Just a general 'heads up' on this. In the grander scheme of people getting beat down and seriously hurt, this is really not a big deal, but I think its a reflection of the larger, more general, issue occuring in the east end right now. My wife was riding to Highland Park this morning for an exercise class at ~ 5.30 am (yes, she's hardcore) from our house near the top of Stanton Ave. At Highland Ave and Stanton Ave some young bucs (not the Pittsburgh Pirates mind you) tried shooting paintballs at her from a vehicle. They missed and nearly hit a worker from the nursing home at that intersection who happened to be outside grabbing a quick smoke. My wife called the cops right away, they responded quickly with the first officer getting a description and darting off to look for the offenders. Another cop showed up shortly after and took the report. They took the incident very seriously and were highly professional about what happened. This put my wife at ease as she wasn't too keen on calling the cops for something like this, but remembered the Zone 5 commander and Dowd urging us to report all incidents so they could make corrective actions.
Again, this is teenage antics and nothing compared to what we've seen recently with people getting seriously hurt and beat down, but I wanted to post it up in as a FYI and to spread the word. We were at the community meetings recently at Zone 5/Tazzo etc after the first set of beat downs occurred and are very concerned with these incidents.
She will contact Dowd's office later to follow up, but I think the incident is well documented at this point.
Please stay alert. We now have a new 'hazard' to be on the look out for: paint ball guns. I forgot the ask what colors they where shooting, as I'm thinking fushia or salmon might be a nice addition to my bike's paint job.
Description: baby blue 4 door sedan with silver trim. she believes it was an american model of car. Vague and general, I know, but its all she was able to see. She was unable to get the plates.
Let's Go Car Free Fridays!!!!!!!
I could easily see how a person on a bike, if they were hit by a paintball, could be shocked enough to run into a curb or grate and have a severe crash, or even fall in front of a car or truck and be severely injured. Stupid teenage pranks can turn fatal in seconds. There needs to be zero tolerance for f'ing with people in traffic. Calling the cops was totally the right thing to do.
After all, people think "how could a flip-flop kill someone?"
You're correct and thats pretty much what the cops said. I will admit that if this had happened in vacuum of the other physical beat downs etc that have happened recently, she may not have reported this. I think having Dowd and the Zone 5 commander encourage us to report ALL incidents has changed our position on this. Likewise, the highly professional response of the cops also helped to make this less of a painful incident so we will definitely report ALL future antics.
Lets get positive, though: The cops responded, quickly and professionaly. My wife was unshooken by this incident because of the larger community taking this seriously and the support of the cops/dowd etc she's seen at recent community meetings. She will continue to ride/commute on her bike. She's not terrified to ride alone (which could easily have been the result).
Car Free Fridays?!?!? My lady rides EVERY DAY! I'm so proud of her!
General Aside
Paintball guns fire a .68" diameter ball, depending on the gun and the sadism of the shooter the paintball can achieve speeds of over 300 feet/sec (that is over 200 miles an hour) while this won't do more than hurt (sometimes a lot) if you get hit in the body, it will destroy an eye and blind you if it hits in you in the eye, it can and has caused deafness in people who were struck in the ear.
Having be hit with a paintball shot from a 'hot' gun (we tested it after at 450 fps) I can tell you that it easily drew blood and left me with a mark I still have years later.
and this doesn't even go into the whole 'I was on a bike and now im sliding face first across asphalt thing.
Police take this seriously because it is pretty much a deadly weapon.
all that being said who is up for a biking paintball day? it really is a fun outdoor sport.
I remember after some BikePGH function at the Union Project a handful of us getting shot at on the steps by some one doing a drive-by paintballing. Unbelievably, none of us got hit and there with maybe half a dozen standing there. They peppered the stairs around us though.
Playacting drive-by shootings is no more "a prank" than playacting rape would be. We live in a society that characterizes pretending/threatening to kill people as childish antics. What does that say about the value we place on human life? I cringe whenever I hear someone say that the difference between us and "those people" is that "they have no regard for human life."
My question is,
5:30 AM?
Wow. I have seen the welts left after a paintball fight -- on people who were wearing appropriate clothing and trying to take evasive action (thety were part of the game). I would hate to be riding down the street in cycling/workout gear and be totally unsuspecting and getting hit out of no where. There would definitely be contusions at the impact site, and potentially more severe injury. Reporting this was ABSOLUTELY the right thing to do. Posting it on this board was also a great move. Thank you for the warning.
