Police arrested three men in Portland, Ore., for stringing a booby trap across a bike path. The trap injured one cyclist.
A typical bike ride took a bizarre twist for Portland cyclist Carlene Ostedgaard last week. According to police, she was riding home Friday night on the Interstate 205 multi-use bike path when three men running up an embankment caught her attention.
Moments later, she crashed into ropes tightly strung across the trail. After the crash, Ostedgaard called the police.
According to a KGW report, the three suspects oddly didn’t flee the scene. Police arrived about 15 minutes later, and arrested 23-year-old Justin J. Jones, 27-year-old Justin R. Tolman-Duran, and 21-year-old Dakota E. Murphy.
Police said one of the suspects was wearing a kangaroo onesie with evidence of rope from the crime in its pocket when he was arrested.
All three were charged with third-degree assault.
According to the Oregonian, the victim wants an apology from the perpetrators.
“I would want them to look at me and recognize my humanity and recognize that the people who they likely perceived as being there for their entertainment are real people with lives,” she told the paper. “They damn near could have taken that from me or anyone else who would have gotten caught in that trap.”
Bike Booby Traps: A Sad History
Cyclists have been repeatedly targeted by this kind of booby trap over recent years. In 2015, Massachusetts officials warned riders throughout three popular state parks about “wire cable being maliciously strung” to snare cyclists.
Also in 2015, English mountain biker Trevor Young was injured by eye-level barbed wire that tore his face as he rode through Guisborough Forest in the northeast part of the country.
Fortunately, there have also been some arrests. In 2015, a 64-year Tineke Kraal was arrested for booby trapping bike trails near Vancouver. She eventually pleaded guilty to mischief rendering property dangerous, useless or inoperative. She was sentenced to three years probation.
In this latest Portland case, the defendants have been released from jail pending trial.
