Friday, November 20, 2009

Firefighter who shot cyclist pleads out, sentenced

Former firefighter Charles Alexander Diez pled guilty yesterday to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to killand was sentenced to 120 days in jail, according to news reports.

While Alan Ray Simons pulled his son in a child trailer behind a bike, Diez yelled at Simons telling him he put the boy's life in danger before shooting at Simons' head. The bullet passed through Simons' helmet but missed his head by a hair.

Diez testified that, “I was the one who felt truly, truly threatened” by the vicious cyclist out in the open as Diez sat inside of his car and pulled out his gun.

I haven't heard if Simons got a new bike helmet to replace his damaged one.

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8 comments:

  1. bikesgonewildNovember 20, 2009 at 10:20 AM

    ...120 days...that is sadly laughable & SICK !!!...

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  2. mildstallionNovember 20, 2009 at 11:07 AM

    Turn the tables - a guy riding along feels threatened by a motorist, so pulls a gun and narrowly misses the driver's head.

    The guy would be treated like the next incarnation of the DC sniper or Bernie Getz.

    120 days. Un-be-freaking-lievable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 20, 2009 at 11:39 AM

    Never mind the jail time - is he getting some form of medication? Anyone who feels threatened by a father pulling his child in a bike trailer needs to be heavily sedated and removed from the general population. Val

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  4. AnonymousNovember 20, 2009 at 11:54 AM

    Sadly laughable is right and so are each of the other comments. Dangerous people are those who take their children for a bike ride? A cultural sickness is obvious and widespread.
    Jack

    ReplyDelete
  5. Erik OrgellNovember 20, 2009 at 12:09 PM

    I don't get how the firefighter could possible feel threatened by a father on his bicycle with his son. His words do not, in any way, excuse or even explain his actions. And a 120 day sentence is ridiculous. He should have been tried for attempted murder and locked up for years, not days.

    ReplyDelete
  6. bikesgonewildNovember 20, 2009 at 2:05 PM

    ...the judge should serve 120 days for allowing the rest of society to believe that if they use a firearm to "deal" w/ cyclists, that at most they'll get a slap on the wrist...

    ...i mean, is this over ???...shouldn't there be a judicial ombudsman assessing the sentencing in situations like this wherein the judge is admonished & his sentencing is overturned & replaced w/ something suitable ???...

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  7. skvidalNovember 21, 2009 at 7:31 AM

    On the same front page of the citizen-times there is another sentencing notice, the two of them are circled in red, here. Notice anything odd?

    http://sethdot.org/~skvidal/misc/stark-dichotomy.png

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  8. Yokota FritzNovember 21, 2009 at 8:46 AM

    @Seth: I was just wondering how this compares to other North Carolina sentencings, and you brought up the perfect example.

    @bgw: I have no idea of the US 5th Amendment protection against double jeopardy applies to sentencing or not.

    @mildstallion: I searched in vain for a similar case where the cyclist does the shooting. I googled for "cyclist shot" and found hundreds of articles where the cyclist is shot (and sometimes killed), but only a couple where the cyclist does the shooting. This one seems like a case of suicide by cop. This guy was never found as far as I can tell.

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