By Daniel Vasquez
Boston Globe, January 6, 1999
See note below for missing facts
Four days after the city's new law cracking down on reckless bicycle messengers took effect, delivery-company employee Darrin W. Linder, 23, pedaled down one-way Summer Street in the wrong direction on his bicycle Monday and struck a 54-year-old Lowell businessman.
The victim, John R. Falante, suffered massive head injuries and was in intensive care at Massachusetts General Hospital yesterday.
Police are unsure whether Linder will be fined for failing to adhere to provisions of the new reckless biking law, because they don't know if he was working as a courier at the time of the crash.
Linder's company, Boston Express Delivery of Brookline, says the bicyclist was off the clock when Monday's accident occurred. Boston Express officials acknowledge that Linder had just dropped off a company van before the accident, police said, but they say he was doing a favor on his own time.
However, police sources say Linder told police at the scene that he was working. It was not clear whether that meant he was delivering a package, said one police source.
''Our problem is determining if Linder regularly works as a courier, which would then lead us to charge him under the new law,'' said the source.
Boston Express Delivery did not return calls from the Globe.
Boston Express Delivery has yet to register its bike messengers in Boston - a requirement under the new law, said Police Sergeant Detective Margot Hill, department spokeswoman.
Inconsistencies in the company's statement to police, combined with its failure to adhere to the new regulations, have led police to probe Boston Express Delivery, officials said.
''We are still investigating every aspect, not just whether he was acting as a courier, but why the company is operating without being in compliance with the new bicycle messenger law,'' said Hill.
''The company will be fined for not being in compliance with the law, which has a fine of $100 a day,'' said Hill. ''Right now they're facing up to $500 for not complying.''
Falante had just emerged from behind a parked utility truck on Summer Street, near Otis street, when he was struck about 1:30 p.m.
Boston Express Delivery officials have told investigators that Linder had just delivered a company van in South Boston, Hill said. Officials declined to say where in South Boston the van was left, said Hill.
The company advertises in Greater Boston and a company Web site advertises its use of bicycle messengers.
Monday's crash came a year-and-a-half after William Spring, a Federal Reserve Bank vice president and Boston School Committee member, was seriously injured when struck by a courier on a Back Bay street in 1997.
Outrage over the crash that injured Spring led to the new city ordinance.
Police said yesterday that Monday's accident exposed the weakness of laws governing bicyclists. If Linder had been driving a car the wrong way when he struck Falante, said Hill, he would have faced stiffer charges of reckless driving, including manslaughter if Falante had died.
''Because he is a bicyclist, he is not subject to the same fines and criminal penalties that motor vehicle operators are subject to,'' Hill said. ''There are no provisions under the law if a bicyclist recklessly kills a pedestrian.''
Since much of the reporting in this accident is selective when it comes to the facts, Messengerville has included some. These types of serious accidents involving bike couriers are extremely rare. The Gladstone/Spring accident occurred when a pedestrian (William Spring) ran across the street against a red light and collided with the cyclist (Gladstone) who was proceeding through a green light.
The bicycle messenger ordinance in effect at the time already required bicycle couriers to have licenses, wear visible identification numbers, and have license plates on their bikes. It also required messenger companies to register with the city. Much to the dismay of the anti-bike types, the only new requirement is insurance. Automobile couriers face no similar requirements.
Since the accident took place at an intersection crosswalk Gladstone was ticketed because, under the law vehicles must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk - even if the pedestrian is jaywalking. The fines he received were: "$100 for not wearing the vest required under a city ordinance; $100 for not being licensed, and $20 under the state law mandating deference to pedestrians in crosswalks. In other words $200 for bureaucratic violations and $20 for traffic violations.
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