[Bethesda cyclist] Do you know this man?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Twitter activism forced this guy forward. No regrets.

Until the day you are misidentified for someone else, become a target of the Twitter mob, and see your life destroyed as a result. I suspect you'll have a few regrets then.

Here's an idea: don't go after other people (with your bike, or anything else) and you won't have a problem.

The entire point is that two people who didn’t go after anyone were wrongly outed on Twitter as the perpetrator.

Maybe. But if the right man was caught, and it is publicized, it shouldn't really matter.

Also, this man felt bad that he was caught. Nothing more, nothing less.

To add, this jackhole should not have sit back and watched while the cops looked for him - he should have turned himself in BEFORE he lost his job. If this is what it takes for people like this to be outed as the conniving, persistently sneaky, finger pointing, hostile and possibly dangerous excuses for human beings they are, so be it.

If he turned himself in, he still would have been fired. He also would have been admitting guilt. That would have been incredibly stupid for him to do. Although he has already been convicted in the court of public opinion, and may very well be guilty, actually getting a conviction or leveraging a plea are very different things. Only an idiot would make the prosecution’s job easier.

His statement admits he did it.

Where's HIS statement?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-have-a-strong-suspect-in-case-of-bicyclist-accused-of-assaulting-teens-posting-fliers-on-a-montgomery-county-trail-official-says/2020/06/05/1cc57c0c-a752-11ea-b619-3f9133bbb482_story.html

Brennan’s attorneys Andrew Jezic and David Moyse said their client “recognizes that his outrageous behavior toward the young adult victims on the Crescent Trail was unacceptable and wrong” and the “outrage felt in our community and across our country is completely justified.”

“I am sick with remorse for the pain and fear I caused the victims on the trail, and online,” Brennan said in a statement through his lawyers. “I am cooperating fully with authorities. I am committed to making amends by addressing, through counseling, the underlying issues that led to my abhorrent behavior.”

Is anyone willing to give him props for his statement? Straight up apology with zero excuses. And a promise to seek counseling for his issues. Or are we all just prepared to burn him at the stake?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The apology is bunk. No one just snaps and attacks, rages like this out of the blue for the first time ever. I'm sure he's had many raging encounters - on the trail, on the road, with people he knows... this is just the first time he got caught and is being held accountable.

And now he realizes he needs help. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Is no one in your world entitled to a second chance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Twitter activism forced this guy forward. No regrets.

Until the day you are misidentified for someone else, become a target of the Twitter mob, and see your life destroyed as a result. I suspect you'll have a few regrets then.

Here's an idea: don't go after other people (with your bike, or anything else) and you won't have a problem.

The entire point is that two people who didn’t go after anyone were wrongly outed on Twitter as the perpetrator.

Maybe. But if the right man was caught, and it is publicized, it shouldn't really matter.

Also, this man felt bad that he was caught. Nothing more, nothing less.

To add, this jackhole should not have sit back and watched while the cops looked for him - he should have turned himself in BEFORE he lost his job. If this is what it takes for people like this to be outed as the conniving, persistently sneaky, finger pointing, hostile and possibly dangerous excuses for human beings they are, so be it.

If he turned himself in, he still would have been fired. He also would have been admitting guilt. That would have been incredibly stupid for him to do. Although he has already been convicted in the court of public opinion, and may very well be guilty, actually getting a conviction or leveraging a plea are very different things. Only an idiot would make the prosecution’s job easier.

His statement admits he did it.

Well, that was dumb unless they already worked out a deal which seems unlikely. The court of public opinion isn’t going to be satisfied with mea culpas and pledges to get counseling. There would have been plenty of time left to admit guilt and get credit for cooperating within the legal system.

If he has no priors, this is the type of case where there would usual be diversion or a slightly firmer slap on the wrist. Somehow I don’t see that happening here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Twitter activism forced this guy forward. No regrets.

Until the day you are misidentified for someone else, become a target of the Twitter mob, and see your life destroyed as a result. I suspect you'll have a few regrets then.

Here's an idea: don't go after other people (with your bike, or anything else) and you won't have a problem.

