BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

The police have a responsibility to take a report in this case. If they initially failed to do so, go to the police station and demand one be filled out. If you have the responding officers' information, ask (or demand) that they make a statement.

Especially if witnesses are available, a charge of assault against the driver may be appropriate. The fellow made threats against your husband with intent to terrify, which qualifies as assault at least under common law. Obviously this is more challenging without witnesses at hand.

If none of those work, there's always dragging the fellow's name through the mud. If the details here are correct, he certainly deserves it. According to Google, he's a business owner, and a business owner's reputation is very important. If his behavior doesn't warrant a good reputation, he ought be brought down a few notches-- protests near his store might do well.

def send it to steve the bike czar. if anything, he has frequent meetings with the police department. that's pretty unacceptable that they didn't want to deal with it.

i'd also call a lawyer. there may be a way to get that bike replaced.

also, check out the in a crash section of the site: http://bike-pgh.org/resources/in-a-crash

there is some info on how to deal with the police.

that really sucks.

Is there an advocacy organization out there for cyclists?

you found 'em

also, check out this post on streetsblog on how citizens dealt with a case of road rage. this was fortunately caught on film

http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/06/25/meet-the-alleged-road-rage-thug-of-ninth-avenue-gus-gonzalez/

sorry, didn't see that he was a lawyer.

and his wife works for Forbes Road Career and Technology Center, that trains high school students and has a day care. i'm sure they wouldn't like to be associated with a road rage maniac who threatens people with guns.

I would get in touch with Marc Reisman, an attorney who has dealt with Bike injuries and road rage.I commiserate with you, because I also had a few bad bike experiences with driver road rage.You were smart not to get into any physical confrontation with this guy.The way to stop it is to bring a lawsuit against these yahoo rednecks.

yahoo redneck who is the president of jo-mar provisions in the strip

Thanks for all the info. We contacted the yahoo's insurance company and filed a claim, also called back zone 4 police who suggested we not file an incident report. Go figure. My husband, Dave, wrote a long email to the bike czar. Interesting that Ken Zvirman's wife works with children. Very scary. She seemed to think that fingerprints on an SUV entitled her husband to drive his 5000 lb vehicle over a 21 lb. bike. Good judgment.

Oh and Marc Reisman is a friend of ours. Dave is a lawyer (I know -sorry) and he will figure out what to do legally. Right now I just want this guy to be found out. He's a true a#$hole - no offense to people in the suburbs but he is a suburbanite that should stay out there. Stay off our Pittsburgh streets.

Threatening to shoot someone is a not acceptable. If he has his License to Conceal Firearm, it should be revoked (contact the Sheriff?).

Is this the same Ken Zvirman?

This kind of behavior should not be acceptable. If this Ken Zvirman is the same Ken Zvirman, President of Jo-Mar Provision in the strip, I think there is a lot we can do to draw attention to this.

Also, if this Ken Zvirman is the same Ken Zvirman, I hope this post hits very high on Google.

I am the victim with a great wife who sticks up for me. Good call on Marc Reisman. He is a friend of mine, but I can take care of myself on the legal front. I do admit that I would have been better off to ignore his swearing and ranting and ride by, but as a commuter I do get sick of drivers who feel that no matter what, they are right and we are wrong simply because we ride bikes. I commute regularly and have been doing it off and on for close to 20 years. Zvirman, which I guess is pronounced Vermin (ironic huh), just went nuts on me. I do have his insurance info and have made a claim. It does blow my mind that he thought he had a right to destroy my bike and try to use his Nissan SUV as a weapon simply because I got finger prints on his black gas hog (with a license plate of GRA 2083). If you are riding and see this truck, beware and give Ken a big and creative hello for me.

Also, MAKE SURE A REPORT GETS FILED! If you want to help out other cyclists, getting accurate accident stats is key. I think a large number of incidents involving bicycles are not reported making it look like they don't happen.

The picture is of Ken Zvirman (apparently pronounced Vermin). That is definitely the guy who ran over my bike. I do have to say that his wife, Mrs. Zvirman (apparently also rhymes with Vermin) did calm the situation down and got Ken Zvirman calmed down before the police were called. He amazingly told the police that he wanted my insurance info because he wanted to file a claim against me for getting finger prints on his "$58k truck". They also said they were afraid of leaving their $58k dollar truck with a license plate of GRA 2083 near me because they thought I would vandalize it.

