Fantastic news came in this week that Dennis Reed, the driver that veered into a couple of my friends, got charged with assault with a deadly weapon and filing a false police report.
First, I have to credit Don Ward for following through and getting a response earlier this week from Glendale Police on Facebook. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the news until yesterday when LAIST posted a full story.
To give a little background, the incident took place back in January and hit the news instantly.
Within hours of posting the video, I was contacted by every local news station.
I have to give credit to KNBC and Gadi Schwartz. Not only was he the first to reach me, but he secured the interview with Dennis Reed where he did nothing but only harm his cause.
Immediately after releasing the video, I received brushback for not revealing the longer version what happened earlier in the video. As Dennis Reed alleges, he was the one being assaulted by the cyclists and some thought I was hiding that fact.
I stuck to my guns to hold onto that portion of the video so that Mr. Reed could stick to his story. This wasn’t a case that we had something to hide, but why bother showing?
If you want to watch the full length video, here it is, but let me warn you, you’re going to be underwhelmed:
Without playing our hand any further, I can reveal that submitting that police report was one of the biggest mistakes he could have made.
Some people are able get off with the defense that no one can prove they were driving and when you look at the video, there’s no way of distinguishing the driver.
It took a lot of patience, but I really believe that the fact we didn’t play all our cards helped move the case. At worst, we had the rest of the video we could have used as leverage if there wasn’t any action.
Christmas came early this year.
Plus, I don’t want to give Mr. Reed any advice and save him on any additional legal fees. He may have to sell an antique or two.
This is great news for the cycling community, but let’s remember, this is probably not the last time this will happen.
So please, get yourself a camera so the next Dennis Reed will think twice about their actions.