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Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Dept. of Sad Things

posted by on June 3 at 9:57 AM

Drunk driver slams into bike race, killing one and injuring ten:

bikerace_01.jpg

Juan Campos, an American citizen living in Brownsville, TX, was charged with killing Alejandro Alvarez, 37, of Monterrey, Mexico.

Thanks—I guess—to Slog tipper Chris.

RSS icon Comments

1

Lock him up, throw away the key, and if you let two or three pot smokers out to do it, you'll turn a profit!

Posted by Ben Schiendelman | June 3, 2008 10:05 AM
2

Ugh, it really drives the reality of the situation home when you see a wall of flailing cyclists being obliterated by a car.

Posted by UNPAID BLOGGER | June 3, 2008 10:09 AM
3

Mr. Poe and I are firing up the Buick as we speak...

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | June 3, 2008 10:13 AM
4

Jesus Christ, that picture.

Question: why include the fact of his American citizenship in the post? I'm not trying to be hostile, but am in the middle of doing close-readings for a paper and am thus close-reading everything I read and questioning all word choices.

Posted by Jessica | June 3, 2008 10:13 AM
5

That is bound to happen in Seattle on Eastlake or downtown one of these days....soon. More bikers on the roads that we are supposed to "share" with a lot of asshole drivers. You know, share the road since we don't have bike lanes and probably never will until 2075.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | June 3, 2008 10:14 AM
6

That picture is equal parts horrific and awesome.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | June 3, 2008 10:15 AM
7

man, thats horrible. i lived in mcallen, next to brownsville for what seem like eternity ( 6 months), its hot as hell and it almost seems like every driver is drunk as hell.

the road between playa bagdad and matamoros, where this happened is a death trap.

this dude is going to spend the rest of his useless life in a mexican prison. and he deserves every hellish hour he gets.

Posted by SeMe | June 3, 2008 10:16 AM
8

That guy can't come to Seattle soon enough.

"Hey hey! Ho ho! Evil cars have got to go! Critical mass! Bikers are people tooOH GOD--

Posted by Disker | June 3, 2008 10:20 AM
9

Re close reading, I think they mentioned his citizenship because the accident actually took place in Mexico. So at least in this case, I think it's relevant.

Disker, you're one sick motherfucker.

Posted by leek | June 3, 2008 10:24 AM
10

@9:
Am not. You can't tell me I'm the only one who has entertained that thought while Critical Mass turned a 10-minute commute into a 2-hour ordeal.

Posted by Disker | June 3, 2008 10:27 AM
11

@4 His citizenship might not be relevant to the story but there's not a shot in shit that it wouldn't have been included if it was the other way around. (Drunk Mexican slams into cyclists in USA)

Posted by Jaime-Leigh | June 3, 2008 10:28 AM
12

It looks like the driver is bowling for bikers with a car instead of a ball.

Posted by orangekrush | June 3, 2008 10:28 AM
13

WTF is he doing on the left side of the road?

Posted by max solomon | June 3, 2008 10:29 AM
14

@Max Solomon: He's drunk AND asleep?

Posted by Gloria | June 3, 2008 10:32 AM
15

@6 You echoed my thoughts more eloquently than I could state them.

Posted by PopTart | June 3, 2008 10:37 AM
16

@13: Ummmmm... He was drunk... Hellloooo?

@10: I've never considered it because of the increased commute time... But I have considered it for the purpose of creating a dramatic picture such as this... But since someone else did it for me I guess I don't have to do the jail time... So thats good... Right? I am so going to hell...

Posted by Queen_of_Sleaze | June 3, 2008 10:40 AM
17

if you look at the larger version of that pic, you can see that the "pace" car got out of the way of the sleeping, drunk driver. tough call on that action.

Posted by anon | June 3, 2008 10:42 AM
18

@14: He was drunk and asleep.

@17: wtf at the pace car. That was my thought, too, when looking at the large picture. At least then, the drunk driver may have received some collateral damage. Not that I'm advocating causing harm to others. But I am.

Posted by Will in STL | June 3, 2008 10:46 AM
19

it also reminds me when that cracked out woman slammed into the block party in south east dc last year.

http://video.nbc4.com/player/?id=115955

Posted by SeMe | June 3, 2008 10:48 AM
20

Critical massacre?

Posted by Giffy | June 3, 2008 10:49 AM
21

#10, if your commute is 10 minutes, why don't you just get out and walk?