I know, Noah ... FOR REAL! Did I mention that she also had 10 lbs of dumbells in her rack bag for her work out plus all her work stuff (clothes, lunch, shoes, thermos of coffee)? I'd like to think she's that tough from putting up with me for 14 years, but I think it comes naturally for her.
I'm glad she is okay, and I'm glad law enforcement took this seriously. I don't know about Pennsylvania, but in most states shooting an unwilling participant with a paintball marker from a car is considered aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and people have been put away for decades for doing so.
people have been put away for decades for doing so
If only they were so serious about, say, running someone over and killing them...
ccrider
Oh I wasn't even commenting on her hardcoreness (however I do agree) but rather, why the hell are people out at 530 AM committing these idiotic acts... I guess they're still up from the previous night.
I will ride sometimes through that same intersection slighly earlier in the day. I will keep an eye out for that car description in general around the neighborhood. Probably easily noticeable..... That type would probably tend to speed or roll stop signs. Glad your wife is OK.
hmmm, lying in bed (our apt is two blocks from highland/stanton) last night around 11:00 pm we heard numerous pop pop pops, which we thought were firecrackers but could have easily been a paintball gun.
Paintball guns aren't real loud. You probably wouldn't hear the actual shot at all. The only thing you may hear is the ball exploding on something with appropriate acoustic properties, like a window or sheet metal. Paint balls hitting the grass wouldn't be much different from someone tossing a small rock in the grass.
One evening a few years ago, I was walking down Forward from Beechwood to Mt Royal Rd, where I lived at the time. A car with some teenagers passed, slowed down.
There was a BANG! I felt a sharp, painful impact on the back of my shoulder and I saw a barrel pointing out the car's back window.
I hit the dirt. FLAT.
Partly from shock, partly because the car was still in range, and partly because, in the movies, when they get shot, they fall down.
I reached up with my hand and my fingers found something sticky and dark. I tried to call out for help, but my voice came out very thin and weak.
After the car was out of sight, I gingerly got up.
It didn't really hurt enough for a bullet, but then you hear these stories of "I didn't even know I was wounded." It also hit me right next to where my backpack was, so I thought it might have been some indirect thing.
I had images of the bullet sitting right next to some artery, so I moved very carefully. I was able to stand up with no problem.
I started to the house I was in front of, but then I lived with a doctor about half a block away . Home seemed easier than trying to explain to some stranger that I was shot at random by a passing car and then waiting for an ambulance.
I figured I could get romantic and die in my sweet baby's arms and all.
Each step, I felt better and better. When I got under a streetlight, I could see that the "blood" on my fingers was actually bright green.
I had been paintballed.
This could easily have led to a fatality.
Someone with a weak heart? It would have stopped.
Someone with a Tek 9? It would be emptied into the car in 2.3 seconds.
Most people on a bike would fall, I think. Regardless of the speed, the landing spot, or surrounding traffic conditions.
Really. You feel the impact and see the barrel and you think "This is it."
Some people got paintballed last Friday night outside Kelly's, around 9-9:30p. Don't know much about it, except there were a bunch of cops there.
Oh I wasn't even commenting on her hardcoreness (however I do agree) but rather, why the hell are people out at 530 AM committing these idiotic acts... I guess they're still up from the previous night.
I know people that are afraid of crime when they have to wait for a bus in the early morning dark in the winter.
I try to tell them that early morning June light is much more crime-intensive.
"School's out, we're staying up all night!"
I've been the victim of a drive-by pellet-gun shooting, never with a paintball, though.
Know all about paintballs. Got shot in the face from arms length in the early days when it was shop goggles and no velocity limits. Permanent scar.
All of this really scares the crap out of me. I rue the days when all I had to worry about were the turkeys.
@dmtroyer: what dwillen said. plus, the first time i heard a handgun being emptied at someone from across the street, i thought it was a few firecrackers until i saw the blazing police lights outside. it's hard to tell this time of year, but it's possible you're hearing shots from a pistol.
"Paintball guns aren't real loud. You probably wouldn't hear the actual shot at all."
My marker is quite loud. Louder than an air rifle not as loud as low caliber .22 rifle. Some of the better models are quiter but the sound certainly gives the impression you are being shot at.
Paintballs are serious. 280 fps is the field (safe) limit but most markers are capable of much higher velocities. Even at the field limit the markers can blind a person w/o eye protetion. I have a large 3 year old knot in my upper arm where I was hit by a player shooting above the field limit. If this was my eye I would have certainly been blinded.
this totally happened to pedestrians near highland and center a week ago! i was getting ready to ride home and someone i knew showed me his paintball bombed shirt. shit, i thought... I really don't want to have to deal with this.
I didn't have a run-in though.