The entire point is that two people who didn’t go after anyone were wrongly outed on Twitter as the perpetrator.

Maybe. But if the right man was caught, and it is publicized, it shouldn't really matter.

Also, this man felt bad that he was caught. Nothing more, nothing less.

To add, this jackhole should not have sit back and watched while the cops looked for him - he should have turned himself in BEFORE he lost his job. If this is what it takes for people like this to be outed as the conniving, persistently sneaky, finger pointing, hostile and possibly dangerous excuses for human beings they are, so be it.

If he turned himself in, he still would have been fired. He also would have been admitting guilt. That would have been incredibly stupid for him to do. Although he has already been convicted in the court of public opinion, and may very well be guilty, actually getting a conviction or leveraging a plea are very different things. Only an idiot would make the prosecution’s job easier.

His statement admits he did it.

Where's HIS statement?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-have-a-strong-suspect-in-case-of-bicyclist-accused-of-assaulting-teens-posting-fliers-on-a-montgomery-county-trail-official-says/2020/06/05/1cc57c0c-a752-11ea-b619-3f9133bbb482_story.html

Brennan’s attorneys Andrew Jezic and David Moyse said their client “recognizes that his outrageous behavior toward the young adult victims on the Crescent Trail was unacceptable and wrong” and the “outrage felt in our community and across our country is completely justified.”

“I am sick with remorse for the pain and fear I caused the victims on the trail, and online,” Brennan said in a statement through his lawyers. “I am cooperating fully with authorities. I am committed to making amends by addressing, through counseling, the underlying issues that led to my abhorrent behavior.”

Is anyone willing to give him props for his statement? Straight up apology with zero excuses. And a promise to seek counseling for his issues. Or are we all just prepared to burn him at the stake?

Depends.. is this a "sorry" because he got caught, or a "sorry" because he is genuinely sorry. I think if you look into his past behaviors and any social media posting you will get a clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The apology is bunk. No one just snaps and attacks, rages like this out of the blue for the first time ever. I'm sure he's had many raging encounters - on the trail, on the road, with people he knows... this is just the first time he got caught and is being held accountable.

And now he realizes he needs help. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Is no one in your world entitled to a second chance?

People are entitled to second changes. Unfortunately in this case his 'seeking help' has nothing to do with feeling remorse and recognizing his wrong - and everything to do with being caught and taking a personal loss. I'm sure there were many, many other times he behaved horrifically. A such a wonder why no realization of "getting help" occurred then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The apology is bunk. No one just snaps and attacks, rages like this out of the blue for the first time ever. I'm sure he's had many raging encounters - on the trail, on the road, with people he knows... this is just the first time he got caught and is being held accountable.

And now he realizes he needs help. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Is no one in your world entitled to a second chance?

For this particular crime in this political climate, fat chance.

Almost any other comparable crime without the political undertones, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The apology is bunk. No one just snaps and attacks, rages like this out of the blue for the first time ever. I'm sure he's had many raging encounters - on the trail, on the road, with people he knows... this is just the first time he got caught and is being held accountable.

And now he realizes he needs help. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Is no one in your world entitled to a second chance?

He must not have kids. My father is a mean old fart, but he would never approach, threaten or put his hands on somebody else's kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The apology is bunk. No one just snaps and attacks, rages like this out of the blue for the first time ever. I'm sure he's had many raging encounters - on the trail, on the road, with people he knows... this is just the first time he got caught and is being held accountable.

And now he realizes he needs help. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Is no one in your world entitled to a second chance?

He must not have kids. My father is a mean old fart, but he would never approach, threaten or put his hands on somebody else's kids.

He apparently has 3 kids. I still can’t wrap my head around the instinct to dominate someone so much smaller than you. The tiny teen girl must have ended up with bruises all over her arm from where he wrestled the tape off of it. I don’t think there would have been nearly the same amount of outrage over this crime if we didn’t all feel so protective of that girl/young woman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The apology is bunk. No one just snaps and attacks, rages like this out of the blue for the first time ever. I'm sure he's had many raging encounters - on the trail, on the road, with people he knows... this is just the first time he got caught and is being held accountable.

