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The driver of a pick-up truck who was caught on tape verbally harassing and then striking a cyclist in an August 2011 incident will perform community service and attend anger management courses in exchange for having charges against him dropped, the office of U.S. Attorney Ron Machen announced yesterday.
John W. Diehl, a former Metropolitan Police Department officer, entered a formal guilty plea to charges of property destruction and leaving the scene of a collision, but the plea will only take effect if he fails to complete the terms of his arrangement with prosecutors. Diehl, 57, was ordered to perform 25 hours of community service, undergo anger management counseling, complete a drivers’ safety course, attend alcohol and drug treatment if necessary. He has until April 2, 2014, to fulfill those requirements.
The cyclist, Evan Wilder, was riding his bike the morning August 31, 2011 on Rhode Island Avenue NE, traveling in the center lane to avoid cars parked on the right-hand side. About 9:05 a.m., Diehl pulled up in the left-hand lane and started yelling at Wilder as he proceeded to the center. Wilder was wearing a helmet-mounted camera and captured the entire exchange.
“Better move your genius ass to the fucking right,” Diehl is heard saying. Seconds later, Wilder was sent tumbling to the ground after his bike was clipped by the flatbed of Diehl’s truck. Wilder suffered a shoulder injury as well as several cuts and bruises, in addition to the damage to his bike.
Diehl was not identified as the driver until nine months after the incident—he eventually turned himself in—but the incident prompted a push to strengthen District laws protecting cyclists who find themselves in collisions with motor vehicles. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association pushed the Access to Justice for Bicyclists Act, which the D.C. Council adopted last December. The bill is designed to make it easier for cyclists injured in collisions with cars to sue for damages.
Wilder, however, will not be pressing a civil suit against Diehl after settling with the former cop’s insurance company. In an email, he writes that while he is glad to see Diehl face some punishment, “he is getting off too easily.”
“The repercussions of assault with a deadly weapon should not be taken lightly as they are in this case,” Wilder writes. “I look forward to a future where a driver who attacks a cyclist with a vehicle loses the driving privilege for a considerable period of time and rehabilitation, fines, and jail time are on the table.”
Shane Farthing, WABA’s executive director, largely agrees.
“While we wish the charges addressed the intentional and successful attempt to harm a person rather than simply the leaving of the scene afterward and the harm to the bicycle, we are glad to see that some charges were brought,” he tells DCist. Farthing is glad the Council adopted last year’s bill, but adds that there is still a gulf between charging a driver who hits a cyclist with property damage and not actual assault. Additionally, while Wilder was wired for recording, most cyclists who have run-ins with cars are not.
And in something of an ironic reminder of where this story began, Wilder says that on his way to D.C. Superior Court yesterday, he and five other cyclists were riding in the center lane of a street on which the right-hand side is used for parking, and heard lots of honking and jeering from drivers passing on their left.
“It was a harrowing experience,” Wilder says. “Many drivers seem unaware of how dangerous they can be to cyclists and the bullying and harassing commonly goes unchecked.”
