“Just bump him, bruh.”
Sounds better than “Gonna hit him hella fast,” doesn’t it?
But the difference was no difference at all to cyclist Scott Dwight Habermehl, who last May was sent flying over the passenger side of a vehicle with three giggling kids in it — ages 15, 13, and 11 — and left fatally injured on the side of the road.
He was 63. Father of two. A Sandia National Labs engineer who was just cycling to work, as he had done for years.
Two of the three kids said to have been in the vehicle that hit him have been arrested, charged with an open count of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The eldest remains at large.
We’ve all been in this neighborhood. I’ve been right-hooked into a parked car; tumbled over the hood of an SUV whose driver passed me only to start executing a leisurely U-turn; narrowly escaped a homicidal trucker on a wide highway shoulder; had a full bottle of beer thrown at me from a speeding vehicle; been threatened with a gun.
The joke among longtime cyclists with a dark streak of humor is that if you want to murder someone without suffering any consequences, wait until your target gets on a bicycle and then hit him with your car.
But it doesn’t seem all that funny when you consider that two of these three suspects were charged — within days of the crash that killed Habermehl — in connection with what the Journal called “a weekslong crime spree that included a smash-and-grab burglary, shootings and auto theft.”
And yet nothing came of it.
The case against the 13-year-old was dismissed in August 2024 “when prosecutors failed to meet court requirements,” the Journal added. It’s not clear what happened to the charges against the 11-year-old.
Maybe prosecutors will “meet court requirements” in this instance, since (a) Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham have weighed in, and (2) we’re not talking about property crime now — this time, a man was sentenced to death by three children for the crime of riding his bicycle to work.
• Video: The Albuquerque Police Department provided this clip from a video said to have been uploaded to the Internets by those involved. APD says this triggered an anonymous tip, a homicide investigation, and what we can only hope will be justice for Scott Dwight Habermehl. Thank Dog for the stupidity of many of our 21st-century criminals. Back in the Day® we knew better than to rat ourselves out.
• Addendum: The third suspect is in custody.
Mad Blog Media 
It’s so easy to lose faith in humanity right now. Trying to spend as much time cycling, listening to music, hiking in the woods and playing with the kitty.
I hear you, Sharon. I’m starting to get whiplash from shaking my head in disbelief.
Hey, weren’t you thinking about relocating to Exit, a.k.a. Salida? If so, did you ever get ’er done? Hope all’s well whether it’s yea or nay.
There’s a big maybe on it now. We still have the land, but between my parents and hubs, there’s some obstacles that are hard to overcome and getting harder all the time. Getting older is just such a challenge for so many different reasons. Add the DC issues and some days, just want to chill with gummies.
I hear you there. My dad shoved off back in 1980, when mom was still around to handle his (their) affairs. But we had to take hold with her and Herself’s mom.
Happily, we had help in both cases, from my sister and Herself’s sisters. It wasn’t easy, but neither was it as difficult as it could’ve been. We consider ourselves fortunate, especially when we hear how other people are holding up as they care for aging parents, spouses, and/or children with various issues.
Some days they just ain’t enough gummies in the world.
I dont’ know what I’d do without dogs to walk. Forces me to walk outside, talk to two grubby pups who won’t argue back, and solve all of the world’s problems in my head (or at least some of my head’s problems until I return to the world). Bonus if it’s nighttime: I can try my damnedest to point out Sirius, the Dog Star, to them, and their lack of appreciation for my efforts keeps me humble.
At times like this I recall a lawyer telling me: “We have a legal system; not a justice system.” Sad, but apparently true.
Apparently true indeed, JD.
Richard Pryor had an especially relevant observation about the legal system. He was talking about Black people, but I think it applies a little more universally these days, to anyone who doesn’t have Friends in High Places: “You go down there lookin’ for justice, that’s what you find:’just us.'”
Pretty deranged young laddies, eh, folks? I had missed that the police were on to these three for yet another Duke City hit and run until Greg Hasman from the Albuquerque Journal sent an all point bulletin out to everyone he knew on the Innertubes (including me) asking for any information on people who knew Scott, which led to yesterday’s article. I was stunned to have found out that he was deliberately murdered, but I am not entirely surprised. Albuquerque in particular, and New Mexico in general, seems to have slipped into the Dark Ages, when killing someone just for shits and grins, or because someone farted in your general direction, is considered normal. And meaningful parenting, in this part of the world, is in short supply.
I’ve started carrying (legally) on my urban bike rides. Probably just means someone will be pinching my piece from my dying body, but what the hell. Whatta world.
Hat tip to Patrick, Shannon, Jennifer of Duke City Wheelmen, and all those who helped put the Journal story together with the Journal reporters. Now let’s hope that the DA and some judges and juries take this one seriously.
If I have to carry a gun for normal activity and live your life in perpetual condition yellow, you need to really analyze the threat.
Good point. I’ve long thought that if I have to live in Condition Yellow, I’d prefer to move to a place that is not so goofy. New Mexico is getting goofy. It’s bad enough to have to worry constantly about the red light runners, drunks, and people looking at their dick pics on their cell phones. Now do we have to worry about kids saying “hey, watch this”?
I had a couple of road rage issues with people last summer, including one where the guy got impatient behind me on a narrow Santa Fe street (West San Francisco near the Plaza, for those familiar with the city). Guy finally passed me at close quarters, hit the brakes, and jumped out of his car. Fortunately, I stared at him and and asked him what he expected on a narrow road. So he got back in his car. I started carrying pepper spray after that. You just don’t know.
