Bicyclist's death remains painful

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jul 28, 2007

After turning the corner, the friend saw Weiss lying near the center line and his buddy lying on the right edge of the road. His motorcycle was 15 feet ahead up the side of a hill, police said.

A motorist and a resident working in his yard both reported hearing the collision but did not see exactly what happened, police said.

Unconscious and unable to breathe on his own, Weiss was taken by ambulance to the trauma center at Highland Hospital in Oakland with multiple blunt traumas to the left side of his body.

He had broken ribs. His clavicle and skull were fractured. Both eyes were black. He had a cardiac contusion and other injuries, according to the Alameda County Coroner's report.

Weiss was admitted to the intensive care unit and about 10 hours later, his heart stopped. He was resuscitated but because he would have been severly impaired had he come out of it, his family decided to put in place a "do not resuscitate" order.

His heart stopped again at 4:30 a.m. and he was pronounced dead at 4:37 a.m.

The Alameda County Coroner ruled the death an accident.

But it was an "accident" that Schiller still believes was caused by negligent behavior -- speeding, maybe even racing, and crossing the double yellow line in an area known to hills residents and police as a "racetrack."

After a year, Schiller -- who admits he sometimes had a rocky relationship with his brother -- cannot seem to get over his brother's death. The accident took Weiss' life and, in some ways, a chunk of Schiller's, too.

He quit his job as a photographer and has spent hundreds of hours reviewing police reports, asking others to look at those reports, writing letters to police, the district attorney and city officials, prompting the city to open an internal affairs police investigation, which is still in progress.

"I loved Eddie and I have to do the right thing. He's my brother. I don't have a choice in pursuing it as far as I can," he said.

Initial reports

At first it seemed that the motorcyclist would face some sort of penalty.

In their initial reports, several investigating officers said the motorcyclist was speeding and may have crossed the double yellow line on his Kawasaki motorcycle -- which police say is a bike that can be used for "track racing and is noted for high-speed cornering and aerodynamics." They also found headphones in his helmet, but it was never determined if they were in use at the time of the crash.

But in early October, a final coroner's report, based on follow- up investigations, showed Weiss was not wearing a helmet at the time of the collision. Further, the report noted, there was "no evidence to show if either of the two (motorcyclists) drove left of the double yellow lines, or if the motorcycle was speeding."

Schiller hopes the second accident reconstructionist will examine all available evidence more closely.

Prosecutor Sharmin Eshraghi Bock said the second accident reconstruction will help establish "beyond a reasonable doubt" whether the motorcyclist was speeding or crossed the double yellow line.