I have contacted Stephen Patchan, the bike czar, and asked him to follow up. I called the police and they suggested that filing the report would not do much good. If it will help the bike community I will do it.

can you get a gun license revoked if you do stuff like that?

Just read a disturbing article in the Tribune Review that says that one in every 20 people in Allegheny County have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The sherriff won't give out the names of these people. Anyone know how to find out if someone has a permit?

Here is another picture of Ken Zvirman:

People like this need to stay out of our city.

I think it is good that Ken Zvirman's wife Christina Zvirman was able to calm him an no one was hurt.

I also hope that Ken Zvirman did not/does not pass on these types of behaviors onto his three children. With the amount of information available online about Ken Zvirman and his family, I would consider him a public figure and would think he would censor his behavior better.

the sad thing is, that's probably not the first time he's raged. hello anger management.

I know they can revoked for improper/criminal use of a firearm.

By the way, I am in no way against C/C firearms, but I am VERY against irresponsible gun owners. Almost all responsible gun owners and people who conceal carry would agree, that Ken Zvirman threatening to shoot someone is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

/Users/djrruns/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2009/Ken Zvirman's damage to my crank/P7140001.JPG

Crank after Ken Zvirman ran over my bike

From the State's website:

In accordance with 18 PA C.S. §6109, a sheriff may deny an individual the right to a License to Carry Firearms if there is reason to believe that the character and reputation of the individual are such that they would be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety.

i always thought having "I'm a lawyer" on the back of a shirt for cycling would be a good idea

gotcha - thanks ndromb

Some information on LTCF criteria:

http://sheriffalleghenycounty.com/HTML%27s/permit_denial.html

Well that didn't work. I picture of the Ken Zvirman mangled crank should be to the left

here's a reference for you:

http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/help-posting-photos

it also looks like ken zvirman donated to indicted representative mike veon's campaign a few years ago....coincidence?

http://www.campaignfinance.state.pa.us/CFReport.aspx?CFReportID=48496&Section=ID&StartRow=1&RowsPerPage=94

no problem, laurelsr.

I really he you guys are able to get justice.

Maybe contact some local new organization?

Do we know of any cycling members of the local press/media?

Kenneth Zvriman should not be allowed to act like this.

I will also give a shout out to Vuelta wheels. A 5000 lb SUV ran over the wheel and it didn't totally potato chip. I doubt it will ride that great again, but can't try it with the mangled crank

I really think everyone should take a trip to Google to learn a little about this guy. The local press seems to like him and his business (Jo-Mar Provisions Inc.), and his business has been awarded twice for food safety.

I wonder if any of his employees at Jo-Mar Provisions on the corner of 18th and Smallman St in the Strip District have to deal with this guys bad temper and rage.

It seems that Jo-Mar Provisions Inc at 42 18th St Pittsburgh, PA 15222 ((412) 471-1760) is a wholesaler and retailer of meat. There are several articles on Jo-Mar Provisions Inc at 42 18th St Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

Maybe he wanted to shoot you for meat?

Filing the police report certainly can't hurt, especially if you're going to try to get money from his insurance company. I learned that the hard way after a (non-bike) accident.

So why shop at Jo-Mar Provisions instead of Wholey's, Benkovitz or Strip district meats.

Although this whole thing is odd with the Police advising not to file a report.

I do have to say, my only interaction with police on a bike was an officer telling me that I should enter a bike safety course when a car went around me on the left, hooked a right, I yelled, they stopped and got out of the car and a cruiser was behind us.

Honestly, I've had my CAR backed into at a stoplight, so this driver's reaction is completely uncalled for. Whether it's a bike or a car or a Vespa, you just don't get to drive your car the way you want to! Good grief.

Also, one wonders if the cops "don't want to deal with it" b/c of who it is (the driver that is). And honestly, while I usually don't subscribe to such tactics, if nothing moves on this front in terms of accountability, I wouldn't hesitate to send the story off to one of the local news media and see if they'd bite.

