OK,
Daniel4 that's a pretty reasonable point, so let's "save" the thread and steer it back into something worth discussing. I think this is an instance where social media actually played a really positive role for bicycle advocacy. We now have confirmation from the PD and the DA that the police did a substandard job of investigation at the scene which would have set this case for a non-criminal resolution. The judge's, the DA's and the police chief's comments all referred to the social media activity around this case, making it obvious that they were all feeling the pressure to do "something" about this case.
The DA's post and the indictment have both pretty much totally confirmed the content of the social media posts. None of this is a conviction, of course, but we're certainly at the point where it's more likely than not that the kid really did this as described.
I've been on the receiving end of a few intentional close passes. At best, they're acts of sadism, someone getting off by frightening another person with what is really a near-death experience. With the weight of the attacking vehicle and the small distances involved, missing or hitting the cyclist is largely a matter of luck.
This guy hit 6 people, this prosecution is a vital issue for advocacy because the message needs to be sent to drivers that if they "accidentally" hit a cyclist while terrorizing them, it's going to be treated as the serious intentional felony that it is. If this kid had been left uncharged, this would've been the declaration of an open season on bicyclists in Texas.