New Cycling Hazard - Idiots with Airguns

Rich

"Mark Drinkwater" <mark_drinkwater@COLDmail.com> wrote in message
news:cqc1s5$56l$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
>
> Any thoughts on whether I should report this to the Police considering the
> scant evidence I can give them?

May I add my voice to the unanimous tide?

They may not have injured you particularly badly, but what about the next
cyclist, who just might get a pellet in the eye? How are you going to feel
when you read the report and realise that you did nothing?

Waste no time, report now!
>
>

JLB

Mark Drinkwater wrote:
> Cycling home through Buckhurst Hill last night, I was shot at by an idiot
> with an airgun!
>
> I was travelling downhill at the time and it all happened quite quickly - I
> saw the van coming in the opposite direction with it's window open which I
> thought strange considering the temperature, I heard a crack and immediately
> felt a searing pain in my upper back.
>
> At the time, I thought I must have a pellet lodged in the side of my upper
> back. Thankfully, my clothing wasn't even marked and I just have a nasty
> welt where it hit and I'm thankful it didn't hit my eye.
>
> Any thoughts on whether I should report this to the Police considering the
> scant evidence I can give them?
>
>
Without any doubt, report it.

--
Joe * If I cannot be free I'll be cheap

Tony Raven

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

>
> Yes! This is a serious criminal assault.
>

Yep, if they'd had half a brain cell they would have swiped Mark with
the van instead using an air pistol as it only counts as a minor lapse
of care ;-^)

Tony

mpjashby@yahoo.co.uk

You should definately report this to the police.

If you have any further details, ideally the registration
number of the van, then they *may* be able to take
things further.

Even if you don't have any details, they can use this
information for intelligence purposes. It may be that
the van is well known and your information will help
them build up a picture of it's activity. Alternatively,
if any similar vans are stopped in the next few days
and an airgun is found, then it may give them cause
to investigate the occupants further.

If you see the same van again, call the police
immediately -- don't try to stop the van yourself!


Matt Ashby

Badger

Mark Drinkwater wrote:
> Cycling home through Buckhurst Hill last night, I was shot at by an idiot
> with an airgun!
>
> Any thoughts on whether I should report this to the Police considering the
> scant evidence I can give them?

Report it and hopefully they will be able to use it should they ever
catch the culprits.

The only downside is those that are anti freedom will use it to further
restrict the law abiding....

Dave Kahn

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 20:35:44 +0000, Tony Raven <junk@raven-family.com>
wrote:

>Yep, if they'd had half a brain cell they would have swiped Mark with
>the van instead using an air pistol as it only counts as a minor lapse
>of care ;-^)

Yebbut, they might have scratched the paintwork on the van.

--
Dave...

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. - Mark Twain

Mark Drinkwater

> Cycling home through Buckhurst Hill last night, I was shot at by an idiot
> with an airgun!
>
> I was travelling downhill at the time and it all happened quite quickly -
> I saw the van coming in the opposite direction with it's window open which
> I thought strange considering the temperature, I heard a crack and
> immediately felt a searing pain in my upper back.
>
> At the time, I thought I must have a pellet lodged in the side of my upper
> back. Thankfully, my clothing wasn't even marked and I just have a
> nasty welt where it hit and I'm thankful it didn't hit my eye.
>
> Any thoughts on whether I should report this to the Police considering the
> scant evidence I can give them?

Thanks for the kind words and thoughts on reporting to the Police.

Duly reported it tonight and they were suitably disinterested!

James Annan

Mark Drinkwater wrote:


> Any thoughts on whether I should report this to the Police considering the
> scant evidence I can give them?

FFS! No, just be a clueless muppet and hope it happens to someone else
next time.

James
--
If I have seen further than others, it is
by treading on the toes of giants.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames/home/

David Hansen

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 19:07:18 -0000 someone who may be "al_Mossah"
<peter@mo1ss1clan.co.uk> wrote this:-

>I think it's unanimous. Report it.

That seems to be the case. Provided it is not done with a motor
vehicle attempted murder seems to be taken very seriously by the
police and the rest of the legal bunch.

>Why are you wasting time reading these
>answers when you should be leaning across the desk of the station demanding
>an armed response unit :-).

I hope that the police will keep an eye open for similar vans and if
they find them come down hard on the culprits, who will no doubt
claim that it was just "a laugh".


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

redshift

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 14:55:01 +0000, Mark Drinkwater wrote:

> Cycling home through Buckhurst Hill last night, I was shot at by an
> idiot with an airgun!
....
> Any thoughts on whether I should report this to the Police considering
> the scant evidence I can give them?

Interesting replies.