No matter who did what before this happened on the road, he still purposely ran over your bike and that needs taken care of in some way. Funny that he didn't want your finger prints on his truck but would run over your bike with it.

Who called the police?

No Report!?

There are explicit sections in Title 18 of the Crimes Code for activities you described:

3736 - Reckless Driving

3745 - Accidents Involving Damage to Unattended Veh.or Prop.

Also, one wonders if the cops "don't want to deal with it" b/c of who it is. And honestly, while I usually don't subscribe to such tactics, if nothing moves on this front in terms of accountability, I wouldn't hesitate to send the story off to one of the local news media and see if they'd bite.

I suspect it was laziness, unless one of them personally knew this guy.

I'd also caution against saying too much about the character of Mr. Zvirman, as that would reflect poorly on the cycling community and the victim should anyone go digging (such as the media). I'm not defending the guy, only our community.

Please, please, for the sake of everyone else on our community -- cyclists, motorists, and pedestrians, please follow through on this.

You have a civic duty.

Road ragers with guns don't belong in society, and they especially don't belong anywhere near the kids at Forbes Road Career and Technology Center.

I'd also caution against saying too much about the character of Mr. Zvirman, as that would reflect poorly on the cycling community and the victim should anyone go digging (such as the media). I'm not defending the guy, only our community.

Good point, and why I usually hesitate to do such things. And just to clarify, I wouldn't be the one sending the story off, that's for the cyclist who got hit. I guess the whole thing really pisses me off b/c the driver could get away with it. Or thinks he can.

i'd be more worried about the honest and responsible gun owners community.

I'm kind of disappointed by this. I always get my holiday meats at JoMar. Well, I used to. I've bought everything from turkeys, to capons and quail. Bacon, burgers, ribs for barbeque, you name it. Not any more. In my experience, people with such a huge sense of self-entitlement and no apparent regard for others, are often also crooked businessmen and tax cheats.

(Warning: thread hijacking ahead)

I always get my holiday meats at JoMar. Well, I used to. I've bought everything from turkeys, to capons and quail. Bacon, burgers, ribs for barbeque, you name it.

My family has started getting all of our meat from a local farmer, Joe Rush. He comes to the city twice a month with deliveries. All animals are pastured and free of junk, and are also processed locally. Yes, it probably costs a bit more, but I suspect Joe won't run you over with his van.

PM me if you want more info.

As the victim I wanted to follow up on a few issues. I'm not sure that Ken Zvirman really had a gun, that is why I asked him. I think he was making a threat to scare me. So I'm not at this point associating him with responsible gun owners.

As far as handling this in a way to protect the riding community, I have contacted the City Bike Czar and had several discussions with the police. They view it as a civil/property damage matter since there was no serious bodily injury. I have to decide whether or not to file a private criminal action with the District Magistrate. I have contact Ken Zvirman's insurance carrier. I want to see how they respond. Prior to the incident I had a nice cyclocross bike that had a lot of upgrades. It was perfect for commuting in this city. It the insurance company takes care of it swiftly and appropriately I will be satisfied. I just want to get back on the road while the weather is good and days are long.

The bike czar suggested that the best thing I can do is post this incident at Bike Pittsburgh, which I obviously already have done. I really appreicate the supportive community. Probably communicating this incident through the bike community is the best way to approach. I will set up a time to meet or talk directly with the Bike Czar and see what he can do to protect bikers from rageful drivers.

If they replace the bike I think you are in good shape.

First off I'm glad you're ok and I'm glad everyone on here is so supportive.

I'm very disappointed in how the police handled this situation. It's clearly assault and they should have taken a report on the spot. I'm following up with an officer to get his perspective on this. If this happened to me I would press charges. Individuals should not be able to use their 4000 lb vehicle as a weapon and they shouldn't be able to threaten and frighten someone by saying they're going to shoot them.

I hope justice is served in this case one way or another. I can tell you there are probably 50-100 people reading this who are never going to shop at JoMar again and will tell their friends as well.

