Peter Frick-Wright
Trials are supposed to answer questions rather than raise new ones, but after testimony from two more victims and the arresting detective this morning, the trial opened up was left with one big question: what did Vandeman write in his statement to the police?
Based on the progression of events depicted by UC Berkeley’s Detective Vincent, it seemed to indirectly lead to his arrest. But that paper was lost before the trial, and no one asked Vincent in court whether he remembered what was on it.
First, however, there was more victim testimony.
Justin Bruss is the lead mechanic at Performance Bikes in Berkeley and the only rider in a group willing to testify against Vandeman.
Bruss seemed a little bit shy, slightly hesitant with his testimony and he kept glancing over at Vandeman from the witness stand during pauses in the questions as his story began to unfold.
Bruss was out riding on a Sunday, probably in March, testimony revealed, on the same trail—Side-O—that all of the altercations took place on.
On an uphill climb, Bruss came around a corner to find a friend off his bike and involved in a verbal and physical confrontation with Vandeman.
“Don’t ever do that again,” the friend said.
According to Bruss, his first thought was that his friend had crashed. Then he thought maybe his friend’s short temper had gotten the better of him.
But when he (Bruss) began to get closer, Vandeman turned and jumped into his way. Vandeman continued yelling that there were no bikes allowed and you’re not supposed to ride here, get off your bike.
“My first thought was that it’s a crazy Berkeley person,” Bruss said. “Maybe we scared away a bird that he was looking at.”
Bruss said that Vandeman grabbed him above the elbow and he hit the brakes and put a foot down to keep from falling. He pulled away from the grip and was able to push off down the trail, and at that moment a third mountain biker in their group caught up.
Bruss said the first friend pushed Vandeman to the side of the trail so the rest of their group could ride by.
“I didn’t think it was that big of an incident,” Bruss said when asked why he didn’t go to the police. He didn’t report it until he heard that police were looking for people to come forward and make a statement.
On cross examination, Cook succeeded in punching a hole in the credibility of Bruss’s memory, showing that he couldn’t recall exactly when the events took place, and—you’ll notice a common theme here—pointed out the laws that Bruss breaks on a bike.
“Do you follow the rules of the road on your bike?” she asked. Bruss said he usually did.
“Usually?”
“If there’s a four-way stop sign, and I can tell there are no cars coming from any direction, I blow it,” Bruss said. “I speed in a car, too sometimes.”
***
Julian Alcala was the next witness, and it was his solo encounter with Vandeman that got the police involved.
(During the last round of proceedings there was some confusion as to his name, since the defense called him Emanuel and the prosecution used the name Julian. He said he changed his name recently.)
Alcala was taking a long ride on a Tuesday morning and used the Side-O trail to cut some distance off the ride to get back in time for a meeting.
Listening to music on his headphones and ascending slightly, Alcala stopped when Vandeman waved him down and moved into his path.
“What’s going on?” Alcala said.
Vandeman said that he was on an illegal trail, Alcala said. “I informed him that he was welcome to call the police and they could meet me at the bottom of the trail.
“He repeated that I was on an illegal trail.”
They stood at an impasse for a moment, then Alcala said, “I’m going to go now,” and moved to push away. Vandeman responded by grabbing Alcala’s handlebars and squeezing the brakes.
“I noticed his eyes were narrow, his breathing was rapid. There was a vein in his neck popping out,” Alcala said.
Vandeman kept repeating, “You’re illegal, this is illegal,” Alcala said. He wasn’t yelling, but Alcala described him as “elevated.”
At that point, Alcala said, Vandeman released the brake levers and reached down to undo Alcala’s quick release.
“At that point I became escalated,” Alcala said, and quoted himself as saying, “If you break my bike I’m going to fucking hit you in the face.”
“You wouldn’t hit someone who’s twice your age,” Vandeman said.
“You’re right, I’m not going to hit you,” Alcala said. “This is crazy, you’re crazy.”
By this point in the testimony, Cabanero was in a pretty good rhythm of asking, “What happened next?”
Alcala said he noticed that Vandeman was holding a sharp object in his right hand.
“Is that a knife in your hand?” he asked.
Vandeman put the object away, but Alcala had been bitten by the “it’s not worth it” bug and turned around to go back up the trail.
“You can’t stop riders from riding here,” he yelled over his shoulder. “This is crazy.”
Cross examination revealed the usual hole that the biker lost track of the book Vandeman was carrying when the incident started, and introduced some doubt as to who pushed first when Vandeman and Alcala were face to face on the trail.
