A quest for justice.
As you might imagine this morning has been very busy so far. The Marion County Sheriff's Office (while not writing any citations) will be forwarding witness statements to the District Attorney's Office this afternoon unless I accept the driver's offer or come up with a counter offer.
I did call the Marion County Sheriff and left a message for them to call me. I will ask that they delay any submission to the DA until late in the day or preferably tomorrow to allow me time to look at options with legal counsel.
My priorities are to have this driver learn that cyclists do have a right to use the roads and that he does not have the right to run them over with his vehicle. I want others of his same mindset to learn the same lesson.
How best to achieve those goals is the subject being discussed.
UPDATE: 11:25 AM
I dropped the damaged wheel off at my LBS. Mike thinks it's repairable. A few scratches on the aerobar and brake levers but I think they are cosmetic in nature.
Marion County Sheriff has not yet returned my call (4hrs and counting)
After discussing with an attorney the course of action will be to encourage Marion County Sheriff and the Marion County DA to take the appropriate action.
If they don't then other options can be looked at.
UPDATE: 1:25 PM
Marion County DA does not have the case filed yet. They tell me they can do nothing until the case is filed. I have continued to try to reach the responding officer to no avail. He may be in training they say. I've tried to leave a voice mail on the system but it keeps bumping me off.
I do have the number for Marion County's Victim Assistance program. They are open until 5PM today. If I haven't made any progress by then I'll be making a call to them.
UPDATE: 4:00 PM
Called Marion County Dispatch again trying to reach the responding officer. I was told he got the page and will be returning my call shortly.
UPDATE: 4:45 PM
The responding officer returned my call. I had two questions for him;
1) What is the timeline on this incident?
Officer responded that it would be to the DA in a few days.
2) Why was the driver who admitted being the one who hit me not cited for what we non-law people call hit and run?
Officer responded that he is choosing to not handle it this way.
Just the facts boys and girls. I can't offer an explanation.
That's probably the last update for today as the offices are all closing for the day.
Further updates will appear on the days they occur. This will undoubtedly go on for awhile. Rest assured cycling friends, I intend to stay the course. Thank you all for your words of encouragement and support via this blog, direct email, and posting to other listservs.
unfortunately, protect and serve does not mean protect you and serve us.. the arm of the law rarely protects and serves anyone except themselves: city, county, state, federal.. subjective enforcement is typical disrespect..
ReplyDeletegood luck..
Hi there Thrasher,
ReplyDeleteAt times it certainly appears your observation is correct. I've had way too many experiences where it feels I have had to do the work that the police should have been doing.
Good luck in October!