I'm just waiting for someone to send this thread to some JoMar email address and witness the disjointed anger, begging and pleading that will likely come of it. I don't know why, but I see all caps replies to come.

i'm pretty sure that you can still have charges filed against him on your behalf after the fact. perhaps the county DA's office would know what you can do?

in my opinion, you should also report the officers who ignored the destruction of your property to the citizens' police review board and be sure to follow up with the board when they contact you back. if we ignore the cops ignoring problems like this things aren't going to get better for us.

I would like to re-introduce the momentum argument.

First, at $58,000, all I can think of is the Nissan Armada (and they must have included taxes and fees with their total for bragging rights of overspending). At 7300 lbs (dry), Conservative 300lbs for passengers, another 200 for liquids, makes it 7,800 lbs--that's almost 4 TONS!

Even at 5mph (8km/h, 2.2m/s) the 7,800 lb (3500 kg) Armada has a momentum of 7,700kg m/s.

A 200 gr (.013kg) .38 Special bullet travels at 4000 ft/s (1200 m/s) giving it a momentum of 15.6 kg m/s-- about .2% the momentum of the Armada.

So the SUV's momentum is 500 times that of the bullet.....

Now this doesn't take a lot of other things into consideration, but I think the dangers of a 7,800 lb SUV in the hands of Ken Zvirman is just as deadly as a bullet out of a gun.

I think once someone like Ken Zvirman uses a vehicle to hit something or someone on purpose, it should be considered a deadly weapon. Being that Kenneth Zvirman hit the bike and not the the person, I think it should be treated the same and brandishing a firearm.

The problem is, that is there is no logic in the legal system.

I leave you with this:

"If cops knew the law, we wouldn't have courts"

I think someone on hear said that, but it is one of my favorite quotes.

Questioin on police reports in general. The police often say something like "No point. Your word against his."

BUT I'm thinking, in these situations, that you could insist they GET they guys "word." At the very least, you've at least made the guy's adrenaline spike.

At the best, the guy could start ranting: "It was a road! That biker had no right to be there!" and possibly incriminate himself. I know the police have to give warning and all, but some car thugs are so ignorant that they might believe that riding a bike on the road is the legal equivalent of fighting words - justification for otherwise illegal action.

I'm very curious as to what will happen in THIS case.

All this being said, we ont the board could be cautious. The story sounds plausible and similar things happen all too often. On the other hand, us folks here have only heard one side - and second-hand at that.

Mick

ndromb, the jerk in the car isn't quite that powerful.

200 grams is .2 kg not .013 kg, meaning the truck had a 'mere' 32 times the momentum of a bullet, not 500.

you still made a very interesting point

"Being "Bicycle Friendly" really means being friendly to cyclists. This means treating cyclists as fully equal users of the roadways in your community. It means eliminating hazards, overcoming misinformation and aggressively combating any "road rage" directed towards cyclists."

Taken from an Ohio bicycling federation document.

William, that's 200 grain (charge size), not 200g. Bullets aren't half a pound.

Oh... yeah can't say i've ever held a bullet would love to keep it that way too

Some bullets are.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger

If Zvirman had one of those weapons in his Japanese truck, I hope the police would have noticed. "Uh, it's a meat grinder! Yeah, that's it! For making sausages!"

Back to what you should do: Go to the police station and ask to speak to a supervisor. You should definitely file a report.

If you weren't on the bike when the driver ran it over it seems likely he could be charged with criminal mischief and possibly harassment for the verbal assault.

I too think that it is interesting that Jo-Mar Provisions Inc at 42 18th St Pittsburgh, PA 15222 ((412) 471-1760) is a wholesaler and retailer of meat.

Page rank is pretty high already.

this makes me upset! i'm glad you're ok.

you're handling this really well.

please keep us updated!

How odd. I'd expect behavior like this out of a someone who does most of their driving in more rural areas since they would rarely interact with cyclists while driving, but since Ken Zvirman owns Jo-Mar Provisions Inc. in Pittsburgh's strip district he probably regularly interacts with the many cyclists on Pittsburgh's roadways. Assuming that he did behave as described, I wonder if he's always so hostile? Maybe he was having a particularly bad day at the meat market?

