Terrible Story that penetrates beyond the cycling community.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on July 10, 2011 at 8:55pm

Shameful.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on July 11, 2011 at 12:12am

I like the part where prosecutors claim that there's no Mississippi law that will allow them to charge someone who hit a cyclist, got out of the car, looked her over, got back in the car and drove over her again and then had to be dragged out of her car by witnesses because she was attempting to flee the scene with a felony. My legal knowledge is limited to being related to or friends with lawyers and studying the work of Lionel Hutz, but I'm pretty sure I could find something good to charge her with.

As to the larger implications of the story, at least white people in Mississippi don't feel free to set random black people on fire anymore. They did when my mom was a little girl, and she's not that old.

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Permalink Reply by ad on July 11, 2011 at 10:26am

Yeah, this is pretty screwed up.  In Illinois this would likely qualify as attempt murder (based on her knowingly backing up to hit the cyclist a second time).  At a minimum, this conduct would almost certainly result in an aggravated battery conviction if prosecuted.  Even an aggravated battery conviction could put someone away for a few years, depending on the person's past criminal background.  Considering attempt murder and aggravated battery are fairly static common law-derived felonies across the 50 states, I really fail to see how the Mississippi State's Attorney can say what he's saying here with a straight face.

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Permalink Reply by Rhea Butcher on July 11, 2011 at 10:48am

I have almost no words for this. I don't understand how people can view other humans as just obstacles to where they are going or what they are doing in a given moment.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on July 11, 2011 at 11:05am

Regardless of driving laws violated, it is my opinion this person should be charged with attempted manslaughter, this is intentional use of lethal force.

 

Its really unfortunate that the district attorney seems to think that this is just a normal traffic violation.

 

studies show that driving what talking on a phone can be as dangero...

 

 

Driving a vehicle is a privilege, people who are not able to control themselves and their vehicles should not continue to have that privilege.

Dr. Doom said:

I like the part where prosecutors claim that there's no Mississippi law that will allow them to charge someone who hit a cyclist, got out of the car, looked her over, got back in the car and drove over her again and then had to be dragged out of her car by witnesses because she was attempting to flee the scene with a felony. My legal knowledge is limited to being related to or friends with lawyers and studying the work of Lionel Hutz, but I'm pretty sure I could find something good to charge her with.

As to the larger implications of the story, at least white people in Mississippi don't feel free to set random black people on fire anymore. They did when my mom was a little girl, and she's not that old.

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Permalink Reply by milesperhour on July 11, 2011 at 7:30pm

Upon further research, the driver wasn't yelling at the rider when she got out.  When she drove over her again, it was accidentally when moving her car to the side of the road to get it off the highway.  No one had to pull her from the car.

 

Newspaper Article

 

Local Yahoo Group

 

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Permalink Reply by ad on July 12, 2011 at 10:43am

There have definitely been some conflicting reports out there regarding what happened.  Like this, for example: http://starkvilledailynews.com/node/6137. 

 

Further investigation obviously may have determined that she did not intentionally hit the cyclist when backing up, and that she did not try to flee the scene.  Even under the new established facts, though, a determination that she was not "culpably negligent" when she struck the cyclist in the first place was totally a discretionary call by the DA that is certainly open to public debate.  I haven't seen an explanation in print as to why the initial accident occurred, and saying she wasn't culpably negligent is meaningless without understanding the facts that ultimately led to that conclusion.      

milesperhour said:

Upon further research, the driver wasn't yelling at the rider when she got out.  When she drove over her again, it was accidentally when moving her car to the side of the road to get it off the highway.  No one had to pull her from the car.

 

Newspaper Article

 

Local Yahoo Group

 

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