Firefighter who shot at cyclist released on $200,000 bond
From the Asheville Citizen-Times:
Accused Asheville firefighter posts bond
Staff Reports • July 29, 2009 12:15 AM
ASHEVILLE — A firefighter accused of shooting at a bicyclist, striking him in the helmet, was released from jail Tuesday after a judge reduced his bond.
Charles Alexander Diez, 42, fired at Alan Simons, of Asheville, after arguing with him about riding his bike on Tunnel Road on Sunday morning with his 3-year-old child in a bike seat behind him, police have said.
Police charged Diez with attempted first-degree murder and his bond was set at $500,000. A judge reduced his bond to $200,000, which he posted and was released from the Buncombe County Detention Center about 5 p.m.
Diez has been employed by the Asheville Fire Department since February 1992, according to interim Chief Scott Burnette. Diez has been placed on paid leave during the investigation, Burnette said.
Diez could not immediately be reached for comment.
–EBR
July 29th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
PAID LEAVE, Erik. I live here. Our tax money is being used to pay the salary of an attempted murderer until they get around to (hopefully) a conviction. The whole thing stinks. These guys all work together in the same part of town and he’s been employed by the city long enough to make plenty of “good ol’ boy” buddies in high places. And look– he spends two days in jail and a local judge reduces his bond enough for him to walk out. Imagine this: a cyclist sees a firefighter driving with a small child in the back of his pickup truck. He thinks that’s dangerous. He catches up to the fireman at a red light and tells him off. Firefighter says a few choice words and gets ready to leave the scene. Cyclist pulls out a gun and tries to shoot him in the head but misses. What then?
July 29th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
PAID LEAVE. Yeah…
I didn’t want to be the first one to say it.
My mind is sufficiently boggled.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:04 am
Do we need bulletproof cycling helmets now?
July 30th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
The sheriff’s deputy that “fell asleep” and killed 2 cyclists in NoCal last year spent 14 months on paid leave until he was adjudicated, then immediately demoted to a job that paid about half as much and did not allow him to carry a gun or drive a county vehicle.
But this is much worse than that…
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:56 pm
The North Carolina firefighter incident might indicate a broader problem of negative bicycle attitudes among safety employees across many cities. An example is Southern California’s Newport Beach Police Department (NBPD) that is located above a state wetlands preserve used by thousands of bicyclists each week. Both traffic signals entering into the California state preserve have been altered to not detect bicycles. Newport Beach’s Principal Civil Engineer Tony Brine and Traffic Engineer George Bernard replied to my email that the left-turn signal at the south entrance had been set back to not detect bicycles. For over a decade, motion sensors had detected bicycles to safely use the left lane to enter the California state preserve. NBPD police vehicles hide in a condominium driveway to chase bicyclists and fabricate vehicle citations. At the other preserve’s entrance, the bicycle button has been disconnected. If only one car is using the light, a bicyclist has four seconds on the green phase and one second for the yellow pause. The situation is dangerous. A bicycle cannot even make it across three lanes to the median, and has to do a 360 degree turn back to the curb as the traffic roars. Meanwhile, police cars park at the corner gas station. Mayor Ed Selich is not interested in bicycling. In a telephone call with Sergeant Mike James, he supported police engagement in chasing bicyclists and fabricating vehicle citations. California has Statute AB-1581 for bicycle detection of traffic signals upon first placement or replacement. Sgt. James seemed oblivious to Statute AB-1581. During a similar call with Lieutenant Steve Shulman, he laughed. Lt. Shulman sent me a letter recommending that bicycles first test left-turn signals and then dismount to go across the traffic to the pedestrian button. While using the Lieutenant Shulman’s recommendation, a Newport Beach Fire Department paramedics van turned in front of me while at the median in a crosswalk while commuting to the main post office. And a Park Ranger in a NBPD vehicle cut me off in a crosswalk at a local high school. His windows were rolled up, but I could read his lips yelling “Get out of there”. City employees and safety officers have to get over resisting bicycles for everyone’s safety.