SLO motorcyclist deserves more than a reckless driving charge for sideswiping protester

The San Luis Obispo Police Department has determined that motorcyclist David Medzyk’s belligerent and dangerous actions throttling his Harley through protesters and clipping one in a crosswalk only merits a misdemeanor reckless driving charge.

This is the grand conclusion they reached after a full two weeks of investigating fault in an obviously malicious interaction that was witnessed by many people and captured on more than one video recording.

For the record, that is almost the same amount of time it took police to recommend eight charges (five felonies among them) against Tianna Arata for her “crimes” leading a march in July that itself included more than one recorded altercation between drivers and protesters.

We’re not sure what was so complicated about the Medzyk case that it took so long to reach a conclusion.

Perhaps it was SLOPD’s process of leaving no stone unturned in an effort to find some way to minimize the accountability of Medzyk, whose disgust for the Black Lives Matter movement littered his Facebook page until he took it down.

To be sure, the Police Department had a few options to consider, including some that would seem more than applicable in this case, like hit and run or assault with a deadly weapon.

They likely rationalized against felony charges because protester LeiYahna Jefferson was not seriously injured as she leapt to safety to avoid being mowed down in a crosswalk.

It also likely took police some time to examine the visual evidence frame by frame to establish their case against the other two protesters, who were lingering a few feet outside the crosswalk near the corner.

Because they were demonstrating in the street, they were cited for obstructing vehicle travel lanes, according to the city’s news release.

But here’s the question: Would officers monitoring the protest have cited the activists had a hothead biker not forced the issue and by his own actions placed others in danger?

It’s safe to say they would not have — just as they haven’t cited the literally thousands of people who have protested in the streets of SLO over the last four months.

Likewise, when Medzyk sped off, making an exceedlingly self-serving bee line for the police station to file his fictional account of the violent mob he’d just narrowly escaped, did officers evaluate that claim with the kind of reasonable skepticism you’d expect in this case? After investigating, did they slap him at least for his gratuitous storytelling?

No.

SLOPD gave him a such a generous benefit of the doubt, it’s a wonder they didn’t wrap it in paper and tie it up with a bow.

“Mr. Medzyk was not filing a false crime report,” Capt. Jeff Smith said of Medzyk’s claim that protesters tried to knock him down. “He was giving a statement regarding what he perceived happened when he drove through the intersection. The evidence does not support what he believed happened.”

Yeah, no kidding. Because what he said clearly wasn’t true.

Honestly, we all know what happened here.

Medzyk was irritated by the protest, wanted to act like a big man and scare some young activists, and in his zealousness got so close he made contact with Jefferson. Once that occurred, he realized his mistake might have consequences. But rather than stop and apologize, he ran to police to lay down his side of the story first, in an attempt to deflect blame and minimize his responsibility.

Meanwhile, SLOPD did nothing at the scene to respond to the apparent hit-and-run and then proceeded to slow-walk its investigation before ultimately handing over the bare minimum recommendation to the district attorney.

The end result has police doling out blame to both sides in a case where only one was truly deserving.

Again, the department has found a way to take punitive action against people of color for the temerity of making their case against unjust treatment by police, while the white man with a grudge deftly navigates the system and emerges with nearly as light a result as he could hope for, given the evidence we can see with our own eyes.

If you somehow think this recommended misdemeanor charge is right, just switch up the scenario.

What if it were a Black protester on the motorcycle who targeted and clipped a cop in a crosswalk?

Do you think we’d be looking at a single charge of reckless driving? No, we’d have an arrest for sure, booking at the jail and a slew of charges up to attempted murder.

The fact is, police use discretion every day in how they choose to enforce laws and charge violators.

SLOPD chose to seek felony false imprisonment charges against Arata, a Black woman, for blocking traffic.

SLOPD chose not to seek felony charges against a white man for nearly running down a Black protester in a crosswalk — and then cited other Black protesters.

Anyone still think there’s no systemic racism in SLO County?