The driver of a brown SUV gunned it to make a quick left across two lanes of general traffic plus a bike lane on Dexter Ave last July. But PATH photographer Mike Wang was traveling in the bike lane at that moment, and the driver struck Wang, killing him. After stopping for a moments, the driver of the vehicle fled.
The case remains unsolved.
Now, the Taiwanese Association of Greater Seattle is offering a $6,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest in the case.
The Taiwanese Association of Greater Seattle (TAGS) is offering a $6000 reward for information resulting in an arrest in the hit and run death of husband and father Michael Wang. After consulting with TAGS member William Wang – father of Michael Wang – the TAGS Board decided to do something to help the Seattle Police investigation to move forward. The Board decided to offer a reward for information and moved forward with a fundraising goal of $2000.
“Our organization was saddened by Michael’s death. We just wanted to do something to bring awareness to the case and generate leads,” said John Chou, TAGS board member. Chou was heartened by the outpouring of support, noting that TAGS exceeded their goal threefold, raising approximately $6000. Most TAGS members donated to the reward. Further generosity from people of Taiwanese descent across the country bourgeoned the tally further.
“We just want this person caught and justice for Michael Wang’s family”, said Chou.
TAGS was founded in 1970 as a student/scholar group at the University of Washington and now is an organization with 500 family members. Over the years, TAGS has been consistently helping in the protection of the well-being of the Taiwanese Americans in the Greater Seattle areas and those in Taiwan. For further information, John Chou can be reached at 206-365-8807 or [email protected].
The Seattle Police Department Traffic Collision Investigation Section continues to investigate the hit and run death. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Bacon at 206 684-8932.
Wang’s death was one of several that will be mourned Wednesday evening during the Seattle Ride of Silence. The ride meets at Gas Works Park at 6:30 p.m. and will start riding at 7.
Comments
7 responses to “Taiwanese Association offers $6K reward for information about hit-and-run that killed Wang”
I was struck by a car on dexter yesterday, similar situation. I addition to the police and fire noting how dangerous the road seemed to be from their own experience with scraping people off it. I have now decided that the bike lanes do more harm than good, creating potentially deadly blind spots behind traffic on a road where people drive irratically, and enforcing a false sense of safety to cyclists to say the least.
Mike Wang paid with his life, I just cashed in a lot of flesh, and 6 hours in the ER.
How many more need to be injured before the city realizes something needs to be done?
“Effective Cycling” details why bike lanes, cycle tracks, sharrows, and off road bike paths are all more dangerous than riding on a road in traffic. But anytime someone tries to point that out they are shouted out with “But we must do SOMETHING!”..
But the something that needs to be done is to SLOW the cars down so that they have time to react to obstacles in the road. That’s us, the bicyclists.
If we really want safe bike routes that anybody can ride, we need “bicycle blvds.” That’s a speed LIMIT of 25, so that cars are only going 10mph faster than us.
And I’m sorry to hear you got hit on Dexter.
Mike Wang, I hope you are resting in peace, and that the driver who hit you rots in hell.
Okay, a little thought experiment: if ten months ago when this case was fresh (and fairly well publicized) someone came into some information that might lead to the arrest of the driver, for instance a passenger, a guy who runs an underground body shop out of his garage, a best friend… Is $6,000 going to be enough to rat your boy out? And how long after that does the sheriff call you up about conspiracy and aiding and abetting charges?
The cops impounded a suspected car but didn’t charge the owner. I never heard whether they finally returned the car, or it’s still being held as evidence.
[…] Taiwanese Association offers $6K reward for information about hit-and-run that killed Wang […]
Meanie, I wish you a quick recovery. My condolences to Mike Wang’s family and community.
Dexter is a peculiar street. It is wide, mostly residential, and my impression is that it serves primarily as a route for people passing through between more commercially-developed neighborhoods that draw car (and bike) traffic. Traffic calming measures (i.e. narrowing the street at strategic points, installing traffic lights, and/or those real-time speed-reader boards like the one on 23rd Ave NE) could work here. Alternately, perhaps strategically blocking some or all left-turn access to residential neighborhoods on Dexter via median barriers could help prevent this in the future…and it might be popular with residents who want to limit traffic coming through.
It is little comfort that motorcyclists have long known of the infamous left-turn from oncoming cars, or that riding through the long parking lot to the east of Westlake Avenue is an appealing alternative to biking on Dexter.
[…] March, the Taiwanese Association of Greater Seattle offered a $6,000 reward for information that led to an arrest in the […]