And now he realizes he needs help. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Is no one in your world entitled to a second chance?

People are entitled to second changes. Unfortunately in this case his 'seeking help' has nothing to do with feeling remorse and recognizing his wrong - and everything to do with being caught and taking a personal loss. I'm sure there were many, many other times he behaved horrifically. A such a wonder why no realization of "getting help" occurred then.

That’s amazing. Do you live inside his head? Are you only able to do this with his particular thoughts and feelings? What about me? What am I thinking right now??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The apology is bunk. No one just snaps and attacks, rages like this out of the blue for the first time ever. I'm sure he's had many raging encounters - on the trail, on the road, with people he knows... this is just the first time he got caught and is being held accountable.

And now he realizes he needs help. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Is no one in your world entitled to a second chance?

He must not have kids. My father is a mean old fart, but he would never approach, threaten or put his hands on somebody else's kids.

He apparently has 3 kids. I still can’t wrap my head around the instinct to dominate someone so much smaller than you. The tiny teen girl must have ended up with bruises all over her arm from where he wrestled the tape off of it. I don’t think there would have been nearly the same amount of outrage over this crime if we didn’t all feel so protective of that girl/young woman.

I have seen no reports that she suffered injuries of any kind and his actions, while completely out of line, did not look to me like it would have caused bruising like you described. Injury to the guy he apparently knocked over would have been more likely, but if there were any injury I assume it would have been widely reported.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There's no way this guy hasn't been ID'd by now. Someone is protecting him and they should know better at this point because it won't end well for to protectors either.

Not really. The problem is that there are several white males that fit the profile and the photo. The police have been investigating and have ruled out several suspects. You can see details of some of the individuals who were interviewed and cleared.

They have another strong suspect currently being investigated.

https://patch.com/maryland/bethesda-chevychase/biker-who-attacked-students-may-have-been-identified-police-say

The problem is that even when there is a good suspect, the police still have to investigate the person and make sure they have a case against the person.

Um, there is a video.

DP. They need to make sure they have the right person. They need to try to gather other evidence about what happened before the video and also what happened at the end of the video and after.

If they can’t get other evidence tying the suspect to the bike (Strava, other pics of him with the bike, etc), it won’t be as much of a slam dunk case as you think.

In fact, the Twitter vigilantes who identified other bikers who looked like the perpetrator have handed the real person an opportunity to create reasonable doubt.

I’m not a criminal lawyer but I’m pretty sure from watching the Brady Bunch that you can’t use random people’s twitter posts as a defense.

And I am sure from law school and a lengthy legal career that the identification of other suspects is helpful to the defense. If raised by the defense, the prosecutors will have to explain why those people were excluded. Depending on how airtight the case is that it couldn’t have been that person, you may have enough to create reasonable doubt. You only need one juror to not buy into the case.

Again, I’m not a criminal lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that any of the Twitter suspects will be easily ruled out because they won’t have the distinctive body type of the attacker. (Sorry, alleged attacker.)

They were similar enough to have people convinced they were the right person. They were close enough that the cops interviewed them. Exactly how much they will help will depend on a number of things, but it is helpful for the defense to have something to point to, especially in a case where there is video - so it will focus less on what happened and more on is it the right person.

Read carefully. The people on Twitter only saw the 2 alleged suspects faces. They did not see their bodies. The cyclist had a very distinctive body. Why do you think the first guy was cleared so quickly. I can’t continue discussing this because it’s making me more dumb.

No, dumb was you repeatedly pointing out that you were not a lawyer and then repeatedly commenting on how things would play out in a criminal trial.

Hmm, now what have you got to say? Where is his criminal defense lawyer arguing about all of the other suspects?

[Anonymous]

He grabbed the girl. That's assault. The ramming of the bike against the other kid is assault. Anthony Brennan III (can we dub him "Tony Three Sticks" to make this a little more fun?) is in trouble with the power system he so righteously defended.

Separate question: what are the chances he's a Trump supporter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The apology is bunk. No one just snaps and attacks, rages like this out of the blue for the first time ever. I'm sure he's had many raging encounters - on the trail, on the road, with people he knows... this is just the first time he got caught and is being held accountable.

