Advocacy & Safety - It's OK to hit a cyclist and run, if you have an "important" job.

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20101104/NEWS/101109939

Summary: If having a felony hit-and-run after causing severe injuries to a cyclist would look bad on your resume, the Vail DA will be happy to just file a couple of misdemeanor charges against you.

The take-away on all this if you're poor or middle-class, THEN the DA will throw the book at you.

Tyranny wears blue.

We need to get more cops and DAs to cycle. Then we might see some equal protection.

absolutely inexcusable, and absolutely incomprehendable.

but, maybe there is an explanation: It would be bad for Vail if they scared financial managers away by enforcing the law. The resort home and skiing vacation business might drop off.

:mad:

Well, the victim is a physician. “He will have lifetime pain,” Haddon wrote. “He will have lifetime pain,” Haddon wrote. “His ability to deal with the physical challenges of his profession — liver transplant surgery — has been seriously jeopardized.” Injuring him possibly caused problems (perhaps worsening of the disease or even death) of many liver disease patients. Oh, never mind, no matter how many patients he had, maybe none was wealthy enough.

Fortunately for the victim, having an "important" job usually means you have assets. Bring on the civil suit!

The best protest to this would be if no physician in Colorado would take the driver or his family as patients after this.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record player.



The local cycling community needs to take a page from the MADD playbook and hound the police, prosecutor, and courts with all the publicity they can generate.
The media WILL cover any demonstration with 30 or more participants. Use the internet, picket the police department and the prosecutor's office space. Pack the courtroom. The "authorities" (police, prosecutor, judge) are public figures who can be hurt be BAD PUBLICITY and noteriety.

Talk to the press, the radio people, and the TV folks. Use political ACTION and EMOTION (show the family, distribute photos, humanize the deceased cyclist). It works.

If MADD could do it, cyclists can.

This should be done in every location, every time a cyclist is killed. Stop whinning on the internet and put a stop to leniency for these KILLERS. Call them what they are -- KILLER, not murderers but ordinary, garden variety careless, negligent, reckless KILLERS. And demand appropriate punishment for their HOMICIDE. This was not an "accident."

Fortunately for the victim, having an "important" job usually means you have assets. Bring on the civil suit!

Unfortunately, that's kind of the point of the outrage. The prosecutor lowered the charge so the driver could keep his job so he could make restitution. But I suspect the driver has enough insurance or assets to make the victim whole through the civil suit without worrying about his job servicing "ultra high net worth individuals." The court could order restitution in a felony case, just as in a misdemeanor. To make a deal like this without the victim signing off on it is repulsive.

+1

I can't believe the DA even admitted they reduced the charges because the guy is rich. Prosecutorial discretion is pretty great and they could have just said there was not enough evidence to convict on a felony.

Unfortunately, that's kind of the point of the outrage. The prosecutor lowered the charge so the driver could keep his job so he could make restitution. But I suspect the driver has enough insurance or assets to make the victim whole through the civil suit without worrying about his job servicing "ultra high net worth individuals." The court could order restitution in a felony case, just as in a misdemeanor. To make a deal like this without the victim signing off on it is repulsive.

I have to agree with you on this one. But heck, it is getting to be the American way. If you have enough money, you can get away with quite a bit.

This instance of hit-and-run, with the Vail Colorado District Attorney not pursuing felony charges is the poster child that ought to motivate the cycling community to put aside differences and make an example of both the District Attorney and Martin Joel Erzinger (the driver).

This incident is generating a lot of anger across a broad range of communities - not just cycling.

Look at these Google search results (http://www.google.com/#q=Martin+Joel+Erzinger) - mostly created in the last 24 hours.

Karl Denninger (Market Ticker Finance Blog) has also commented (http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=171475).

He would've been free and clear if the police hadn't rolled up on him as he was placing his bumper in the trunk.

Left him for dead on the side of the road. Sadly, not all that unusual.

I have probably ridden the elevator with this character more than a few times.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2007/02/26/focus5.html

Picket his office for a day.

Hand out flyers, get people to sign a petition, make it "newsworthy" for the video environment. Feed the public's anger.

All the media will cover it. The SB management will never forgive him for the embarassment. He might even lose a client or two.

It will hurt lots more than the misdemeanor conviction (slap on the wrist). It costs $100 and some time, that's the beauty of it.

Feed the public's anger.

All the media will cover it. The SB management will never forgive him for the embarassment.
I'm thinking a couple pipe-hitting hardcases with pairs of pliers and a blowtorch might do the trick more effectively. Who knew Marcellus Wallace could give such good and ageless advice?