But the crucial moment in the testimony came when Cook started pushing on the various ways that Alcala broke the law. Riding illegal trails and riding with headphones (against the law in California, she pointed out) were one thing, but “as a social worker and someone who works with young people, how do you feel about the example you set showing that if there’s a rule you shouldn’t have to follow that rule?”
“That’s a great question,” Alcala said, and paused.
“Would you tell your son that it’s OK to break a rule that seems wrong?”
“No I wouldn’t,” he said. “My wife and I do act as role models… Hopefully he’ll be able to make his best judgment in those situations.”
***
Alcala’s testimony lead straight to the people calling Detective Kevin Vincent, who took up the investigation after several police reports came in about someone getting confrontational in the Berkeley hills.
Vincent’s testimony introduced the handsaw to the jury as well as the pointed object he used for self-defense (and, allegedly, tire popping), both of which Vincent confiscated at Vandeman’s house.
After speaking to Vandeman, however, Vincent and his supervisor told Vandeman that he needed to come with them to the police station, that going with them would be the most expedient way to resolve the matter.
At the police station, Vincent interviewed Vandeman for a time, then left him alone to write out his version of how the altercations with James Lanham (the handsaw) and Ian Richards (punctured tire) played out. When Vincent returned, he read the statement.
“When I looked at his statement it was not at all pertinent to the incidents,” he said. “I don’t recall whether it was a conscious decision and I shredded it, or I lost it. It was not at all related.”
“Was Vandeman arrested at the station?” Cabanero asked.
“He was.”
Mike Vandeman is a hero among thugs.
As a victim of mountain biker thugs myself, Mike is a hero to suffer at the hands of these false accusers. Everybody knows that it’s mountain bikers who are the violent ones. It is commonplace for mountain bikers to get verbally abusive and violent when they are told they are riding illegally. Like my friend in Fairfax who came upon a man building an illegal mountain bike trail – he gave her a black eye and threatened to kill her and her dogs with a hammer. My neighbor who a mountain bike activist tried to run over in her truck. I have a video of a mountain biker running his bike into a property owner where he was testifying. The examples are endless.
That is, where he was “trespassing”.
Mountain biking, along with it’s adrenaline-pumping illegal activities is a poster child sport of the internet age, etc. Planned rides and trail building exploits, sometimes illegally are publicly posted on biker website forums, etc. There is a real “braggadocio factor” that goes along with the mountain biker lifestyle/cult that anyone can see just by reading the forums, and viewing the videos. They have no problem issuing verbal threats to those who may curtail their “free ride”.
Mountain bikers can be a very narcissistic bunch when it comes to the preservation of “their sport”; “their trails”; “their right” to ride and trail build any time, any where they please… and the landowners keep on rewarding this aggressive, demanding behaviour, so why would mountain bikers wish to change their bad attitude?
If it means taking down an opponent of their sport, they will come out of the woodwork to do so! More interestingly, we even find mountain bike retailers and corporate sponsors supporting illegal mtn. bike activities, like in this little video from Canada, here: http://vimeo.com/20320055 There is just no respect for common civility.
And another illegal race, sponsored by a Mtn. Bike rag: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Revolution-magazine-underground-race-2-2011.html from Australia (No insurance! No rules!)
Can we ever expect the “gawd-honest” truth from mountain bikers with a record like that? There are more than just a “few” bad apples around…Great Gazoo has also experienced the “wrath of angry bikers”, also. Telling mountain bikers, “NO”, can become incendiary!
Terri,
Shut up.
Ouch! The truth hurts, Peter?
I got yelled at for asking a guy not to push in line at the grocery store.
Does that make all grocery shoppers “Thugs”?
Way to generalize Terry Alvillar and Great Gazoo.
Yes, as in any walk of life, there are a minority that do not set a good example and intimidate people.
Should I have attacked the guy at the grocery store with a saw or a sharp object?
Yes, they were riding in a place they were not supposed to, but that does not give any one the right of vigilante justice. GBH with a weapon is not excusable at all. Call the police, and let them deal with it.
Why don’t you guys put your energy into something more productive, like equal rights for all, or building homes for the homeless, then villify a group that is just enjoying the outdoors. I can guarantee you that I have spent more time on Shared trail maintenance (I Hike) then anyone who has posted here, and to be honest, the biggest issue is horses eroding the trails.
Yes, the mountain bikers were riding illegally and, in typical fashion, they rammed into some people doing trail work and they were riding too fast to stop!! This happens every day!!
It happens every day? Wow, with that reasoning, we should ban all cars too!
