Red Pickup Guy

For more than 5 years, bicyclists have been reporting unpleasant and potentially dangerous encounters with a motorist driving a red pickup on Brush College Road in northwest Salem. These encounters generally involved the motorist closely following the cyclists up the hill while laying on the horn and, eventually, passing them at distance that was uncomfortably close. The motorist finally was identified as Ray Clinebell, an elderly resident on Eagle Crest Road.

After one of these confrontations and multiple complaints by local bicyclists, a Polk County deputy sheriff talked to Clinebell. Reportedly, Clinebell told the deputy that he believed that bicycles can’t ride on the road and that we can only ride in bike lanes. While the deputy refuted this and told him that bicycles can ride on any road, the information did not appear to have affected Clinebell's perspective.

As a result of Clinebell's continued actions, he was charged with harassment, recklessly endangering, disorderly conduct, following too close, and violation of use limits of sound equipment. In July 2007, Clinebell was convicted of the two traffic violations, but acquitted of the criminal charges. The judge in the case appeared willing to convict for harassment, but was unable to do so because of technicalities in the law.

Unfortunately, the reports of encounters with the "Red Pickup Guy" continued. Clinebell ended up back in court facing criminal charges resulting from a couple of those encounters, but again was acquitted. It can be difficult to understand why Clinebell escaped conviction for any of the criminal charges, but the law basically requires that, for a criminal conviction, an individual must have either intentionally committed the act or have disregarded a risk to another of such a nature that the disregard constituted a gross deviation from the standard of care of a reasonably person. Clinebell asserted that he was not intentionally endangering cyclists, but only warning them off a dangerous road and, as cyclists all know, driving too close to them is far too common to reflect a gross deviation from societal norms.

On March 18, 2011, Clinebell again found himself in court charged with criminal conduct--this time after an encounter with a Polk County deputy sheriff on Brush College Road. According to the deputy's testimony, the deputy had flagged two motor vehicles to a stop during the course of aiding the recapture of a horse that had escaped the pasture. When it appeared that it was safe to allow the vehicles to proceed, the deputy waved the first vehicle forward. The driver of that vehicle pulled around the deputy and drove off. The deputy then motioned for the second vehicle, which it turns out was driven by Clinebell, to proceed and turned to look back up the road to check on the progress in leading the horse back the the pasture. The deputy testified that he next heard Clinebell revving the engine on this pickup and turned back to see the pick headed at him. Luckily, the deputy was able to jump out of the way and was only struck on the arm by right-hand mirror on Clinebell's pickup.

After the deputy detained Clinebell, the deputy testified that Clinebell had difficulty locating his drivers license, flipping past it twice while looking through his wallet and ultimately handing the deputy his concealed weapons permit. According to the deputy, Clinebell exhibited other non-responsive behavior, including initially refusing to exit his pickup when told to do so by the deputy. During that encounter, the deputy also determined that Clinebell was driving suspended.

Expert medical testimony for the defense indicated that Clinebell has a range of medical problems that affect his ability to drive. Specifically, he is unable to judge distances, think clearly, or complete tasks. While the deputy did send a referral to DMV asking for an evaluation of whether Clinebell could drive safely, there was no testimony indicating that either Clinebell's family or physicians had done so and, by the time of the trial, Clinebell had regained his drivers license.

Clinebell denied revving his engine and indicated that he had not known that he had hit the deputy. He indicated that he was on the way to dialysis and that he had been feeling tired and impatient as a result of his medical condition. He also indicated that he had not known that his license was suspended and discovered the notice of suspension among unopened mail when he went back home.

Just before the trial, Clinebell had waived his right to a jury. As a result, as was the case in the previous trials, the judge ruled on Clinebell's guilt. He found Clinebell guilty of reckless driving, recklessly endangering, and driving suspended. He acquitted Clinebell of the charges of harassment and interfering with a police officer.

Reckless driving and recklessly endangering are class A misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $6,250. Clearly, jail time was not on the table for Clinebell. (Polk County would have had to pay his medical costs.) In the end, the judge imposed fines totaling about $1,000, far less than he could have but significant nonetheless in combination with Clinebell's legal and medical consultation costs. The judge also suspended Clinebell's drivers license for 90 days (until the middle of June).

At one level, the penalties seem like a slap on the wrist given the extent to which Clinebell's reported driving behavior has endangered bicyclists and other road users. However, he does now have a record of criminal convictions for his behavior and another license suspension. During the trial, Clinebell's defense was essentially that he was medically incapable of safely operating a motor vehicle. The defense relied heavily on the deputy's assertion in the DMV evaluation request that Clinebell did not appear able to safely operate a vehicle as a demonstration that Clinebell did not intentionally hit the deputy with his mirror. Hopefully, DMV will take notice and will permanently revoke his license. Finally, now that one of their own has been a victim of Clinebell's driving behavior, perhaps law enforcement will take more seriously the threat that his actions pose others.

One of the unfortunate facts associated with Oregon's enforcement of traffic laws is that many suspended drivers continue to drive with few consequences to themselves. For example, there are an average of 40,000 convictions for driving suspended or revoked in Oregon each year, an average of about 110 each day. During the 5-year period, 2002 - 2007, 495 people accumulated 10 or more DWS/DWR convictions each. In testimony to a legislative committee a few years ago, a Multnomah County district judge described the typical pattern for many of these people as being cited for a traffic violation, not paying the fine, receiving a license suspension order, being cited for driving suspended, not showing up in court or paying the fine, receiving another suspension order, and on and on.

The extent to which Clinebell will abide by the suspension order is known only by him. (In issuing his sentence, the judge noted that the previous suspension order that Clinebell ostensibly discovered in unopened mail only  after the incident had been issued months before.) A license suspension (and, hopefully, a future revocation) notwithstanding, cyclists still need to be attentive and alert when riding on Brush College Road and definitely should report any sightings of Clinebell behind the wheel to law enforcement.