Daniel,
First and foremost, thank you for your blog.
Diva de Loayza
I’ve been wanting to write a Times Union Letter to the Editor addressing the media surrounding Diva’s death and negligence of the police, but as one of Diva’s close friends, I am filled to the brim with grief and haven’t managed to put pen to paper yet.
I agree with you 100%. The police and the media have pointed fingers at Diva saying she ran a red light and wasn’t wearing a bike helmet, therefore, she had it coming. If Diva had been a mother walking down the street with her baby in a stroller or the driver had been a 16 year old, the media would have spun this story very differently.
The driver of the minivan should have been brought up on manslaughter charges without question. Whether or not the motorist had the right of way, he/she was responsible to be aware of cyclists and pedestrians. Any person who gets behind the wheel of a car is undertaking that responsibility; it’s huge obligation and too often taken for granted. Why isn’t the City of Albany protecting victims like Diva? Our local media is a disgrace. Not a single journalist from the TU or any of the TV stations conducted the investigative research you did at the scene of the crime. It’s so much easier to blame the woman who died for not wearing a bike helmet.
With much gratitude,
Amanda Grieco