A couple of years ago I was shot in the leg by a little b*****d with an
airgun. I was cycling home from work at about 2300, and I'm usually wary
at that time anyway, due to pub kicking-out shenanigans. In this case,
the pellet hit me in the calf muscle, and the blood running down my leg
kind of took my mind off riding any further. I dialled 999 there and
then, and spent the next couple of hours in the company of two officers
who looked after me and the trike very well. At the local station I made
a statement, was given a cup of coffee, and provided with first aid bits
and pieces, along with the offer of a ride to A&E if I preferred. After
checking the wound to make sure the pellet wasn't lodged in it, I declined
the latter (wasting the time of a stressed-out junior doc at midnight
isn't my style...), cleaned the leg up myself and stuck a dressing on it,
and then rode home (declining another offer of a lift).

The PCs were realistic: It was late, dark, I was travelling fairly
quickly, and couldn't even see the perpetrator. All I could go on was a
long-gone 'bunch of lads in an alleyway' and the direction the sound had
come from. Unless he shot someone else, or we'd found the pellet, or other
witnesses had seen the incident, the chances of finding and prosecuting
him were small. When I said that I had almost decided not to call them,
they impressed on me that I'd done the right thing. It increases their
knowledge of the area and the types of things that happen there, and it
could provide corroborative evidence for other incidents. The results
aren't always tangible, but it's worth the effort for the intelligence.

Mainly they provided a much-needed cushion against the shock of the
incident, and the means for me to recover enough to get home.

I'd say report it.

L

--
http://www.redshift.uklinux.net/
Windcheetah No.176
Linux Counter No. 275325
*Remove Spamcatcher and x for email reply

pk

redshift wrote:
> When I said that I had almost
> decided not to call them, they impressed on me that I'd done the
> right thing. It increases their knowledge of the area and the types
> of things that happen there, and it could provide corroborative
> evidence for other incidents. The results aren't always tangible, but
> it's worth the effort for the intelligence.
>
> Mainly they provided a much-needed cushion against the shock of the
> incident, and the means for me to recover enough to get home.
>
> I'd say report it.

different context same principle.

about 16 years ago my wife was coming home from work and was "attacked" by a
scrote on a dark path through waste land (Silly!) back from the tube. She
shrugged him off

Not harmed, just moderately shaken.

I immediately phone bill and then went to "deal with the twat if I find
him.....". Luckily for him he was long gone.

Bill came round took detailed statement/description.

Next (or a couple later?) evening at around the same time of night (8 pm
winter) a police helicopter with search light was circling the same area.

Yep. Bill had staked out the area and had a 'copter ready. the guy tried on
the same trick. they were ready. He was nabbed and prosecuted for two
indecent assaults and for drug possession when they searched his room at the
ymca.

Always report these things to better protect the next victim.

pk

David Hansen

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 23:57:53 GMT someone who may be redshift
<red.shiftSpamCatcher@orangex.net> wrote this:-

>A couple of years ago I was shot in the leg by a little b*****d with an
>airgun.

About twenty years ago a friend was shot in the leg by a little
b*****d with an air rifle. When apprehended, a minute or so later,
the a little b*****d was highly disturbed to find the gun removed
from his grasp and said that his daddy would be very cross with my
friend. The response to this was to bend the barrel of the rifle
into a U shape and give it back to the little b*****d.

No doubt today the police would look for my friend and have him
prosecuted for violating the little b*****d's human rights, while
doing nothing about the little b*****d.

Note, air guns can seriously wound people and perhaps kill them. I
am as unsympathetic to people who misuse them as I am to others who
do not act responsibly.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

Colin Davidson

"Mark Drinkwater" <mark_drinkwater@COLDmail.com> wrote in message
news:cqc1s5$56l$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
> Cycling home through Buckhurst Hill last night, I was shot at by an idiot
> with an airgun!
>
> I was travelling downhill at the time and it all happened quite quickly -
I
> saw the van coming in the opposite direction with it's window open which I
> thought strange considering the temperature, I heard a crack and
immediately
> felt a searing pain in my upper back.
>
> At the time, I thought I must have a pellet lodged in the side of my upper
> back. Thankfully, my clothing wasn't even marked and I just have a
nasty
> welt where it hit and I'm thankful it didn't hit my eye.
>
> Any thoughts on whether I should report this to the Police considering the

At the risk of sounding like a parrot, you -must- report this, if you
haven't already. They may do nothing constructive, but then again they
might, and your report could make the difference.

The sad truth is that they'd probably have endangered you more by driving
the van really dangerously than by shooting you with most lower power
airguns, yet the police will almost certainly take this a hell of a lot more
seriously.