This is not surprising at all. Wasn't if F. Scott Fitzgerald who said "The Rich are different"?

wow. I thought Canada sucked with Shepard non-prosecution. But in lot of ways this is worse. it seems like people are flaunting their wealth power without any shame.
And it's becoming accepted norm behavior.


“Mr. Erzinger struck me, fled and left me for dead on the highway,” Milo wrote. “Neither his financial prominence nor my financial situation should be factors in your prosecution of this case.”

Hurlbert said Thursday that, in part, this case is about the money.

“The money has never been a priority for them. It is for us,” Hurlbert said. “Justice in this case includes restitution and the ability to pay it.”

Fortunately for the victim, having an "important" job usually means you have assets. Bring on the civil suit!

Well the dude is loaded with money. probably makes 10's of millions per year managing $1billion assets.
All the banks are still paying out close to record bonuses this year from our $700billion TARP fund and $2trillion Fed Reserve (the real TARP) buying and guaranteeing the assets.
I'm confused the guy is probably loaded with assets (real estate, MS stock etc...) so he wouldn't have any problem paying millions in civil suit even if he got convicted of felony and lost his job.


a director in private wealth management at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Denver. His biography on Worth.com states that Erzinger is “dedicated to ultra high net worth individuals, their families and foundations.”

Erzinger manages more than $1 billion in assets. He would have to publicly disclose any felony charge within 30 days, according to North American Securities Dealers regulations.

I'm a public school teacher. Were I ever convicted of a felony, I would lose my credential, my job, and my livelihood.

If it were me behind the wheel of the car that hit the guy, what do you think the chances are that the court would show me the same leniency as it did Mr. Erzinger?

...
I'm confused the guy is probably loaded with assets (real estate, MS stock etc...) so he wouldn't have any problem paying millions in civil suit even if he got convicted of felony and lost his job.

But then all those super-rich clients would have to find a new investment manager. Can't have that.

This just makes me see red on so many levels, the driver, the courts, the country. I think I'll go take a ride to feel better.

Fortunately for the victim, having an "important" job usually means you have assets. Bring on the civil suit!

Yep. Here's hoping the victim sues the guy until he can't afford a small house and a honda.

Fortunately for the victim, having an "important" job usually means you have assets. Bring on the civil suit!
Nope. The victim will get the limit of this sleazoid's insurance policy....if that. I know a lawyer who specializes in making ultra wealthy people "judgment proof". I'm glad that many of you are now learning what I learned many years ago...the hard way: This is a third world country in terms of social justice. Don't be surprised if our next president is named "Borat".

There's an online petition for this:
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/da_mark_hurlbert_dont_drop_felony_charges_against_hit-and-run_wealth_manager

This is truly disgusting. I hope Mark Hurlbert gets fired.

wow. I thought Canada sucked with Shepard non-prosecution. But in lot of ways this is worse.No, this is worse in every way.

In the Shepard case the claim that there wasn't enough evidence to convict was probably correct -- there was quite a bit of doubt, and while it seemed quite likely that Bryant was not innocent in the incident, it did not seem likely that a jury would convict him.

In this case, the guy's guilt is clear and well documented, and the DA isn't fully prosecuting him and even admits it. It's that last part that really puts it over the top -- he makes a lot of money, so we're not going to charge him with a felony because he'll lose his job. ORLY?

District Attorney Mark Hurlbert is heads the Colorado Fifth Judicial District, which includes Clear Creek, Lake, Eagle, and Summit Counties. Let him know how you feel: (http://www.da5.us/contactus.html).

The DA isn't refusing to press any charges, he's just refusing to press felony charges (which means that the millionaire might get hit with, what? a $100 fine?).

It's ironic that the Quiznos race is going right through some of this very area, including Vail where this happened. Just when I thought my state was making progress. Now I'll be avoiding Vail and Blackhawk.

From the Abandon Your Car blog (http://south-routt-velosport.blogspot.com/2010/11/q-when-is-felony-hit-and-run-only.html):

it is worth mentioning here that D.A. Mark Hurlburt is the same prosecutor that brought FELONY charges against Wendy Lyall (of Vail, btw) for the infamous "leadville 100 number swap" last year. the case was later plead down to a misdemeanor and Ms. Lyall was subsequently found guilty.

Colorado residents, contact the Governor's office here:

http://www.colorado.gov/apps/oit/governor/citizen/assistanceUtility/shareOpinionGovOffice.jsf