The incident at 18th & Loomis

I actually thought I wouldn't make July as i had to be at a restaurant in Pilsen around 800 (leaving from the north shore) and was running late. I took off around 6 from around foster and headed for my straight shot down howard only to run into the tail end of the mass a mile or two before getting into uic. this part of the story is pretty boring i guess.

everything was totally sweet and awesome of course and mass made every turn that i needed to make anyways, so i was feeling pretty sweet too. there were a few cops weaving about and through the alleys but not much real trouble. anyhow-

as 18th st came up to loomis i noticed that the mass was turning away from my route. Since I was almost an hour early and only a block away from my final destination i began pondering tagging along for another few miles when i was interrupted by a loud crunch of metal to the right on loomis. my first thought was "oh dear, a mass rider has been hurt and mass pr will suffer as well," but this was a good 50-100 yards away from anyone in the intersection. suddenly a damaged red car peeled out of the line of traffic, heading straight towards the intersection--and TURNED LEFT INTO THE MASS! i was literally at the 18th st crosswalk and had to lightly dodge the maniac, but i had stopped after hearing the crash and had plenty of time to see and react. a few feet behind me, a copper got out of her car and made a "stop driving towards this crowd of people" motion with her hands. he stopped for a minute, creeped forward, then hit the gas, hit the copper, another crunch (this time a bike) and now full panic as several hundred bikes bringing up the end of the mass scramble for the curb. this guy does not seem to let up on the gas once after hitting the cop and i hear what must be 10 or 15 more metallic crunching noises. the cop and whatever friends she had speed off after him, followed by a mob of do-gooder bikes. there is a minute or so where everyone is confused and trying to figure out who is dead, a lot of talk ("alls i saw is sandals flying through the air [bro!]"), but things eventually die down and i gather that there are no injuries too serious. some people are wandering around in a daze, some are calling/looking for friends, trying to regain their bearings. for most people present the spirit of the ride has dissolved. i decide not to continue and lock my bike up down the street by my restaurant.

i came back two times while i waited for my friends-- there was a cop or two still hanging around, random pilsenite onlookers as well as groups of a dozen or so bike people at each intersection--and gossip still flying. someone had got picked up in an ambulance, possibly the guy who had been "thrown 10 feet in the air doing flips and shit" but then was reported to be walking fine. apparently a trailer carring a small child had been hit, but someone saw him sitting on the curb crying and holding his arm--not much to complain about given the scenario. i met my friend (who is much more fluent in spanish than i am) at the restaurant and brought her back to explain to the pedestrians that this was actually all a result of car-on-car violence--that mass didn't bring this trouble into town. hopefully that worked.

if i seem scatterbrained, i'm trying to compile as much of what i saw with what i heard from others later without veering into exaggeration. at this point it appears that this was a hit and run at the intersection mass was turning at, either by random chance or because he didn't want to wait at the light. the driver split and for some reason (possibly related to "that crazy look in his eyes" i'd heard about) decided that his best escape at the 6-way intersection was through a dense mass of flesh, steel and cops. i heard the guy was caught and might be getting into some kind of big trouble now, i don't know.

ironically, he probably would have gotten away with his rampage if it weren't for the multitude of chicago blue hassling the bike ride. regardless i think things could have gone much worse, even for the maniac; i'm pretty sure he got a better deal being caught by the pigs than the bike mob chasing him down.

if anyone wants to clarify some of my details (or just write a better report) feel free! it was definitely the biggest altercation i've ever been party to on a ride, and i've had plenty of near misses with pissed-off Suburbans and such and such before since i moved to chicago. peace!