Driver Who Killed Biker Won’t Be Charged

NORTHRIDGE — Prosecutors decided Tuesday not to file murder charges against a 33-year-old Northridge man who ran over and killed a motorcyclist with his van during a chaotic street chase along Reseda Boulevard.

The driver of the van was attacked with a tire iron, surrounded by a pack of bikers and was in fear of his life when he collided early Saturday morning with the motorcyclist, 49-year-old Dino Murphone, authorities said.

Police asked that the van driver’s name be withheld for his protection.

“Independent witnesses described a scene that involved many motorcyclists chasing this fellow in an apparent attempt to kill him,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Phil Halpin, who made the decision not to file charges.

The decision outraged Murphone’s biker friends, who said he was trying to get away from the van when he was hit.

Police on Saturday had issued a statement saying the van driver “initiated aggressive, evasive driving maneuvers which led to several collisions.”

But prosecutors said that after talking to a dozen witnesses, including several motorists, a clearer picture emerged of the incident.

The violence started around midnight Friday at the Classroom, a Tampa Avenue beer and blues lounge. As the van driver was coming out of the bathroom, he accidentally bumped into a biker, Halpin said. The biker was with a group of 15 to 20 members of the Sundowner motorcycle club, based in San Fernando, and an affiliated club, the Humpers.

Several bikers dragged the man outside and beat him up, Halpin said. After the fight, the man got into his van and peeled out of the parking lot, nearly hitting some of the bikers, witnesses said.

Fifteen minutes later, the bikers passed the van in a 7-Eleven parking lot and several jumped off their Harley-Davidson motorcycles and ran after the driver, Halpin said. One man swung a tire iron against the van, he said, while another whipped a flashlight through the passenger window.

Moments later, the van collided with Murphone, of San Fernando, knocking him to the ground, where he died. The driver of the van then sped away, but turned himself into police later Saturday morning.

Some of the bikers said the van driver attacked them first, pulling doughnuts in the intersection of Roscoe and Reseda boulevards and sending them scattering for safety.

“He was driving 70 mph trying to kill us,” said Wayne Woods, one of the bikers.

Some of the bikers are saying the police don’t believe their version of events because they are bikers.

“Because we’re a bunch of guys who ride around on bikes and wear patches on our jackets, people assume we’re the ones starting trouble,” said Cliff Zigmont, a friend of Murphone’s.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, said the case had been evaluated solely on the evidence available, which wasn’t sufficient to prosecute the van driver.

Police are taking measures to protect the van driver from Murphone’s friends. While the driver was in custody at the Devonshire police station Saturday morning, police officers said several bikers wearing Sundowner patches were motoring circles around the station, apparently waiting for the van driver to be released.