As stated, yes, some MTB’ers are idiots who ride like idiots and set a bad example/perception in peoples minds. This does not mean all of them are of the same mindset of these morons.
I wish we could ban guns. People are intimidated and hurt more by guns then by bikes! Come to speak of it. We should ban people who walk their dogs off leash on beaches and trails as well.
Why don’t we just shut down all trails to everyone, and not let anyone use them. I know, I might start a campaign to ban hikers from “Free” hiking and hiking on trails too.
Oh wait, I am starting to become unhinged. Where was my saw again? :/
Vandy is going to testify next week? Wow. I wonder if he’ll pull the same Synanon verbal gambits with the Prosecutor that he employs with bicyclists, and others with whom he disagrees. I predict an ugly smackdown, he never does himself any favors when he pulls that stuff.
I don’t know why people bother responding to these two. They argue by half-truths, mythic stories compounded by equivocation, and an inflation of statistics; the list is huge. Terri is no better in person and is responsible for personally harassing me on two occasions while trying to attend court to the point that the bailiffs asked me to help by creating distance because she was unmanageable.
Back away slowly…… walk away from the bait. They are a Chinese finger puzzle. Avoid the false tug of war and let go of the rope; they will fall flat sooner or later.
How many mountain bikers like sharing the trails with the moto bunch, atv’s and the like? Not many from some of the things I have heard in my neck o’ the woods.
In fact mountain bikers tend to “whine” a lot like hikers do around mountain bikers. Would a mountain biker feel safe on trails with a moto racing up behind him at high speed, revving his engine with impatience at the slower mountain biker on “his moto” trail/ What goes around, comes around…
Wait for it…wait for it…..
Hey Mike,
“I don’t know why people bother responding to these two.” What two? All I heard was the wind whistling through a crumbling house of cards. (-:
Peter thanks again for your unique perspective, entertaining writing and willingness to look into this odd corner of modern life!
Take care,
Michael
Berkeley Mike, your nose is growing again!
Berkeley Mike was caught illegally taking photos in the courtroom.
MTBer ALERT!
WoOt! Great News about “Race Face”!
….
A SCOFFLAW MTB outfit/sponsor Bites the Dust! Check out this latest and greatest bit of news on Great Gazoo’s Twitter site, with links to the story! File this “Race Face” story under, “You’re illegal, this is illegal!” for brashly sponsoring scofflaw antics in a recent “biker porn” video…
(posted on my Twitter site, recently)
You are allowed your own opinion but you are not allowed, as they say, your own set of facts. We can disagree but I will not allow you to smear my reputation. You don’t have the cred.
The facts are quite different, Terri, as full cooperation with the Bailiff demonstrated. All of my cameras and phones were publicly and willingly rendered to the court for inspection and nothing was found. Aside from that I gave my word that I took no pictures. In my neck of the woods that is saying a lot.
If you have read my posts in other places you will plainly see that I have supported the dignity and privacy of the accused in all cases.
This is why people don’t listen to you anymore, Terri; you are widely seen as a sad public joke.
Well said BM. I think you are right in regards to “Those two”. Sounds like they are a bunch of troublemakers who like the sound of their own voices.
Thanks again for the coverage, and I look forward to seeing what happens in this trial.
Thanks for the update, Peter. Looking forward to the next installment.
(Nicely stated, BerkeleyMike.)
Hey, I don’t venture out to illegally cut and/or poach trails I want to hike on. What are the mountain bikers’ excuses for riding on “No Bikes Allowed” trails? “Oops! I didn’t see the sign”, or “the rules don’t apply to me.” Excuses, excuses!
You MTBer guys and grrrls are so “full of it”. And you call Great Gazoo and Ms. Alvillar “troublemakers”? Go give your heads a shake!
this whole thing reminds me of toddlers…..
they don’t want to share…..they will bully…..and throw tantrums when things don’t go their way…
fortunately the MTB community greatly outnumbers other trail users…and represents the ‘adults’ in these infrequent and unnecessary altercations…
It has come to a point where soon MTB access will equal that of the minority….it will be achieved through advocacy, maintenance…and simply using trails.
The state simply does not have enough resources/time to enforce people riding bicycles on dirt. The state will soon come to realize a vast supply of manpower and voluntarism in the MTB community, and will take advantage of it…..
The loud and extreme voices we keep hearing over and over are nothing more than a child not getting there way….it is our responsibility to make them share….whether they like it or not…
my .02
Your delusional, CHUM, and pretty incoherent in spots. Mountain bikers never want to compromise, and think that using intimidation, bullying and threats is an “adult” way to solve things.