Being a purveyor of fine meats in Pittsburgh, PA can't be all fun and games. I wonder how many of the customers at his meat market/butcher shop are cyclists? Maybe in the future they should choose a different Pittsburgh meat retailer?

i ride past there everyday, i'll be sure to watch out for this guy. what a crazy person! Ken (vermin) Zvirman huh? is that his name? this guy shouldn't be on the roads.

If legal remedies prove inadequate, it wouldn't be unreasonable to notify this gentleman's customers of his behavior directly in front of his store.

I'm glad you are OK.

I realize that for 1% of the effort you can get 99% of what you want from this situation (your bike replaced) and that it would take 99% of the effort to make Mr Zvirman of Jo-Mar (aka Jo Mar, JoMar) Provisions at least think twice about doing things twice, bu I hope you do fully follow up on this. As a lawyer you are uniquely positioned to benefit the entire cycling community here in the same way that a doctor getting sick can improve the care of many people because he has a good understanding of what is happening on both sides of the treatment. You won't forget to mention something because you didn't realize it wasn't important or know the correct course of action to pursue. When this story is retold at a cocktail party somewhere it would be a shame if the punchline was "and the police wouldn't even file a report because Christina said he shmutzed the Armadas wax job."

You are probably not the first or last cyclist that he has threatened. You apparently handled yourself very well and are anxious to get out there riding again, but I can easily see this happening to some kid or someone very early in their commuting career spending the rest of their life thinking they will get shot or run down if they take their bike back out on city streets. They might not clip out as fast as you were able to and end up under a $58k wheel.

I think you have the opportunity to be a multiplier here for the cycling community, but it isn't my time or effort involved.

I am willing to put 100 dollars towards flying

that chinese dude over to throw a brick at this guy's 57g truck

I will match steevo's contribution.

Please keep us updated with this. Kenneth Zvirman's (Jo-Mar Provisions Inc 42 18th St Pittsburgh, PA 15222-4402 T(412) 471-1760) behavior is just flat out disgusting, and the officers that "handled" this are an embarrassment to our city.

Hey Ken Zvirman's victim here. I really appreciated all of the comments. I was moved enough to make a contribution to Bike Pittsburgh. Just so everyone knows I am trying to do what is right for the bike community as a whole. I have been talked with Steve Pathen, the city Bike Czar. We are going to work together to use this incident as an example so that we can get some more police attention on protecting cyclists. I will keep everyone posted. Ken Zvirman has to live with himself and his serfs at Jo-Mar Provisions Inc. I'm way beyond him personally, but if I can use my experience to help make Pittsburgh a more bike friendly community I will be happy that this happened. I've been commuting by bike for @ 20 years and despite Ken Zvirman, I have seen massive improvements and use of the city by cyclists. I have has some minor run ins, but this is the first time that someone has threatened to kill me.

Kudos to you, and thanks for the update!!

I hope Ken Zvirman stops running over bikes with his $58k truck. If Ken Zvirman learns from this, we will all be better off.

Thanks so much for the donation! Glad Steve and all the folks on here have been able to help.

I invite all posters and riders to join me for a ride to Ken Zvirman's place of business Jo-Mar Provisions Inc. at 42 18th St in the Strip. We will be starting the ride at Coffee Tree in Squirrel Hill Sunday at 8 AM. It would be interesting to see exactly what Ken Zvirman's meat house looks like. Perhaps we could also see the massive black $58k Nissan Armada with a license plate of PA - GRA 2083 and a rage invoking hand print on it's driver's side front fender. I wish Ken Zvirman no harm, but certainly am curious what type of butcher shop is run by someone who in a matter of minutes can threaten to kill someone with a gun and then to cause them harm with his 7000 pound $58k battle ship named vehicle. Perhaps if we wanted to we could actually turn it into the Tour de Ken Zvirman Rage Ride and continue to his home at ___ which would be about a 20 mile ride from Jo-Mar Provisions Inc. Unfortunately this would call for a ride through Monroeville to Plum which is not a particularly bike friendly area, which may explain why Ken Zvirman lives there.

this is upsetting

will the insurance company do anything if no report was filed?

also, maybe we should all take turns calling JoMar and asking about working there and bike to work facilities.

also if you google JoMar Meats or Kenneth Zvriman, this thread is the #2 and #3 items to show up.

also, there havent been any reviews written for JoMar meats on google yet..... just sayin'

If you search for JoMar meats in Google this thread is the #3 result.

drbikes, how did he run over your bike? Was it lying in the road?

