Some guy named Jones has a pretty good comment on that article:
Jones 2 hours ago Let's think about Ms. Lee's account of the story.
She confronts a cyclist having an altercation with a drive about "no right turns on MLK".
She makes a remark, her and the cyclist exchange fluids, the cyclist kicks the "driver side rearview mirror" then turns toward Hawthorne.
The spatial orientation of the cyclist and the car, their direction in respect to each other doesn't make a lot of sense with Lee's description of their encounter, and the actions of the cyclist. The cyclist is described as making several offensive and violent moves, including a return to taunt Lee and her daughter.
Lee's description of the account is riddled with spatial inconsistencies, and, at best, missing information to account for the actions of the cyclist, the cars, the layout of Portland's streets, and - in the case of the cyclist returning to taunt Lee- , the way speed works (cars can go faster than bikes). Here are some considerations from Lee's story:
(1) Where does the first driver go? At what point does Lee get close enough for her encounter with the cyclist?
The cyclist is arguing with someone about "no right turns", which makes sense since coming from Clay and MLK, you would be turning right. The cyclist, however, is not heading right, as - indicated by Lee - he "turns toward Hawthorne".
At what point, does the "no right turn on red" driver get out of the way so that Lee and the cyclist can exchange spits? Then, at what point, and how, does the cyclist move to kick the "driver side mirror"?
(2) How does the cyclist spit on the passenger side, kick the driver side, and turn left toward Hawthorne, all at Clay and MLK?
Next, the cyclist is "turning toward Hawthorne", and then returning to "taunt" Lee and her daughter... This means, the cyclist turns away from the driver, and onto Hawthorne, a usually very busy street, then back toward the street of the encounter to "taunt" Lee and her daughter. His taunting, is done while he rides ahead of the driver.
The picture appears to be taken on Clay, approaching SE 11th ave, on a street marked as bicycle lanes.
For Lee and the cyclist to spit on each other during the altercation, either the first car had to have got out of the way ( (1) making an illegal right turn onto MLK, or (2) the spitting must have happened while the two were stopped at a green light, or (3) while moving. Then, somehow, the cyclist had to have moved form the passenger side of the car, to the driver side, in order to kick the driver side mirror, before turning left toward Hawthorne.... On what street does he turn left? Is this still at Clay and MLK? Did the cyclist turn left, the wrong way down MLK? Or does this happen later?
(3) Why does the cyclist turn away from Lee, only to come back and taunt them? How is it that Lee and her daughter don't pass the cyclist heading east, when the cyclist turns toward Hawthorne?
Then, how does the cyclist get back, in front of Lee? I'm not saying this is impossible, but it seems he would have had to turn onto Hawthorne - a usually busy street with both bikes and cars - then back towards Clay, where I'm presuming this picture was taken. But why does he turn away from the drivers just to come back? It seems like it would be much easier to just stay ahead of them and taunt them, if that's what he wanted to do. It also seems like Lee and her daughter would have been able to pass the cyclist heading east if he would have turned north toward Hawthorne... But then he comes back, ahead of the car, and slows down.
(4) Where does the picture come from?
Now that this has happened, the cyclist is blocking their path "riding at a crawl", the daughter is honking, and the cyclist throws a lock. Where does the picture come from? There is no way Lee could have had a quick enough reaction time to pull out her camera and take a picture just as a result of him throwing the lock. So, she must have been planning on/taking the picture prior to him throwing the lock. But, why? Was there something else she wanted to capture?
To me, it seems that at best, we are missing a lot of information from the story, if not being given misinformation by Lee. For example, it's hard for me to wrap my around how a cyclist goes from spitting on the passenger side, around the front (or back?) of the car, to kick the driver side mirror (does he backtrack when going around the front) while turning left (so he kicks with his right foot and pushes with his left, meaning he's parallel to the hood now?) on a street that only allows right turns, in other words against traffic on one of Portland's busiest streets....
Some inconsistencies... and they don't look good for Ms. Lee.