Decatur Cyclists Angry About How Fatality Handled

Cycling safety became Dave Mathews' passion after a bad bike wreck 18 months ago, and he grew more serious on the subject after a pickup struck and killed cyclist Paul Taylor.

Mathews became downright angry after authorities announced last week nobody will be prosecuted because they don't have evidence to make a case.

"We're human beings too," said Mathews, who started a Facebook page about bike safety in Atlanta. "We're not disposable creatures."

This kind of anger and frustration has spread through the Atlanta biking community, which has long complained about lack of respect on the road. As a commenter on a Patch story said,

Let me get this straight, if I run over a cyclist at 6:20am and the 4 lane road is otherwise empty of cars so that the bike could be avoided -- I still get to kill somebody for free? I may not be an experienced investigator of traffic fatalities — but it is clear that neither are the Decatur City Police. These other police agencies can "review" all they want — if the initial investigation (by Decatur) is incomplete or flawed, it is too late.

Decatur police said they simply didn't find evidence that would allow them to prosecute Jorge Mercado-Perez, 58, of Snellville, who was driving the Ford Ranger truck that struck Taylor. Two other police agencies reviewed their findings.

DeKalb County Solicitor Sherry Boston announced Friday she would not prosecute. If she had moved ahead, the case would have been a misdemeanor.

Taylor, 53, worked at Emory at Grady. The truck hit him about 6:20 a.m. April 30 on North Decatur Road, route: {:controller=>"articles", :action=>"show", :id=>"bicyclist-killed-on-n-decatur-rd"} -->, near the intersection with Willivee Drive. Mercado-Perez