Poguemahone

All the hallmarks. Hit and run. Driver has had 19 moving violations in last ten years. "Didn't know he hit anything." This one is bad, close your eyes:

https://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/n...al-ar-2105066/

Memorial ride in RVA, Sunday, 9pm.

Digital_Cowboy

How many times are we going to hear "I didn't know I hit anyone or anything?" That is NOT a legitimate answer/excuse for running.

genec

I am trying to figure out how these folks don't know they hit something... what is it about them as drivers or the vehicles they drive that gives them the impression that everything is OK?
I mean if something happens to your vehicle that leaves "samples on the steering wheel" isn't pretty obvious that this is not a normal thing?

mcrow

I can see someone hitting something in the dark and not knowing what they hit but not knowing you hit something the size of a person with a bike is plain stupid. You damn well know you hit something that big and whether you know what it was or not you should stop and look.

ItsJustMe

It's an EXCUSE and a LIE. It's also the admission that they are clearly incapable of safely operating a vehicle on the public streets and should never be allowed to operate one again.

Commodus

yes. ****.

dougmc

While that sounds like a lot, it's only two a year. While certainly on the high side, it wouldn't surprise me if over 10% of the drivers out there had similar records.

Given that he can probably take defensive driving once a year and get rid of one of those offences, this probably isn't even enough to trigger additional fines or loss of drivers licenses (I don't know Virginia laws regarding this, however -- this is just a guess.)

Hopefully they'll nail him for the hit and run now, however.

mcrow

My uncle has a neighbor the lives across the alley from him that has in the neighborhood of 15 DUIs including a manslaughter on record as a result of one of them.............and still has a license. We're supposed to have a 3 strikes and your out policy here but it seems like there are holes in it.

Zaneluke

This stuff gets so much media attention that as time goes on more and more people are going to use it as an excuse, unless we can stop it.

Doohickie

Talk about awkward. He works for the paper that reported the story.

ckaspar

I know, right?!?! Should be a good test to see how honest the paper is about reporting the incident when compared to other papers in the area.

wphamilton

And the victim's mother is an editor for a competing paper. https://www.henricocitizen.com/index....ring_lanie0803 which promises to monitor the legal proceedings. More than a bit awkward.

B. Carfree

Hear, hear. +1

himespau 

Yeah, they definitely seemed to be reporting the driver's side of the story in a very friendly way. And he got the company photo rather than the usual mugshot.

Poguemahone

.

Really. You'll note they chose not to report on his driving violations (matter of public record). This story was originally reported about eight o'clock last night; well before the morning edition was put to bed. Plenty of time to do some cursory research.

The "suspect" is the son of a local monied defence/traffic attorney.

I think the the RVA police deserve kudos here, they're working this one hard, I think. Up to the prosecutor's office; they recently took down a motorist who killed a ped. Let's hope.

If you want to see hope for the human race, read the comments. There are some of the usual stupid ones, but they're being assaulted with a near-fervor I've never seen before. I wouldn't ordinarily suggest reading comments on a story like this one, but...

Glynis27

I was at the corner store last week and watched a young woman hit a large, orange traffic barrel with her car. It became wedged under her front bumper and was making a hell of a noise. She slowed down after hitting it, hesitated, then kept driving. I could hear her dragging the barrel quite a ways. I went down the street on my bike, and found the barrel 1/3 mi down the road, in the middle of the street. Guess it finally popped out by itself.

I don't know how she drove directly into a huge orange barrel or how she kept driving with the thing making the noises it was making, but she never stopped. Bet it ripped some stuff up under her car.

Juan Foote

At least the guy came forward. Real shame it had to happen, and most certainly questionable details given the size and damage a human would do to your car..aside from the noise and movement. I suspect it will come out the guy was intox or tired at the time. It would have been that much more a tragedy if no one were found and charged.

genec

Makes you wonder, doesn't it... did these folks just miss that part in their driver training that was supposed to tell them "Don't hit things in front of your vehicle?"

hagen2456

It's definitely a lie, unless they're drugged senseless. We once hit a deer, at slow speed. Noone driving a car would be able to ignore that impact... (unless, as said etc.)

rydabent

Sure hit someone and kill them. Go home and get sobber, then report the accident. Its the old Teddy Kennedy ploy.

CommuteCommando

Yeah, after sobering up and lawyering up.

"When asked whether Webb had been drinking, [Webb's attorney] Marcus said: "He wasn't running from anything. He didn't leave the scene because he was worried about being charged with a crime. He did not know he hit this woman.""

Yeah, but. . . W-A-S H-E D-R-I-N-K-I-N-G???

Poguemahone

Story appears to be changing. Now he says he thought he hit a deer.

https://wtvr.com/2012/08/03/lanie-kru...d-hit-and-run/

@#$%ing tool. RTD finally tells on their employee:

https://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2...ti-ar-2107317/

dynodonn 

Locally, your neighbor would not even be out on the street, much less have a license. Sounds like the state your uncle lives in has a serious judicial enforcement issue.

dougmc

It's fairly obviously a lie unless they're massively drunk.

That said, they don't have to convince you -- they only have to convince the DA that the DA would have a hard time proving "beyond a reasonable doubt" that they did know they hit something, and maybe convince a jury that there's reasonable doubt. The #1 way of proving that they knew they hit something is that the confess to it -- without that, it becomes quite difficult.

genec

I have a hard time with that too... not the jury bit, but that anyone on a jury would buy "I didn't know I hit something that weighed at least 100 lbs..." I would think a good photo of the damage to the vehicle would be enough.