Letter to City Council, May 30, 2007:

Subject: Critical Mass Incident: Please Help

Dear Mayor and City Council:

You have probably heard various news reports as well as the witness 
statements at council regarding the terrible and unfortunate incident 
which befell the monthly Berkeley Critical Mass bicycle demonstration on 
the 11th of this month (May 11, 2007).

At that incident, Berkeley motorist Harlan Head honked at and deliberately 
drove into the demonstration as it passed peacefully through the 
intersection of The Alameda and Monterey.

Mr. Head did not give the people in front of his huge vehicle time to 
respond.  Nor did they know who was attacking them due to the tinted 
windows.  Mr. Head pushed forward, trapping people's bodies against his 
bumper as the bicycles were crushed underwheel.  Two people were injured 
and three bicycles damaged. The bicyles were worth a total of roughly 
$3,000.  Some of this was captured on my video, although I missed some of 
the worst as I sought to capture the driver's face once it was clear he 
was driving into and over people and bicycles.  I was terrified that he 
would crush people and tear away.

During the incident, a window was unfortunately broken.  This is terrible 
as well.  The person who broke the window told the police that he did so. 
It is important to note that the window was broken after the motorist had 
[begun to cause] damage and injury, although that does not make it in any 
way acceptable.  It is also important to mention that the broken window was 
clearly not a physical attack on the occupants.  Despite the injuries and 
the panic which Mr. Head inflicted, nobody at Critical Mass touched the 
occupants or threatened them, and cries of "peace" reigned.

There has been some controversy over the video which I and another person 
filmed.  Some have attempted to claim that Mr. Head didn't drive over the 
bicycles, that somehow bicyclists placed them there.  This is fantastical.

The unmodified video clearly shows Mr. Head advancing and pinning a 
cyclist.  It shows that just before he did so, members of the crowd were 
calling for bicyclists to step back from the vehicle.  Unfortunately, the 
first part of the [incident], in which Mr. Head punched into the crowd, [was not
captured] due to the surprise nature of the attack.  My camera was not on, and 
I was at the rear of the ride.  It took time to get there.

You can watch an edited piece explaining the footage at our homepage 
regarding the incident:

  http://bclu.org/20070511/

Please also take a look at the "Quick Facts" page linked there:

  http://bclu.org/20070511/quickfacts.html

And the links to and discussion/criticism of media coverage.

The BCLU is acting as a representative for victims, who have accepted Mr. 
Head's reported willingness to negotiate and work for lasting 
improvements.  We continue to hope that Mr. Head will make amends for his 
actions and help heal our bicycle community which is already suffering 
from so much injustice.

The mistreatment of the rights of the demonstrators at the scene by your 
police added to our injury, and fits the long-term pattern and practice of 
the BPD.  They denied witnesses who faulted the motorist, including 
independent motorist witnesses, the opportunity to make reports.  They 
denied victims the right to press charges.  They denied others the right 
to make a citizens' arrest.  They did not test Mr. Head for alcohol, 
although he and his wife appeared drunk to many present.  They exonnerated 
him for brandishing a knife-like tool.  Their Lieutenant, Hart, made it 
clear that she felt Critical Mass is an instigation and deserves no 
protection.  Another officer blamed the bicyclists for trying to pull 
trapped people and bicycles out from under the vehicle, saying even if his 
family were trapped under a car, that he would step to the curb willing to 
allow them to die.

Now the demonstrators have a new fear: will the Berkeley Police Department 
seize on this as an opportunity to increase their coffers and resume their 
violent and illegal campaign to suppress the demonstrations?  We call on 
you to prevent this.  In over 14 years of monthly rides, the Berkeley 
Critical Mass certainly has a much better track record than the everyday 
car critical mass.  Please protect it for the good of all.

Any city that wishes to make good on its pledges and hopes to abate global 
climate change, improve quality of life, increase freedom and mobility for 
all including the young and old and people with disabilities, will 
celebrate and nurture it Critical Mass demonstrations wherever it is 
fortunate enough to have them appear.  Please rise to the challenge.

We hope that an action item will come to the City Council and invite any 
and all of you to contact us with ideas of how to proceed.  We would very 
much like to meet with council members regarding this incident and the 
larger, broader issues of inequity and injustice.

Sincerely,

Jason Meggs

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Jason Meggs
California State Coordinator
Bicycle Civil Liberties Union
P.O. Box 15071
Berkeley, CA  94712-6071

http://www.bclu.org/

Phone/Fax: (510) 486-1528
Mobile   : (510) 725-9991
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[Note, minor changes to correct typos and diction errors are in brackets.]