No. I was standing next to the bike about to mount my bike. This was after we had an argument and KenZvirman of Jo-Mar Provisions Inc threatened to shoot me. Ken Zvirman began backing up to park. I slapped his fender to let him know I was still there and very close to his vehicle. He cut his wheel so that the front of the Ken Zvirman vehicle would come out from the curb and directly at me, gunned his engine and ran over my rear wheel causing the bike to go to the gound. There was enough force to wreck my pedal and signifcantly bend the crank (see photo to left). Since I can't turn the crank or ride the bike I can't figure out how much damage he did to the frame and wheel, but I assume they are shot too.

The frame is dead in such a crash. As may be the fork too. Any shop would likely tell you the same and write up a repair estimate for the whole bike.

All,

A couple of thoughts.

1)Zvirman's a danger, and needs to have his license yanked. You DO NOT, regardless of provocation, use your vehicle in a deliberately unsafe manner.

2) Jo-Mar is not the same thing as Zvirman. Yeah, he's the big cheese and all, but screwing with the company's rep, if it has any impact, will hit the workers first. C'mon...you think a guy like that will cut his own salary before firing some employees? He'd take positive delight in saying "We're letting you go, because all those cyclists hurt my business."

3) What kind of image of our community are we portraying, by moving up the page rank of a thread that has cyclists talking about riding to the guy's house? I don't believe that anyone here intends physical harm to Zvirman or his family, but that can very, very easily be misinterpreted as a threat.

I think the guy needs jail time, and to have his license yanked in perpetuity for being a dangerous ass. But, if we want to expend energy on this, let's do it in productive fashion by demanding investigations, or pushing it to local news, rather than gaming the search engines, ya know?

I'm with Dan. I think we are starting to look a little silly.

I'm still not sure how this guy wasn't cited. If he would have backed into your car, he would have been cited. And the fact he hit your bike while you where holding it could be construed as an attempt to harm you, not just your bike.

i don't disagree with what you're saying at all dan, but no reason to freak out the technophobes with speak of "gaming the search engine" we're talking about the guy, the search engine is smart, it picks that up, that's what it is designed to do... its not like we're crazy bike hackers from the future... googles just right on top of the game.

Except that "Jo-Mar Provisions" and "Ken Zvirman" appears a whole heck of lot of times, probably more than would be used in normal conversation.

BTW, I'm with Dan.

I find all this puzzling.

djrbikes is a lawyer, after all.

He should be able to come up with appropriate, effective action. That action probably need not rely on angry people who have heard one side of the story.

Mick

Well said, Dan...

I think if a random person does search for his name or business and clicks through to one of these threads, they're probably more likely to think "what the hell are those crazy cyclists going on about?" at this point than anything negative about the man and/or his company.

Dan

Very good points. Actually the insurance card lists the business as the insured along with Zvirman, so if I do have to litigate it both the business and Zvirman will be parties.

I had a very productive discussion with Steve Patchan of the City. He is going to discuss the indicent with the Police Dept liason and I have agreed also to speak with the liason. Zvirman totally lost his cool, but hopefully it was an isolated incident. I'm not out for retribution. I am upset that I can't use my commuter bike and I would like his insurance company to respond and replace it. As far as criminal action I doubt that it will be very meaningful if the responding police officers are not supportive of the complaint. If after Steve talks with the police if they want to pursue it, it's fine by me. On the other hand if the end result is that Steve has productive discussions with the Police, resulting in the police taking greater efforts to protect cyclist from road rage and inattentive drivers, then all the better. Zvirman isn't really worth as much time as we have already spent discussing him, but the underlying issues of road rage and risks to cyclists are worthy of the attention.

As far as why he wasn't cited at the time, the Zvirmans spoke to the police first. At that point he was calm and I was calm. All they saw was property damage to a bike. No one was injured. I don't think they wanted to get bogged down as there were a lot of other things going on that night. They were trying to look at the big picture. I'm sure if they came upon the scene when Zvirman was threatening me or if they witnessed him running over my bike, it would have been a different story. By the time they got there they saw a mangled bike and three relatively calm and civil middle aged people. Any citation would be based upon my word against that of Mr. and Mrs. Zvirman. So, they saw it as just an insurance matter and decided to move on to the next situation.

