Road Raging: The Video

Four frames from Jeff Lazar's video footage of driver Mike Henderson mowing down cyclist Justin Davis with his Jeep at the corner of Congress and Cesar Chavez, Sept. 28.

Cyclist Jeff Lazar's video footage of the Sept. 28 Critical Mass bike ride paints a brutal picture of what took place on the corner of Congress and Cesar Chavez that fated Friday [see "Hypocritical Mass," austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-10-12/pols_naked3.html ]. Posted at cycle advocate Michael Bluejay's www.bicycleaustin.com, the video shows Jeep Wrangler driver Mike Henderson -- apparently annoyed by cyclists holding up traffic at the intersection of Second and Congress -- swerving, tires squealing, onto Congress and right toward the cyclists. After riders (who were obviously angry and quick-lipped about it) surrounded Henderson at the Chavez light, he plowed his Jeep directly toward cyclist Justin Davis, who in turn was thrown to the pavement. To judge only from the video, Henderson appears to drive recklessly into the cyclist either without seeing or without realizing the potential consequences.

Cyclists upset about the Statesman's account of the ride contacted "Naked City" last month to complain that the daily's reporter did little to ferret out both sides of the story [See "Statesman Falls Off Its Bike," austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-10-05/pols_feature3.html]. According to the cyclists, the Statesman simply reprinted what motorist Mike Henderson told their reporter -- that four Mass riders beat him up.

In contrast, on Lazar's tape the alleged beating Henderson described to the Statesman looks instead to be mutual aggression between him and two bikers. Lazar's tape also shows at least one rider slashing a tire on Henderson's Jeep. A second driver, Krissy Morrow -- whose Honda Civic was struck by Henderson's Jeep as Henderson tried to cross through the Cesar Chavez intersection with Davis' bike lodged under his front axle -- agreed that the Statesman's reporters were rude at the scene of the incident. But the cyclists' hostility was frightening, she said, and their decision to take the law into their own hands (by trying to detain Henderson at the Chavez intersection) was wrong.

Austin cyclist Charles McNeil believes the Critical Mass bike rides have become somewhat unruly. "They've gotten pretty bad," McNeil said. "I'd like to change it, but I don't feel like I can effect change from the inside." McNeil, Bluejay, and a group of cyclists have organized an alternative to Critical Mass they've dubbed Courteous Mass. "We're going to ride by the law, stop at all red lights, and all that good stuff," he said. "We're going to take that good vibration to the Critical Mass to try and teach them to be nicer." Surely, McNeil says, it is easier to catch flies -- or motorists -- with honey than vinegar.

The inaugural Courteous Mass ride will take place Friday, Nov. 9, at 6pm. Riders are asked to meet at the new Lamar pedestrian bridge at the corner of Lamar and Riverside. Subsequent rides will take place the second Friday of each month. Riders who'd like more info can e-mail the group at [email protected].