At the time it occurred, the road rage-fueled accident that killed a pedestrian safety advocate had shocked accident lawyers in California, and pedestrian rights groups. In fact, using the term “accident” to describe the incident would be a stretch. There was nothing accidental about the manner in which Swedish rapper David Moses Jassey bludgeoned John Osnes to death on an LA sidewalk. The rapper has now been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for Osnes’ murder.
Jassey, who also goes by the stage name Dave Monopoly, was driving on a Hollywood road when he nearly hit John Osnes who was crossing on a crosswalk. Osnes, a frail 55-year–old man had been a lifelong pedestrian rights advocate. Angered by Jassey’s encroachment of the crosswalk, the older man banged the hood of the rapper’s SUV. This set off Jassey, who apparently has a temper. The rapper, younger and better built than the frail Osnes, began raining blows on the man. One last kick landed on Osnes’ head. Jassey allegedly then ran over Osnes’ battered body, before speeding away.
It looks like prison will provide the anger management class that Jassey desperately needs. This sentence hopefully should also serve as a wakeup call to those who have no respect for pedestrian rights. Los Angeles accident lawyers come across too many motorists who suffer from a bloated sense of entitlement to the road. There are responsibilities that come with driving a car, and these relate not just to other cars on the road, but also to pedestrians and bicyclists.
California’s auto-focused culture seems to have contributed to some high profile road rage-related incidents recently, which harmed both pedestrians and bicyclists. In January, this year, a Los Angeles doctor was sentenced to five years in prison for a road rage-fueled attack on two bicyclists. The bicyclists’ only fault was that they seemed to remind the doctor of nasty bicyclists in his Brentwood area.
Such instances only remind us of the vast risks to pedestrians and bicyclists, and the special protections they need.