Hey everyone,

Great discussion, but I need to agree with Dan and start to calm things down a bit. The thing that's making me most uncomfortable is the posting of Mr. Z's home address and the talk of a bike ride to his residence. What he did was terrible and I hope justice is served. However, I can't condone using these forums to set up rides to basically harass someone regardless of how egregious the crime committed.

I completely understand how angry this incident makes everyone on here especially djrbikes. I'm angry too, but I don't think this thread is headed in a productive direction. I'm very happy that the drjbikes is talking with Steve P and helping to educate the police, but I want to advise against a bike ride protest to the culprit's home. That's going much too far. In fact, even though I'm sure it's public info that one can find on any search engine, I would prefer if his home address were erased from this thread.

Thanks for helping to take the heat generated by this discussion down a couple of notches.

Protest ride is officially off. Although we often ride through the Strip on Sunday morning I was being facicious about riding to Mr. Zvirman's home. I have no desire to ride through Monroeville and Plum.

I have no desire to ride through Monroeville and Plum.

Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. There are some fine roads to be found out that way.

That said, I'm glad there's no protest ride planned.

Taking it to the media would have the secondary effect of making lots more people think in the non-productive manner that Dan and Scott have pointed out.

Let's just hope the bike can be replaced, and Mr. Z gets at least a stern talking to by a judge or cop, better still a 30-day license suspension.

We don't need to have innocent people lose their jobs on account of this.

As a business owner (technically, President and majority sharehold of a corporation), I think you need to realize you are ALWAYS representing your company. This is especially the case if it is a company car (Which I assume it was based off the insurance information).

If I did something like that, and it ended up hurting my business, I could not feel that it was unfair towards me or my business.

I just had a incident happen where a lady attacked me with her SUV. Thank you for posting this.

Company cars are a commonly-used tactic for tax dodging. Maybe someone here is more expert with the tax laws than I am, but I honestly can't understand why any small business owner would bother with the reporting hassles of a company car -- unless they were cheating on their taxes by under-reporting personal use, or really did use the company car for 100% business.

100% business and you get the tax credit to purchase a larger than average vehicle - you know, for hauling post-its and italian salted-cured meats. Mmmm.

If you have a satellite "office" in your home, then all your commuting is business.

i don't really think that making this thread appear higher in google is all that big of a deal. i really doubt this was an isolated incident on his part, but i'm in no position to jump to conclusions.

i do think that if the police handled the manner in a way that was satisfactory to the victim, this wouldn't have to be brought into his own hands. that police don't take these incidents seriously, more or less across the board, is equally as appalling to me.

police also have "windshield vision," as in they see things much easier through the eyes of drivers.

I agree with erok.

Hmmm...utterly wild and crazy idea, but I wonder if there's any way to establish procedures such that bicycle cops are tasked with investigating bike-related incidents? Hopefully cut back on that "windshield vision" a bit.

(Plus, my vindictive streak really loves the idea of a pissed-off road rage junkie seeing the cop come up on a bike...)

"i don't really think that making this thread appear higher in google is all that big of a deal."

I actually think it was pretty brilliant.

http://pittsburghguy.blogspot.com/

whoa, i've read your blog before

I have to post a clarification. Earlier, I stated that I used to buy meat at JoMar Provisions. I was mistaken. I didn't realize that JoMar is way down at Smallman and 18th St. I was there this morning -- shopping at the antique store nearby -- so I poked my head in, and it doesn't look like someplace I would choose to patronize anyway. I was thinking of a different shop, up near Penn Ave and 22nd Street. It has a big sign out front that reads "Pittsburgh's Finest Meats - Strip District Meats - Fresh Beef Poultry Veal Pork". I've always been satisfied with their prices and quality, and it's nice to know I won't feel obliged to change my shopping habits. Though I will still give some thought to buying meat from Joe Rush.

so we are bike hackers from the future...