And now he realizes he needs help. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Is no one in your world entitled to a second chance?

He must not have kids. My father is a mean old fart, but he would never approach, threaten or put his hands on somebody else's kids.

He apparently has 3 kids. I still can’t wrap my head around the instinct to dominate someone so much smaller than you. The tiny teen girl must have ended up with bruises all over her arm from where he wrestled the tape off of it. I don’t think there would have been nearly the same amount of outrage over this crime if we didn’t all feel so protective of that girl/young woman.

I have seen no reports that she suffered injuries of any kind and his actions, while completely out of line, did not look to me like it would have caused bruising like you described. Injury to the guy he apparently knocked over would have been more likely, but if there were any injury I assume it would have been widely reported.

The teen recording the video ended up with a cut on his calf from where the bike struck him. He posted a pic on Reddit. I disagree re the arm bruising. If you look at the video, the large tape roll was around her arm, and he grabbed her arm quite roughly and pulled hard at the tape while she resisted. The teen who posted on Reddit said both his friends valued their privacy and didn’t want to be IDd, so I wouldn’t necessarily expect any updates if the small one had bruises or scrapes.

I am also not sure if bruising would change the second degree assault charge to something more serious; presumably not, since the boy was injured and the assault on him was classified as second degree as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no way this guy hasn't been ID'd by now. Someone is protecting him and they should know better at this point because it won't end well for to protectors either.

Not really. The problem is that there are several white males that fit the profile and the photo. The police have been investigating and have ruled out several suspects. You can see details of some of the individuals who were interviewed and cleared.

They have another strong suspect currently being investigated.

https://patch.com/maryland/bethesda-chevychase/biker-who-attacked-students-may-have-been-identified-police-say

The problem is that even when there is a good suspect, the police still have to investigate the person and make sure they have a case against the person.

Um, there is a video.

DP. They need to make sure they have the right person. They need to try to gather other evidence about what happened before the video and also what happened at the end of the video and after.

If they can’t get other evidence tying the suspect to the bike (Strava, other pics of him with the bike, etc), it won’t be as much of a slam dunk case as you think.

In fact, the Twitter vigilantes who identified other bikers who looked like the perpetrator have handed the real person an opportunity to create reasonable doubt.

I’m not a criminal lawyer but I’m pretty sure from watching the Brady Bunch that you can’t use random people’s twitter posts as a defense.

And I am sure from law school and a lengthy legal career that the identification of other suspects is helpful to the defense. If raised by the defense, the prosecutors will have to explain why those people were excluded. Depending on how airtight the case is that it couldn’t have been that person, you may have enough to create reasonable doubt. You only need one juror to not buy into the case.

Again, I’m not a criminal lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that any of the Twitter suspects will be easily ruled out because they won’t have the distinctive body type of the attacker. (Sorry, alleged attacker.)

They were similar enough to have people convinced they were the right person. They were close enough that the cops interviewed them. Exactly how much they will help will depend on a number of things, but it is helpful for the defense to have something to point to, especially in a case where there is video - so it will focus less on what happened and more on is it the right person.

Read carefully. The people on Twitter only saw the 2 alleged suspects faces. They did not see their bodies. The cyclist had a very distinctive body. Why do you think the first guy was cleared so quickly. I can’t continue discussing this because it’s making me more dumb.

No, dumb was you repeatedly pointing out that you were not a lawyer and then repeatedly commenting on how things would play out in a criminal trial.

Hmm, now what have you got to say? Where is his criminal defense lawyer arguing about all of the other suspects?

I would say he made a very poor strategic decision to admit guilt right away. This is not a case where an apology is going to make it go away. If he had let the process play out more, which doesn’t necessarily mean take it to trial (very little actually goes to trial), he probably would have fairer better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s going to happen to the college kids who were littering they trail. They should at least get a citation for defacing and littering a public park. That’s a small price to pay for civil disobedience in support of the Movement, non?

Classy ironic Republican droppin' some francais. GFY