Update: See the photo of Rodney Kinkade Jr. below.
Editor’s note: Check out Tyler Wren’s first-person account.
One cyclist with the Jamis-Hagnes Berman cycling team was sent to the hospital and several others were injured during an assault by a Tucson motorist on Friday morning around 11 a.m., according to a team rider.
The professional cycling team, which is in Tucson for a training camp, was on a training ride on Valencia Road between Old Vail Road and Nexus Road when they said a man in an Oldsmobile Aurora began harassing the cyclists.
Team rider Ben Jacques-Maynes said the driver shouted expletives and told them to get off the road.
“All of a sudden this guy comes by screaming obscenities,” Jacques-Maynes said. “He was really close and then just continued to merge into the shoulder where we were. The guys in front of me were able to make a quick maneuver and avoid him. The guys on the front really had no chance and they got plowed into.”
Tyler Wren and Todd Herriot, the team’s bicycle fitter and a coach to several of the riders, were the two cyclists that took the brunt of the crash. They suffered minor injuries and have both been cleared by doctors.
“Those guys went down and then it was panic — avoiding guys, running over bikes and trying not to hit their teammates,” Jacques-Maynes said.
Jacques-Maynes said the driver didn’t stick around.
“The driver took off and never even hit the brakes, he just went back into his lane and kept on going like nothing happened,” he said.
A few seconds later they realized they didn’t get the license plate number.
“[The car] was too far to make it out, but I saw a sign that said there was a stop sign coming up,” he said. “I couldn’t see the stop sign but I was just hoping that he would be forced to stop at the stop sign and I might be able to get close enough to get the plate. I got within sight to see him make a right turn at the intersection.”
The car with the team director and photographer were in the area and Jacques-Maynes flagged them down.
“I told them through my panting as quickly as possible what happened, ‘The guys were hit, the car just turned the corner there. Go get him.’ They took after him. They just started shooting photos of every car in sight. I talked to them on the phone and told them the make and model and a description of it and they said they got a picture of it.”
The Tucson Police have not yet responded to an email requesting additional information about the incident, but Jacques-Maynes said the police tracked down the alleged driver pretty quickly.
According to the Tucson Police Department’s crime map, an assault took place in the 8100 Block of Valencia Road at 10:50 a.m. and was classified as an assault with a deadly weapon.
A Pima County Court record search identifies the driver as Rodney Owen Kinkade Jr., 57. The court record lists it as an assault occurring on Friday and matches the crime map case number.
Jacques-Maynes said the driver lived in the neighborhood and admitted to shouting at the team, but denied hitting them.
Jacques-Maynes said he was told that the driver went to a car wash in the area right after the crash and said the driver was detained by the police.
At the time of the incident, he said the team was riding two abreast and were riding on the shoulder and not in the travel lane.
He said they do not make the decision to take the lane lightly and had to do so earlier on the ride traveling south on Kolb, but were riding in a tight formation on the shoulder of Old Vail Road when the motorist struck them.
Overall he was very impressed with the response by the police and appreciated their professionalism. They spent four and half hours on the side of the road while the police took statements from each of them.
Jacques-Maynes said he wouldn’t be hesitant to come back to another training camp in Tucson, but also said they had dealt with a lot of angry people during their time here.
“People seemed pretty willing to lay on their horns,” he said. “I don’t think this is exclusive to Tucson or even America. Unfortunately it is a larger problem than anything confined to one region or locale.”
I’m also impressed by the thoroughness of both the team riders and the Tucson Police. All too often these stories end with unidentified drivers speeding away; at least now there is an opportunity for justice to be served.
I’ve removed some previous comments that were not appropriate. The site will not be used to suggest anyone be hurt or killed and that includes trolls.
Jamis rode by me yesterday going up Old Spanish Trail Rd. They were in a peloton formation and rode to the left of the shoulder line (expect when they passed me) – I was impressed with the way they were staying to left being such a large group!
Rodney Owen Kinkade Jr
Owner – Skatterbrane Pickups LLC
10101 E Desert Valley PlaceTucson, AZ 85747-5197
(520) 574-4409
http://www.skatterbrane.com/index.php
Anyone check to see if the driver of the vehicle has any previous run-ins with the law?
I’m so glad no one was seriously hurt. We need to follow this through the law enforcement and court system to make sure this guy doesn’t get off. With everyone carrying camera phones these days, criminals will find it harder to escape justice.
@MarthaRetallick I did, Martha. A couple traffic tickets in the Prescott area.
Let’s hope this incident indicates increased law enforcement awareness, motivation, and quick, hard smart work when it comes to apparent road rage, whether the rage is inflicted on cyclists, peds, motorists, visiting fireman from Nogales. We shall see…it’s a long game of millimeters.
And, good micro-journalism, Mike. Outta ‘da park!
Thanks for your report, Mike!
Not a word of this story in the Arizona Daily Star.
Might make for an informative article to discuss the number of cycling teams that train in Tucson and the economic impact of those teams.
@TucsonVelo this story is perhaps the best justification for buying a GoPro.
Yes, of course not at Arizona Daily Star (currently crazed on the basketball star opening a shoe store in the Old Pueblo, and which grocery store to go to for “centsible” savings) nor David Mendez’s relentless juvenile backyard spash-pool over at Tucson Weekly Range, and the TPD Facebook page.