Oh PS, get a good damage quote on that bike from a local bike shop, if you haven't yet.

I spoke with the claims rep from the insurance. She was very pleasant, reasonable and understanding. She wants to get it resolved asap, but Mr. Zvirman has not returned any of her calls. Assuming she can talk to Zvirman, I think we will be able to get this worked out. The bike is at REI for an estimate. As anticipated the frame, wheel, crank and pedal are toast. Fortunately my limbs and brain weren't pinned under the bike. If I had panicked or slipped this could have been very serious. I am very fortunate and in an odd kind of way, so is Zvirman. I hear that they don't serve high quality meats in the pen.

Here's an interesting update. Zvirman's adjuster called me. He claims his fender was dented and scratched and he wants to make a claim against me. Keep in mind I was wearing a padded bike glove.

He does acknowlege hitting my bike, but claims he only broke the pedal and that I rode off on my bike. Since the crank is so severely bent that it can't rotate, that is obviously a lie.

i was hit by a car a few years ago, by a guy who thought he could make a left before i got thru the intersection. i slid up the hood, and smashed his windshield with my body, and when i came down, i had a broken leg.

he filed a claim against me for the windshield.

What happened with that claim erok?

oh sorry. thrown out in negotiations.

I can't believe that claim even made it into negotiations in the first place.

"Officer, I want to press charges. That guy I was mugging called me a bad word and hurt my feelings."

Yeah, Erok, I'm with Dan. Seems to me like filing that claim would pretty much force you to get a lawyer and sue the dude, rather than taking a reasonable settlement.

Mick

I saw a big black Nissan SUV parked in front of JoMar on Friday morning. No damage to the driver's fender was visible from a distance of five feet. I will swear an affidavit.

Perhaps a small scratch would be invisible from such a distance. Of course, it is not surprising that Zvirman would have scratched the fender when he drove the truck into you.

I pass that thing every morning. Is it the back fender he's claiming, because he backs into his space along smallman? I've never seen it parked head in...

Cameras, people? Maybe one with film, so we can show the unretouched negative?

Front left fender. If anyone can take a picture please send me a private message. Thanks. Remember the license plate is

License plate # is GRA 2083 Please get a shot of the plate too to prove its the same car

It wasn't there this morning! I rolled by at 0730...

Erok, I got car doored a few years back. It was night, guy was sitting in his car without any lights on just chatting w/passenger or something, then out of nowhere swings open his extra-long sports car door. I bet I flew a good 10 feet. I was all scratched/bruised, broke my helmet and both wheels on my bike. The guy gets out of his car and says, "oh shit, my door!".

After asking for his insurance info he told me that I was at fault because I was "exceeding the bike speed limit", then he got in and took off. Me and my bike were in no shape to follow. I filed hit and run charges (using his plate number) police had me pick him out of a DMV photo lineup. I didn't hear anything about it after that (guessing the DA didn't file charges?).

I hope it costed him lots of money to fix his precious door.

ugh...

Dooring Victim Sues Driver for $100,000. Something to keep an eye on.

As of today we have photos from two different sources showing no dent or scratch to the fender. Much thanks to all who helped. I will keep you posted on how this is resolved.

Just to clarify, there were references to Mrs. Zvirman. They actually were divorced several years ago, so the woman with Zvirman was probably not Mrs. Christina Zvirman. There were some posts by others pointing out her place of business etc. She has nothing to do with this incident unless they reconciled.

i was also sued by a woman that hit me a couple years back... sent a collections agency to my house and threatened to have my drivers license revoked (i actually didn't have one, so that was kind of funny) i had to get a lawyer and ended up not only getting it thrown out but getting 5000 dollars which sat in an account till I was 18... i was a rich man those days!

Update - Zvirman's insurance company settled with me. They were quite reasonable. I was able to get a single speed commuter and will try to put something together with some of the parts from the crushed bike, a new (used) frame, new wheels and some leftovers from my old parts bin. Whatever is still left and functional will be donated to freewheel. I also had lengthy talks with the City Bike Czar and the Police liason. Hopefully some good will come of that too.

Glad to hear it worked out.. Dude should still go to some anger management classes.. or possibly ride a bike..