Bad news gets worse.

[Red Mist]

Had some bad news a couple of weeks ago which really took the wind out of my sails. A couple of good friends were out riding, both on Jap 600 race reps. They'd just had a cruise round the usual bike haunts in the area and were nearly home. They went to overtake a couple of cars when one of these suddenly turned right. Didn't check mirrors, only indicated as the bikes were overtaking.

It missed the first bike but the guy following smacked into the side of the car and was thrown into a tree. He died before the ambulance got there.

Really tragic. He was a very good bloke and a valued friend. Everybody has been in a state of shock ever since. The guy who was leading basically saw his best mate die in front of him. He hasn't really recovered yet and won't for quite a while.

So far so bad. What has made the situation far worse has been the reaction of the police. The surviving bloke has never had any truck with the law before and didn't know how our gallant police force works. After staying at the scene until everybody had left, giving several statements to the police in the process (in which he gave far too much away to be honest) he then went home in a total daze.

Then the bobbies came round as he was about to get in the shower to take all his leathers and his phone. They'd already taken his bike in. He was asked into the station to make a statement the next day. On arrival he was arrested and locked in a cell for 5 hours. The charge was 'causing death by dangerous driving'. He hadn't a fuggin clue what had hit him.

The funeral was last Wednesday. On getting home from seeing off his best friend, there was a letter from plod on his doormat to say that he was being charged with causing his death.

While all this is going on, no one feels able to grieve properly because we're all wondering how far the police will take this. The bloke was in no way responsible for his mate's death. They've still got his bike (which is fully legal and roadworthy), his clothes and his phone.

Next time anybody calls a copper a f**king pleb, they've got my full support. Bloody disgraceful!

[shedmonkey]

That really sucks. How can he have caused the death if he was in front?
Maybe he just said something which sounded like it happened in another way due to shock.
Bast**ds

[Red Mist]

He basically spoke to the police in a frank and honest manner thinking that it would give them a good picture of the events that occurred. It seems however that they are just trying to blame him for what happened. As you can imagine, he is probably blaming himself to some extent anyway, so this doesn't help.

The police are trying to place their movements during the afternoon leading up to the accident, looking for any evidence of wrong doing. So, they are asking for any witnesses who saw the two bikes further back down the road. They are looking at the times of telephone calls and how long it took to get from their last telephone call to the location of the accident etc.

It has helped that his mate's wife, father, brother, and friends have all stressed their support for him and their indignation at the police behaviour.

Part of the reason that I'm posting this is as a warning. If there is a group of bikes out together and one is in an accident, it seems to be standard practice that the police will try and implicate all the bikes. I think that the idea is that if there is more than one bike, then you are all egging each other on to ride dangerously.

Be aware of this. The bloke who saw his best mate die and who is in no way responsible for the accident that caused his death, is now wondering if he will be taken away from his wife and kids and sent to jail. It's outrageous and it's very very scary.

[VRaptorMark]

That cant be right. Poor bloke. Cant imagine what he's going through.

[snapdragon]

I can think of rather worse than plebs to call them - this is horrendous.

I hope he has good legal cover and they take them to the cleaners, this just can't be lawful

[dizzyblonde]

This situation has happened before to a few Bradford blokes RM.
It was all over the news and I do know of someone who knows all the men involved. In this instance they didn't just seize one man's bike, they did several. All arrested for dangerous driving, saying the leader was to blame for the death of a couple travelling with them
The theory behind it was the leader was goading the followers to catch up through the day, which is rubbish, you are responsible for your own action on a bike. What was really bad, was they kept all vehicles and possessions for a very long time, one of the bikes was a dealerships property as the rider worked there and had borrowed it!!

I think if you looked on the internet hard enough you would find the stories somewhere, I aren't sure if the men ended up being convicted, but if it helps you understand your friends dilemma, from evidence of a very similar case.....there is a thread on the sv site discussing it somewhere. When I'm not on my phone, I'll see if I can find this lot.


Good luck to your mate, it must be frickin awful in his shoes.

Edit. Google five motorcyclists dangerous driving bradford. The case has been reopened in September, its been goin on since 2010.