I’d much rather be carrying an extra water bottle than a firearm, but I’m really starting to wonder. Especially after reading stories like the one about the late Mr. Habermehl. It’s tragic enough when it is actually an accident.
By the way, unrelated to smokepoles (I know that is a touchy subject), if someone is not in Condition Yellow in traffic, whether walking, on a bicycle, motorcycle, or car, you are more likely to find yourself surprised when the sounds of the collision begin. First thing you learn in Driver Ed, Motorcycle Safety Foundation, or Smart Cycling classes is situational awareness. As John Schubert once said, even dedicated bike-ped facilities only protect you until the moment of impact.
Word.
I know people who are carrying, legally and otherwise, in their cars, while cycling, and even while hiking. I’m not quite there yet.
My old Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum wheelgun goes 2 pounds, 9 ounces, without a round under the hammer, and isn’t exactly jersey-pocket friendly.
Plus, when the bad guys come at you from behind, it’s just one more thing to get pounded through your spinal column and/or kidneys, along with the minipump and Clif Blox. Unless you’ve got a solid spidey-sense and a real quick draw. Even then, as you twist around on the saddle to let one fly, you’re liable to stuff the front wheel into one of our fabled unsealed seams and eat shit that way.
I’m actually pretty ambivalent about carry. Thing is, the few times I’ve had to deal immediately with eejits, as the saying goes, law enforcement was minutes away. Never had to use that Emergency Rescue Kit, thank Dog. After almost a decade with a CCW in the Land of Entrapment, it still feels weird packing heat, but I figure I got the permit, I might as well exercise it once in a while rather than just at the range.
Yeah, that N frame of yours (Model 27, right?) might be concealable in a movie if you are Clint Eastwood, but is a monster on mere mortals. Even my K frame is a handful to hide. Those little micro-9’s fly off the shelves up here at the local gun shops.
It looked like our Natural Born Killer had something looking like a full size Glock. Probably what he used in that shooting rampage the Journal talked about. Now where the hell did he get that? Someone ought to find out who he stole it from and shove it firmly up the person’s ass. Next best thing to a gun safe.
The worst secret in law enforcement is that police solve about 10% of all crimes, 40% are solved by the criminals giving themselves up (either accidentally or intentionally), and 50% go unsolved.
When my wife was hit and runned, they had security cam footage of the driver (both in and out of the car), perfect description of the car, and three out of six numbers on the license plate … but that wasn’t enough to even pursue the case.
Lots of victim-shaming, too. Especially when a cyclist is the victim. A bro of mine who got whacked by a truck called the John Laws, asking why the driver hadn’t been cited. The desk sergeant replied, “Accidents happen,” and hung up on him.
The trio of eejits who killed Habermehl were in that 40% who got caught because they were so proud of what they did that they put it on social media, where several people saw it and called in the law. Otherwise, this likely would have gone unsolved.
Sometimes, in the hands of idiots, social media is a good thing.
Having been imprinted on my left hammie by a Cadillac grille and nothing done about it. I have started to carry my old Zefal frame pump to render street-side justice. The only thing that saved the Old driver of the Caddie was the fact that another cyclist happened by while I was advancing on him to do severe bodily harm. I lost a good wheel and a sight bend in a steel frame and a tear in an expensive pair of DeMarchi bibs. My heart goes out to the Habermehl family, May the karma god get justice for them. The scary part is we have to cry when a police person is injured or killed but when mayhem is performed on cyclists or pedestrians the cops are ” shit happens”. Seeing what is happening reminds me that we are well and truly screwed.
“Like” just doesn’t seem the appropriate reaction to this post… Wish there were a “goddamnit!” button.
There really should be a “WTF?” button. I mean, like, WTF?
Speaking of WTF, I guess I’d rather be on a bicycle than in a Tesla right now.
https://x.com/i/status/1902951863819112867
I’m here from the UK after hearing about this case from a YouTube crime channel that my wife likes to fall asleep to (yup, psychopath) and this one really stood out. The fact that the killers were children, but complete delinquents who were already doing every possible thing to throw their lives down the toilet with zero possibility of doing anything of genuine worth in this world or even benefiting anyone in society, a drain on the community. Then the fact that the person they killed was a physicist, a person who strived to excel and a brilliant mind who had so much intrinsic worth, gave so much by being the person he was and had so much more that he could have given. And killed in such a flippant, nonchalant fashion that the worthless scum saw the bright light as a total nothing while they were doing it. The killers all together were not worth a 100,000th of this man.
As an imminent immigrant to the country I can possibly give some solace that your police force have given this a much greater sense of importance than the uk police would have ever done. This case got global attention and your local media pushed back against the prosecutors hard. The prosecutor said that there was nothing more they could do and the police and media said no. Then the politicians stepped up and forced the prosecution. You know what would have happened here? The Crown Prosecution Service would have said that there was no prospect of conviction and it would have never seen court. That would be it. Finished. Politicians wouldn’t say a word and that would be the end of the matter. If by some miracle they did get convicted it would have never been a murder charge because we have the crime of “causing death by dangerous driving”. They would have got 18months each, released after 8 months on licence. There would have been a reporting restriction in place because they were under 18 so their names would never been released. If someone made their names public they would get 3 years for contempt of court. Madness that I’m very happy to be walking away from.
What happened was awful but at least he is being remembered and at least there has been some punishment of the perpetrators.