Just read this thread and I'm looking for some advice...

@ John

Very sorry to hear about this, John, and I'm glad you're okay.

that does sound bad. it's a really good thing you have pictures of the plates though and witnesses that can give an account of the event-

Wow that's really rough

Yeah, I called L&C a few months ago when I got doored, and Phil Castaldi has been fantastic.  The fact you have witnesses and a license plate is awesome.  Go for the jugular on these people (and the employers as Rick pointed out).

Glad you're ok!  Although it's disturbing it took the cops 25 minutes to get to a scene where someone was assaulted with a moving vehicle and could've been killed....

John - so sorry to hear about your experience, and glad you're mostly OK.  This person is a potential 3rd-degree murderer; it's drivers like this that are responsible for deaths like the Hasidic couple recently.  Like Owens said, go for the jugular - not just for your own sake, but for the safety of other cyclists and pedestrians in the city.

Just confirms my prejudice that Queens is the most bike-hostile borough.

If we're talking press, I'd also add "The Gothamist". 

i know this is not the solution, but reading john's story makes me want us to go vigilante and hunt these people down.  i am not entirely sure what we'd do when we found them -- roadies aren't exactly the most imposing bunch (save for malcomson... i wouldn't fight malcomson) -- but i am pretty sure that between us we could rustle up some kind of carbon-based, laterally-stiff-yet-vertically-compliant weapon that at the very least would scare the offending dickheads such that they don't offend again.

yours,

rambo

@Mark Clifford,

I have a feeling like that would be nice, but far more effective is an aggressive prosecution for attempted vehicular manslaughter by tenacious DA.  

Oh wait, that only happens in this city if there is media attention, and a case that is handed to him on a silver platter. So get it in front of Gothamist, NYTimes, Streetsblog, and hopefully this can be milked for several news cycles by those outlets. This can be like the trial in Los Angelse of the Dr. who while driving slammed on his brakes to cause a cyclist slam into his car and to go through the rear window. The driver lost his medical license, because he had shown reckless disregard for human life (kind of a no no for doctors apparently).

Hopefully this isn't like that hit-and-run from CO, where the DA refused to press charges on the driver because it would impact the driver's ability to make a living, even though the cyclist was incapacitated and unable to work. I wonder what happened to the civil trial on that? If I remember the driver was a financial advisor that required clients to have at least $5M in assets, so it would take a lot of money to make him actually hurt (and hopefully a jury would be inclined to make him hurt).

@Rambo. Get a helmet cam. One way of thinking is that it provides documentation for these sorts of interaction. The other is that it prevents them all together by causing the perp to think twice - or maybe just think, period.

Thanks for the info and suggestions guys!  I've reached out to L&C and they're giving me advice on how to pursue this from a civil angle.  (I wasn't physically injured, so beyond suing the driver or the company, there aren't many options.)  I was told that it is very likely that the driver has already been arrested if the company gave up his name.  I hope he gets taken off the road for good, but I know ours is rarely a just world.

 
$60 new helmet?  NAAHH BRO - S-WORKS PREVAIL.

If you've got a slightly scratched S-Works Prevail you can loan John to show to the insurance adjuster I would recommend being honest about what the retail price of what was damaged, and maybe fudge towards a newer model year so the depreciation is lower.

I was doored once and got a nice check. Photograph everything and price it out individually. Wheels, tires, dented / scratched parts etc.

it hit Gothamist.

http://gothamist.com/2013/03/19/driver_hits_cyclist_in_bike_lane_an.php

wow, based on that photo, the only things that looks like they survived are the seatpost and maybe that reflector. The bike looks like a total write-off, were you able to salvage any parts?

Wow.  Holy Wow.

Well, the van appears to be owned by a company called Pat Semanta Plumbing Heating & Cooling. How hard could it be to find out who works there?

I told the police what I could, but it could describe nearly every single shlubby mid-forties to early-sixties white guy driving a van in the tri-state area.  I looked him in the eyes, but it was dark in the van and I had my riding glasses on.  Not confident enough to pick him out of a lineup, I was able to see his head (with hat) and shoulders, no more of his body.

My bet is the owner knows who was driving the van, and probably doesn't want to give up his guy.

I'm glad The Gothamist picked up your story. Police have generally been a huge disappointment when I've had to deal with them. More often then not, they are jaded and apathetic, or at best sympathetic and lazy. And I'm guessing the new attention to cyclist injuries/fatalities will do little to change that culture. I believe that if the police cared, they'd find the guy. And now that they inadvertently gave advice to the owner on how to protect his employee via the article, I think he won't give up the guy.This is where a good lawyer comes in handy. The lawyer quoted in the article - Steven Vaccaro - is one of the guys helping me in my ongoing case to receive a little justice from a driver who performed an illegal u-turn in front of me years ago, without car insurance. I'll skip the details, but let's just say that you should be glad that your guy had car insurance.