[weirdo]

Sorry for the loss of your mate, and for the crap that the other guy is going through. Unfortunately this could be hanging over him for a long time (re - Dizz's post).
You didn't mention the car driver... Is he facing a similar charge?

[Crap Tartan]

really sad about the double edged sword of this, but not an unusual approach by the police tbh!!

Your mate just needs to hope that good sense will prevail and get himself a damn good lawyer. I would tend to speak with the few that have expertise in bikes as they will almost certainly have come across similar cases...................

Sad but true, time does heal.

[shebee]

THIS IS NOT RIGHT

My condolences to the family of the Rider who was killed and my sympathy to the other rider who is being put through this.

[vassilis67]

I am out of words and my english wont help me when i am mad.
So i will ask some questions that pop up in my head.
What about the car driver?
Is he facing any accusations?
Have they taken his car too?
Are we really sure he is capable of driving it?
Has anybody checked that he is not drunk or blind or deaf or all of them?
Do we know that he didn't do it on purpose?
Was there an examination to show if he was eating,smoking,using his phone while driving?

I am not saying he did all that but did someone check any of this?
Sorry for the guy who left this world early and for his mate for having to deal with all this.

[Red Mist]

"I think if you looked on the internet hard enough you would find the stories somewhere, I aren't sure if the men ended up being convicted, but if it helps you understand your friends dilemma, from evidence of a very similar case.....there is a thread on the sv site discussing it somewhere. When I'm not on my phone, I'll see if I can find this lot.


Good luck to your mate, it must be frickin awful in his shoes.

Edit. Google five motorcyclists dangerous driving bradford. The case has been reopened in September, its been goin on since 2010."

Cheers Dizz. The bloke used to be an SV owner and went on the SV site a bit, maybe still does, so I'll tell him about the thread there - though it doesn't sound like there'll be too much to re-assure him.

It's one of these cases where you keep going through all the arguments in your head and what you'd say if it came to court. It couldn't possibly result in a conviction. Then you wonder why the police have charged him in the first place and you wonder if the court will listen to a reasoned argument or whether they'll listen to the police. Until the case is thrown out, no-one can relax.

I'm presuming that they've charged the car driver as well, so they're possibly just throwing a lot of shit and seeing how much will stick. If they get a conviction on the car driver then they may drop the case on my mate. Incidentally, the car driver was a woman. She had her husband in the passenger seat and her 4-year old kid in the back. Her car was trashed in the accident. None of the passengers were injured but the kid had to be taken to the hospital with shock.

I'm not going to start ranting at her. She will have her own nightmares to deal with and will have her own charges to face. It seems clear that the accident happened because she was looking for a narrow entrance to a farm on a straight fast bit of road. The entrance was obscured by trees. I think that she was concentrating so hard on finding the farm entrance that she clearly didn't look in her mirrors.

It was a tragic accident, but one that involved her and the bloke who got killed only. I wonder if her husband has been charged with egging her on to turn right without checking her mirrors? That's not nearly as ludicrous as saying my mate had any influence in the way that the other bloke was riding his bike.

I repeat that the bloke who got killed was a really good person who many of us are missing terribly. But instead of being allowed to grieve for him, we're all just worried and angered by the brutal reactions of the police.

[tyremuncher]

im not bearing good news im afraid,,,,a bloke i work with was in an accident 3 yrs ago,3 of them in a car coming back from playing rugby,another car over took them who happened to be someone the driver knew,so he thought he,d make a race of it, before he got anywhere near the other car he lost control,killing one of the passengers,
now the bloke that first over took never saw the first car after he over took it,wasnt racing or anything just over took the car,got home 2 hrs later he was charged with dangerous driving,manslaughter,,,,,
he is still in jail,think he has 7 yr sentance,
the other bloke has the same,plus lost a good friend,
i hope it doesnt turn out the same way,

[Red Mist]

You have to think that these people had crap solicitors as the case should surely have been thrown out of court? The fact it wasn't makes you worry that the odds are loaded against the defendants before they ever get to put their case.

I won't be telling my mate about your story, thanks. This sort of thing is obviously widespread but most of us are completely unaware of it.