A 37-year-old San Francisco cyclist was recently convicted of vehicular manslaughter for causing the wrongful death of an elderly pedestrian. Authorities say that the cyclist was racing through the intersection of Market and Castro when he hit a 71-year-old man.
The plea allowed the cyclist to avoid jail time, but he will have to serve three years of probation and 1,000 hours of community service.
Bloomberg News reports that this conviction is the first of its kind to involve a cyclist killing a pedestrian.
“I believe justice has been served,” Dist. Atty. George Gascon told reporters, adding that the cyclist “has been held accountable to a level that’s historic in the state. His conduct was egregious. He will be providing 1,000 hours of community service. We hope many of those hours are spent talking about traffic safety.”
The family of the deceased pedestrian allegedly told Gascon that they did not want the cyclist to go to jail, saying that it would not “do anything for the community.”
The cyclist initially drew the ire of the San Francisco cycling community for his flippant online posts after the accident occurred. The insensitive comments expressed more concern over the cyclist’s trashed helmet than the pedestrian he hit.
Source: Los Angeles Times, “San Francisco bicyclist pleads guilty to felony in pedestrian’s death,” July 23, 2013