Posted by w7ngman | June 3, 2008 10:50 AM
22

@21:
10 minutes by car, 400 hours on foot.

Posted by Disker | June 3, 2008 10:58 AM
23

@22

Damn disker, you sure walk slow.

Posted by Sad Comment | June 3, 2008 11:02 AM
24

@10

I too harbor such thoughts... (and they bring me a deep internal peace.)

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | June 3, 2008 11:06 AM
25

Griffy your "Critical Massacre?" comment was uncalled for and very funny. I feel dirty for laughing so much.

Posted by Mike | June 3, 2008 11:10 AM
26

What a beautiful picture.

Posted by Jason Josephes | June 3, 2008 11:32 AM
27

@26

Well, it's a good start at least.

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | June 3, 2008 11:50 AM
28

Very sad picture. But I can't help but to see a symbolic metaphor of what Clinton is doing to the Democratic Party.

Posted by montex | June 3, 2008 12:02 PM
29

I call bullshit. Photoshop. Where'd all the dust come from on an asphalt road?

Posted by blank12357 | June 3, 2008 12:24 PM
30

@29

He probably hit his brakes. I'm pretty sure that when you hit 11 bicyclists full speed you're bound to wake up.

Posted by Serickson | June 3, 2008 12:50 PM
31

Ditto what #11 said. If a drunk Mexican plowed into a group of cyclists in Texas, not only would his citizenship be called into question but the immigration nazis would be pushing for the death penalty.

Posted by monkey | June 3, 2008 12:57 PM
32

Too bad he didn't kill more.

One thing is for sure, those dumbass bikers won't think they are kings of the road anymore.

To all you dumbfucking bikers out there, this is what happens when car meets bike. YOU LOSE...

Game over.

Now try and be a little less smug and watch out for cars, who BTW, the roads were MADE FOR!!!!

Posted by ecce homo | June 3, 2008 1:01 PM
33

The picture's a convenient crop: their police escort swerved out of the way:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/02/AR2008060203346.html

Posted by PaulCam | June 3, 2008 1:04 PM
34

This is seriously the funniest event of all time.

Posted by Mr. Poe | June 3, 2008 1:18 PM
35

i'm sorry, but that picture made me laugh my ass off.

Posted by terry miller | June 3, 2008 1:18 PM
36

I think it's interesting that a puppy thrown over a cliff in iraq makes people shit the bed but a person dying in a horrific way is the height of hilarity. not that the situations are equal in many regards but this absolutely turns my stomach to think about.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | June 3, 2008 1:41 PM
37

Yeah. Not getting the humor. Maybe if the situation was just described I could see the jokes but... really? Actually seeing bodies flung about is funny? Guess I'm officially old now.

Posted by leek | June 3, 2008 2:01 PM
38

Oh shit, ecce homo and I have the same opinion.
I need to seriously reconsider my life.

Posted by Disker | June 3, 2008 2:09 PM
39

Free Juan Campos!

I don't think that's dust as another commenter questioned, I think that's the mist of dozens of exploding water bottles and hydration packs. God, this photo is my new wallpaper.

Posted by Bob | June 3, 2008 2:36 PM
40

Yeah, someone getting killed by a drunk driver is so fucking hilarious and righteous. What a bunch of sociopaths.

Posted by Jay | June 3, 2008 2:54 PM
41

Righteous!

@35

We have something in common! YAY!

Posted by Mr. Poe | June 3, 2008 3:26 PM
42
Posted by skye | June 3, 2008 3:29 PM
43

Whats the last thing that went through that bikers mind before he bought the farm?


The windshield...

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Posted by ecce homo | June 3, 2008 4:26 PM
44

As a cyclist myself, I say this without a hint of irony: I wish someone would have gotten this on video. Because it deserves to be shown at every single driver's license station to every single person getting their license renewed until the end of time.

Be safe, people.

Posted by Paul Lundgren | June 4, 2008 2:23 PM
45

Bicycle Jihad must reconsider tactics.

On the bright side, in the near future, if not right now, European cars are adding more crush zone between engine and hood for pedestrian and cyclist impacts.

I don't suspect Detroit is following this EU rule (like they care about exporting cars), and I don't suspect this safety feature will trickle down to drunken guys in Texas/Mexico for... a few decades... heck, it's been almost two decades since that generation of Chevy Caprice was sold.

As for where the dust came from, uh, you must live in the PacNW.

Posted by CP | June 4, 2008 7:50 PM

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