I Would Have Run Over All of Them': Blaze Readers React to Man Paralyzed and in a Coma Amid Debate Over Who Was Really at Fault in Incident Between SUV Driver and Bikers

Edwin Mieses, 32, is in a coma and paralyzed. (Image source: Facebook)

TheBlaze posted a story earlier this week about a biker who was left paralyzed and in a coma amid a minor highway accident that turned nasty very quickly between motorcyclists and a family in an SUV. The incident was caught on video and went viral.

Some say the SUV driver Alexian Lien was justified when he ran over a biker to escape a group of them allegedly slashing his tires. Later the bikers cornered Lien and his family, broke his windows, pulled him from the SUV, and beat him. A witness who intervened said the bikers were trying to remove Lien's wife as well and threatened her; she was holding the couple's infant daughter.

But others say Lien should be punished for running over Edwin Jr., of Lawrence, Mass., who suffered a broken spine and two broken legs and may never walk again, according to his family.

So who was at fault? Here's what some readers of TheBlaze had to say:

rangerskippy

If the dude that drove the car can show in a court of law that he had a reason to fear for his own life, and the life of his family, then he will be fine. The dudes on the bikes surrounded him, were attacking, and he ran away. Had I been the driver in the car, I would have driven over any of them. Had they chased me I would have side swiped them. If I had a gun, and they came after me and my family, I would have shot them.

If there is an accident, you call 911, and wait for police; you do not get off your bike or out of your car and beat people.

Wishkah

Don’t you get it? The driver started it by hitting a biker then driving away. You seem to think that hitting and running is okay behavior. I’m sure if you were there and saw your friend hit by a car and then saw it drive away, you’d just stand there and tell your now-critically hurt friend that it was his fault for getting in the way of the car.

Dalcron

The video only shows so much. Not the incident that sparked the initial confrontation. Depending on what happened with that, it could go a long way toward deciding who was at fault. So far, I say they are both at fault (classifying all of the bikers as one party). I don’t know if he hit one or cut one off prior to the start of the video, but something obviously set off the bikers. And being a rider myself, I can understand being pissed. BUT…when you have 50 of your friends riding along with you, and some kind of altercation occurs and you and your friends surround the car, this will scare the hell out of the driver (who has a family with him to protect) so surrounding his vehicle on motorcycles and putting him in a situation where he fears for his life and the life of his family is reckless and stupid. SUV vs Motorcycle = SUV wins. Both sides could have been at fault to some degree.

RaindropsOnRoses

It’s unfortunate that anyone got hurt in this incident but from what I saw of the video, if the bikers hadn’t harassed the SUV driver in the first place, none of this would have happened. It looks to me like the SUV was targeted by these thugs. I saw a biker cut the SUV off then hit the brakes for nothing which led to the SUV bumping the bike slightly. Why would you do that if not to intimidate and harass? The SUV driver had every right to take off to protect himself and his family. Those bikers were looking for trouble and it looks like they found it. Maybe they’ll stop being goons … but I doubt it. My question is, the video goes on for about 7 minutes (they conveniently don’t show us the bit where they’re bashing up the SUV driver) and the SUV driver was calling the police from his cell phone. Where were they? Why did it take so long for the police to become involved? I’m a huge supporter of police and what they do but where were they when this man and his family desperately needed their help?

Douglas50

Bikers were dumb and didn’t think about how intimidating their reckless driving and actions were, surrounding him and cutting him off with bikes in every direction… they obviously didn’t use their brains. I still don’t think the guy was right to run over the bikers…but I don’t know what else he could have done. Being surrounded by the biker gang even if they weren’t slashing tires, with your kid in the car, yeah you’re gonna get run over. Bikers felt like they owned the road and found out a father with his kids will run you over if you threaten him.

JamesFrmSC

I was a motorcyclist from 1963-1999 with many experiences on the road. This was a strong case of “Mob Harassment” and intent to do harm and kill on the part of the bikers. A biker should never put himself in harm's way on purpose; you lose every time. He lost. The rest of the bikers by their willingness to pursue the victims are also guilty of mob harassment. Lien had no choice but to try and escape any way he could and protect his family who were with him.

