Cops: Man hit motorbike driver with shovel

Police say a St. Charles man went out of his way to knock over the driver of a moving motorized bicycle - by hitting him with a shovel.

The man's attorney, however, claims it was the driver who struck his client as he tried to get the "homemade, souped-up" vehicle to slow down.

It all happened about 4:30 p.m. Sunday as a 44-year-old man rode a "motorized pedal cycle" east on the 600 block of State Street, according to police.

Authorities said Joseph W. Milder, 49, stepped into the street with a 6-foot shovel and struck the motorist's chest, knocking him to the ground, as he tried go around.

Milder was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery in a public way, both felonies with maximum sentences of five years in prison. But his attorney says the driver is to blame.

"The irony here," defense attorney Jeffrey Keller said Wednesday, "is that Mr. Milder was trying to warn the rider that he better slow down and quit horsing around before he ended up hitting someone, and then Mr. Milder ends up being the one that gets hit by the biker."

According to Keller, Milder was working in the front yard when he saw the motorized bicycle "speeding" up and down the street, where the rider had "no business being with that contraption." He said Milder then went to the side of the road to try to get the driver to slow down, but the driver couldn't stop, and struck his client.

"My client's version is quite a bit different from what was told to police," Keller said. "We are certain that when everything is said and done it is going to come out that the rider was horsing around out in the roadway."

Milder was arrested after St. Charles police were dispatched to a reported battery. Police said officers found the victim in the street next to his bike, which was on its side, and Milder standing nearby with a shovel.

The rider was treated for cuts on his leg, shoulder and hip, police said.

Court records show Milder has no criminal history in Kane County other than traffic citations in the 1990s. His bond was set Monday at $15,000; he was released with an Aug. 11 court date after posting $1,500 to go free.