Your suggestion is valid, especially so when it comes to ordinary commute/util cyclists as well as the training teams and training individuals…
Hope these teams come back, it eventually helps everyone…we hope!
Thanks!
Rod Kinkade: skatterbrane_
@Red Star I agree, TucsonVelo has been a good news source. In the comments after Wren’s report, a visitor from Boulder heaps disdain on TPD for failing to investigate a motorist brandishing and firing his gun in traffic some two weeks ago. Seems crazy, right? But it’s all too common. This past summer, Tucson police mocked me for NOT HAVING A WITNESS when a motorist pointed a gun at me and, when provided the license-plate number, were not interested talking to the vehicle’s owner.
great i live in that area and ride daily…i will carry my gun.
Glad their quick thinking caught this man. My son is a cyclist and has raced for years in Tucson and other areas. He would comment frequently how some drivers would try to run him off the bike lanes and harrass him. This man deserves the stiffest penalty possible to give a message to other ignorant car drivers and motorcyclists out there.
Where’s HB2528?!
Oh well, the United States is an emerging nation – hopefully will emerge. Assault with a deadly weapon seems to be considered the American entitlement.
Tried to phone Rodney …no answer, sent him a note.
it would be nice if the city of Tucson would help educate driver’s about the rights of bicyclists in Tucson, or at least monitor some of the worst intersections? I frequently have to travel by bike though the intersection of Golflinks and Craycroft, every time, with fail, the right turners try and turn into me when I’m in the crosswalk, the people coming out of DMAFB are the worst, if I ride through, or walk my bike. So many drivers don’t know that bikes are allowed to take up a lane, although we try not too!
Interesting… guy appears to have this posted on his business website: Very sorry, glad no serious injuries. It was an accident.
http://www.skatterbrane.com/index.php
Ride where there are bike lanes, otherwise get the f#($ off the road.
Bicyclists have a right to use the road. Turn in your license because you clearly do not know the rules of the road and are therefore incompetent to drive.
You are supposed to expect to see bicyclists in the road. The only reason that you don’t is that you are incompetent. You are an elitist crybaby who thinks that you are too important to move over to pass a bicyclist. You are not. The law does not recognize your delusions of entitlement. Grow up and quit being such a crybaby over trivial inconveniences.
The driver has posted a thread in The Pub section of Thegearpage.net under the heading ‘ My Legal Problems’
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1226573
um, it’s been almost 7 months — what’s the story?
EdBeighe
Good Question! Online public records indicate that Pima County Justice Consolidated Justice Court sent the case on to Pima County Superior Court 3-14-2013. When we search Pima County Superior Court online records, nothing, nada. Same result when we search AZ State Supreme Court online public records. We do find at Tucson City Court online public records a traffic ticket issued 5-20-2013 at/around Granada and Congress (where all the courts are, or so) that may or may not be related to a court appearance.
Ed, it’s important to note that nobody died in this incident and so that may the reason for the lack of media followup and especially “understandable” in that no UA students were involved. yep, yep, yep.
The public records failure, though, is even more deplorable.
Red Star EdBeighe It appears that even Mr. Kinkade is unsure of his situation. He’s back on Twitter and says he is “waiting for resolution.”
I’ll try to follow up soon.
Red Star and MikeMcKisson thx for checking… yea i saw that May ticket too, seems unrelated. Anything along the lines of what was described would have to come out of Pima County Superior; and of course would have had to come from a county prosecutor…. anyways, keep us posted.
EdBeighe Red Star MikeMcKisson
Jury trial – July 17, 2014
Status Conf – May 12, 2014
@NobodyEdBeigheRed StarMikeMcKisson
Right. But it shouldn’t be a huge and lingering mystery to get to these online public records.
The current case number is
C20131827
If you go to Pima County’s Superior Court search
http://www.agave.cosc.pima.gov/PublicDocs/
and search that case number, you find the case and events.
Similarly, if you go to the court’s calendar page and search either the defendant’s name or case number (and select in the drop down, “search entire calendar”) you will find what is calendered.
Red Star doesn’t know why a name search for “Kinkade” and variants at agave doesn’t yield this info.
As an aside there is a Rodney Owen Kinkade showing as currently held at Pima County Jail, inmate search at:
http://www.pimasheriff.org/jail-info/
Hope this helps demystify and keep in mind that these sad stories compete with important things in local media such as who has the best burger and weatherman troubles.
Red Star EdBeighe MikeMcKisson I’ve been chasing down this story and will have it online tomorrow. Lots of developments.
Mike
MikeMcKisson Red Star EdBeighe Thx for digging up info.
Red Star EdBeighe MikeMcKisson Pima county online records search sure seems odd/cumbersome. E.g. burrowing through those search pages i see a bunch of listings for the case ( C20131827 ) but nowhere at all does it say what the the charges are. weird.
There is a centralized arizona court search at http://apps.supremecourt.az.gov/publicaccess/ which works pretty well but apparently Pima County Superior court has chosen not to avail themselves of it 🙁
[…] This one is so weird, i don’t want to lose track of it…. It’s been almost 7 months, what’s the deal? From tucsonvelo.com: […]
Red StarEdBeighe
Here we are in 2014. Any news? There are enough whackos out there who drive horribly and aren’t even trying to hurt anyone. This guy? I wonder if they would let him wind pickups in jail.
@MR T http://tucsonvelo.com/news/driver-hit-pro-cyclists-gets-7-days-jail/18135
7 days. I don’t see any mention of a fine.