Kima

They didn’t ‘target’ anyone. He was driving. They were driving. Some were in font of him. Some were trying to pass him. Some were still behind him. That is regular traffic on a highway. The guy who slowed down may have done it so his friends could pass the guy. Who knows? It was stupid. The SUV driver, instead of slowing down, hit him. They all stopped. Most of them stayed sitting on their bikes. Only a few parked and walked to front of the SUV. Nobody swarming, Nobody screaming, nobody attacking. They just walked over to help their friend. That is when SUV driver, probably afraid they might get mad, floored it and hit another and ran over the guy who had bent down to help friend. That guy is now paralyzed for life because a driver got ‘scared’ when he wasn’t being threatened. They didn’t react with anger or chase him until AFTER he ran over the guy and took off.

hoofmanw

It looked like they were trying to forcefully stop the gentleman in the SUV even before the first impact. He acted completely responsibly considering that he had his wife and child in the vehicle with him. This appears to be a clear-cut case of self defense and defense of others (his wife and child). I am sorry if the man in the hospital was caught in the middle or perhaps he was culpable; but either way I am sorry that he had to be injured. But from what I saw the man in the SUV had no choice.

TakeBackOurCountry1776

I own a bike and ride a lot. The first guy was an idiot; he pulled in front of the SUV, got on the brake, turned to taunt the guy, and the guy ran into him. I see people in cars all the time doing stupid, inconsiderate stuff that can be really dangerous for bikers. If I had been the guy in the SUV and a group of people were trying to pull me and my family out of the car, I would have driven away if I could and defended my family with my pistol if I couldn’t. The dude who busted the window with his helmet is lucky that guy didn’t have a gun.

blaze144

I would have done the same thing this driver did if not more. This is a prime example of why you don’t mess with a man’s family. They’re trying to put the biker in a “let’s feel sorry for him” position, but it looks to me that they instigated the situation. He deserves what he got, and the rest deserve some harsh justice as well. I love bikes and respect bikers but a mob is a mob, and their actions toward this family are inexcusable. I’ve seen similar local situations where young riders think it’s some kind of a game or right to mess with drivers, but a 3,500-pound car with a quick jerk of the wheel will always win over a 300-pound bike.

luvcuffed

The SUV driver was definitely guilty of hit and run which is a felony. When he left the scene he was then pursued. The motorcyclists then became guilty of assault and battery when they pulled the driver from the car and beat him. All parties involved should face separate charges for each incident including the driver of the SUV for the hit and run.

IRONMAN79

I was a few miles behind this on the West Side Highway when about 150-200 bikes, dirt bikes, quads, scooters and whatever else passed me in traffic. Riding on sidewalks, quads that can barely fit whipping between stopped cars knocking into and damaging them. All of them doing figure eights around cars and a few of them ran into each other! This was a bunch of low-life misfit babies with not enough intelligence to even have respect for anyone or anything else. Total chaos! This is not what normal AMERICAN bikers would ever do. I would ask the paralyzed biker if his wife and kid were in the car would he have reacted differently? I think not. Me? I would have run over all of them, backed up, and repeated until they couldn’t chase me. If my wife and kid were in the car with me there would be a lot more of these losers paralyzed.

badman400

Looks to me just from what I’ve seen, read and gathered, that the bikers were acting immature, irresponsibly and in a threatening, mob-like fashion, which understandably caused the driver of the SUV to fear for his family’s safety. When they began to converge on the vehicle in numbers, the SUV driver did what most anyone would do; he got out of there! I don’t think he intentionally hit the bikers, so much as they were simply in the path of his escape route. The bikers then continued to escalate an already bad situation by chasing and surrounding the SUV again. The bikers continued making bad decisions as they approached the vehicle, smashed out the driver’s window, pulled him from the SUV, and assaulted him. I love to ride, and I know a lot of great people who are bikers. This gang gives the majority of law-abiding and responsible bikers a bad name. This biker was a common thug. He is fortunate that it wasn’t my SUV he attacked, as I would have shot him the second he smashed out my window. I would have then shot anyone else who tried to attack me or my family. Again, in my opinion, that biker got off lucky. The one who was paralyzed obviously wasn’t that fortunate, but again, the bikers mob mentality caused the whole situation, and those who are responsible for crowding the man’s vehicle should all be charged with the injury of their friend. NOT the SUV driver. This should serve as a lesson to bikers. They could have easily averted this by being respectful.

--

[related]