For the last several days, Bay Area newspapers have been covering stories about men attacking bicyclists. The first assailant used his SUV to injure 4 cyclists in the Mission District of SF. The second assailant used tools to threaten and injure mountain bikers unlawfully using fire trails in the Berkeley Hills. Oh yeah, another little detail: the second assailant also happens to be a former next door neighbor of mine.
Between 2004-2006, my roommate and I called him Crazy Mike. But it was all in good humor - we considered him just one of Berkeley's eccentric weirdos - which there are many. Crazy Mike would ring our doorbell every few weeks to either report errant internet waves intruding into his home, to "lend" us books he thought we should read, or to tell us about how he likes to feed urban possums and raccoons that literally hold Bateman Street neighbors hostage in their homes between sunset and sunrise. Crazy Mike also drove a car that squeaked a hell of a lot - don't ask me why I remember this, but the car bugged me because my room window was next to the guy's driveway.
Other than that, he seemed harmless.
Right now, Crazy Mike is sitting in Oakland's downtown jail with bail set at $12,500 (reduced from $30K according to a mountainbike advocacy website). I have no idea how he is faring in jail, but I bet he is surprised to find himself all the way down in Oakland. A bit of brief research told me that Berkeley has only 16 jail cells in its modest hall of justice. Either Berkeley had no room in its jail when Mike committed his crimes or there is some kind of county jurisdiction at play since the attacks took place in the East Bay Parks District.
Googling Crazy Mike you will find several websites, one is his very own. The other is an interesting FAQ site that someone from a mountain bike advocacy site set up. Happy readings.
No comments:
Post a Comment