carries a small fine at most (unless a DUI or flee the scene.) So when the motorist threatens a cyclist and the reaction is the cyclist yelling back or kicking the vehicle that can kill him in an instant... maybe there is a reason the cyclist that lives with idiot drivers almost killing them on a daily basis get 'arrogant','think the road belongs to them','rude', or whatever stupid stereotype you are projecting on them when they just want to arrive at their destination alive and unharmed, and without being screwed with by some motor vehicle operator or passenger cocooned in their metal death machine.
Â
@Cliff Trudeau Sorry you've had a bad experience. I work in a building with a lot of law offices and i've never had a bad experience in 5 years of sharing the area.  I had a cruddy experience once in the U district but that was a college kid zooming around, not a messenger.
Gee. Great. the monster is giving birth. Â Just what Seattle needs, more violent spawns.Â
@DTÂ Well, at least it was hot electrons and not hot lead...
Pregnant women are nothing to mess with...
I'm not defending the folks in the car but I must say that after working downtown for over 30 years I've seen the bike messengers do some pretty stupid things. I had one of these idiots kick my car because I had the nerve to honk when he crossed in front of me against the light. They seem to think they have priority over cars and pedestrians. Again, I'm not saying this particular biker deserved what he got just that some of them do bring it on themselves with their attitude and disregard for others around them.
Note to skinny hipsters: don't escalate situations when you are not prepared to carry it through to its likely outcome.
I kicked a car a few years ago after almost getting run down in a crosswalk. Dude got out and his car started rolling away...
@lakeview I would have liked to have seen that! Not you almost getting hit, more the reaction of the other guy when his car started rolling away... :)
Anyone riding a bike in that area who don't got back up is nuts. I would pack heat with the lunatic drivers there
And to think, THIS time, she can't blame PMS. Can you IMAGINE being that bike messenger? "Sorry I'm late getting back boss, but this pregnant lady waddled up to me and kicked my ass. She was so Ninja I didn't even see it coming!" Bwahahahahaha!
I can imagine what a responsible mother she will be...the kid isn't even born yet and she's already risking his/her life. I might not have been so gentle if I saw her coming at me. Are they sure she wasn't just fat?
You never mess with a pregnant lady. The hormones will get ya every time!
And how in the hell did the pregnant woman catch up to the bike messenger? He must not have been trying very hard to get away.
@Tattooed_Angel2Â Stun gun in her bra? Yeah.. sounds like mother of the year. Â
@Tattooed_Angel2 Somethin' like the "scorn of a woman"... Â
You can't make this stuff up...... Jerry Springer Show material.... Jerry.... Jerry.... Jerry hilarious.
Probably did not show them enough respect...
People are insane.Â
he won't jay walk again
@Ride hard or go home He was in a crosswalk so he wasn't jay walking...
@quidproquo @Ride hard or go home No, he was breaking the law.  you aren't supposed to ride bikes through a cross walk.  And I HIGHLY doubt this bike messenger got off his bike to properly cross. Â
@SureHandz Section 11.44.120 RIDING ON A SIDEWALK OR PUBLIC PATH. Every person operating a bicycle upon any sidewalk or public path shall operate the same in a careful and prudent manner and a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation, taking into account the amount and character of pedestrian traffic, grade and width of sidewalk or public path, and condition of surface, and shall obey all traffic control devices.  Every person operating a bicycle upon a sidewalk or public path shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian thereon, and shall give an audible signal before overtaking and passing any pedestrian.
@quidproquo @Ride hard or go home yes in the crosswalk, and of course was not crossing against the light, because nobody in Seattle crosses against the ligh. but if they did it would be uummm, jay walking
@Ride hard or go home How often have you walked downtown? Pretty much no one crosses against the light in this town. I do it pretty frequently if no cars are coming but everyone else stands there waiting and looking at me like i'm an alien.Â
No description of the pair so I will just use my imagination.
Classy. I can say is he shouldn't have kicked the car. I would have been mad too but in these days that just opened the door to a world of "oh no you didn't!". You can't even blink sideways now without someone feeling "disrespected". It's a mess out there.
They BOTH were carrying stun guns? Wow...
@Susabelle  Come on you have a funny to throw out in the mix.... this is hilarious.
@Funky-Munky @Susabelle Honestly, I'm speechless! I'm sure it was an electrifying experience for the biker...
@Susabelle @Funky-Munky too bad the cyclist wasn't packing heat.  He could have ended the "cycle" of disfunction which I am sure these two maniacs are (were).
Don't even start talking about banning pregnant ladies.. Â that would eventually catch up to us.
@Quarwhar Just this particular one. If they are going to overreact like this for cutting off someone using the crosswalk properly, think how bad they would get at their childs school play.
Must be a terrible bike messenger if he could not get away from a pregnant woman. That or he was purposely trying to stir things up and he got his but beat doing so. I think the latter based upon being witness to other wonderful exploits of bicyclists here in the Seattle area. Did he at least make his delivery?Â
Dear Cyclists,
Portlandia is not real. It is a show. The bike culture portrayed in the Northwest on television is not reality. If someone honks at you, you may or may not deserve it but kicking cars ect is not what would be referred to as "de-escalation."Â
@Citizen#3457899654Â Â THANK YOU. Â
So the car almost runs the guy over in the cross walk and they get angry at him? ugh. That's happened to me before. I had an old dude flip me off after hitting me while I had the right of way.Â
@quidproquo The article says the driver stopped abruptly in front of the crosswalk, then started honking at the bicyclist. It does not say he was almost run over. Did you get your info from another website/news crew, or are you adding your own version?
@traceywo @quidproquo Well seeing as the people in the car were lunatics who chased a man down to stun gun him, i'm far more inclined to believe that what ever the bike messenger was doing, it was probably far more logical.
@quidproquo I only wonder why the guy is in the crosswalk. Is not a bike suppose to follow the rules of a motor vehicle??
@britlady I'm sure that happens... Just today I watched two cars drive right through a red light cutting off pedestrians trying to cross legally. Luckily they didn't step out without looking as they'd be dead. 72nd and Pacific Avenue in Tacoma... both got the strobe light flash from the stop light camera as well, first time I've seen it go off in a long time. But amazingly enough we don't blame all motorists for their actions. I could explain why, but suffice to say... you are in the group, you make excuses for others in the group and try to find a reason to lay blame based on others not being in the same group. Cyclists are not the 'in group'.
Elvis_too bad the messengers on bikes don't read that! When I worked downtown, I was at a crosswalk one day and when I got the "walk" signal, I fortunately hesitated before stepping off the curb, It was a good thing I did as a messenger came speeding up and totally ignored the red light and went speeding through the intersection. Had I stepped out he would have knocked me over and I suspect seriously injured me.
@Elvis Thanks that was very informative. :-)
OK, I finally found THIS at Seattle.gov:Â
Section 11.44.120 RIDING ON A SIDEWALK OR PUBLIC PATH. Â Every person operating a bicycle upon any sidewalk or public path shall operate the same in a careful and prudent manner and a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation, taking into account the amount and character of pedestrian traffic, grade and width of sidewalk or public path, and condition of surface, and shall obey all traffic control devices. Â Every person operating a bicycle upon a sidewalk or public path shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian thereon, and shall give an audible signal before overtaking and passing any pedestrian.
@Grumpa @quidproquo I believe it's allowed for a bike to ride in a crosswalk at a slow speed and be considered a pedestrian.