You pretty much said it all with your snarky little comment-
“The state simply does not have enough resources/time to enforce people riding bicycles on dirt.”
A “leopard’s” spots never change Go find another sandbox to play in, kiddies, preferably on private land, not public parks, etc. In LA, your own personal MTBing sandbox is waiting for you in Mandeville Canyon Park.
Go! Shoo…
I find it interesting that Terri Alvillar (or Terri Sweet) https://www.facebook.com/terri.alvillar is friends with Mike Vandeman, when she is an avid equestrian and he lists “invasion or destruction of the environment” by horses and other things in his “peeves” section. http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/mjv1 .
On the same page, Mike lists “bicycling” as one of his “passions,” yet I assume this only means riding a bike on a mixture of bitumen (from petroleum) and gravel, or cement, sand and gravel, which are mined at great expense to the environment. “It amazes me how many people think that life consists of simply building their own nest, & then sitting in it. Where do they think the tree came from…” or the pavement for the bicycle, for that matter?
“WARNING: It is probably impossible to understand my web page, if you own a car. Or a mountain bike.” http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/
I understand perfectly. It’s called a double standard. He can have a car, but we must boycott everything having to do with the auto/petroleum industry, because we are stupid peons, while he is an intelectual elite.
Terri, you ought to give up your car (can’t be in the real estate business without one) so you can “understand” your friend, Mr. Vandeman, the hypocrite.
We should all “Cut the soles off [our] shoes, live in a tree and learn to play the flute.” – Firesign Theatre
Vandeman and his lover are exactly like those freaks at the Westborough Baptist Church. Exactly.
Sad, to see the petty bickering and attacks spill over from other venues into this report.
Terry says,
“Everybody knows that it’s mountain bikers who are the violent ones. It is commonplace for mountain bikers to get verbally abusive and violent when they are told they are riding illegally.” and “”The examples are endless”.
Apparently you got the part that all comments must be submitted in writing, however neglected the instruction to site your references.
Doing so would not only give credit, but substantiate your claims.
Please open your eyes, think out of the box. If you begin every thought with hatred, you’re conclusions will be predicated. Do a websearch on yourself and see what we see about you. Find peace dear lady.
I strongly recommend not replying to any of MV’s friends or sock puppets posting to this comments section. MV has a documented history of going after his critics by contacting their employers and trying to get them fired. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Mike try to go after this site to get the email addresses. IMO, it’s just not worth it.
I personally witnessed Michael Mejia (Berkeley Mike) illegally taking pictures in the courtroom. Evidently, he filed them, sent them, or deleted them before the bailiff took the camera out in the hallway. How can you tell a mountain biker is lying? When his lips are moving or when he is typing!
@Terri – Pictures? So what? It’s a public trial. Anyway, it would be stupid to publish them, as he would be arrested.
How can you tell when a car-driving phony “environmentalist” is being a hypocrite? When he creates a website:
“Violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: I is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood. … Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose falsehood as his principle.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/mtb17
Maybe, next time, Mr. Vandeman should take a clue from Mr. Mejia and bring a camera on his next hike, instead of a saw or a “shiv.”
Great Gazoo says:
A “leopard’s” spots never change Go find another sandbox to play in, kiddies, preferably on private land, not public parks, etc. In LA, your own personal MTBing sandbox is waiting for you in Mandeville Canyon Park.
Why should Mountain Bikers do that? They pay taxes too, so have as much right as you do to use public lands. They are called “public” for a reason. *Shakes head in bewilderment*
I guess LA wasted $5 million taxpayers’ dollars trying to find a common sense solution to appease the mountain bikers. Mountain bikes have no rights on public park trails, etc. You do, on foot — but please leave your off-road vehicles at home.
Between the off-road motorheads and pedalheads, you inconsiderate folk have wreaked more damage to these public parks and natural spaces for a cheap, selfish and frivolous thrill.
People belong — your bikes don’t.
But, evidently, trying to reach that grey matter between a mountain bikers’ ears is a futile thing — like arguing common sense to a brick wall.
I’m with CHUM. Let’s keep on riding and show that we belong. MVD, Terri and their ilk are just afraid that they’re fading into irrelevance. That might be why MVD resorted to violence. At any rate, one only needs to look at High school MTB leagues to see the future. And the future is full of responsible MTBers.
Berkeley Mike Mejia, you just admitted that you took your camera into the courtroom and yet you are indignant that someone suggested you took a picture! The only reason the bailiff got involved is that you were caught red-handed by me taking a picture of Mike and me sitting together! The increasing length of your nose must be making you fall over your handlebars by now!