Arkansas Blog

Given the pedestrian was telling the truth then maybe The Prince was also being honest. He actually is so unaware/senile he didn't realize he hit someone. Shades of Tony Soprano's uncle. Very spooky people in that state are allowed to drive.

Then it could have been the Dark Prince at his most deceptive. He had cocktails and laughed about it later.

Good for the cyclist getting involved. Very brave of him too. If I had just witnessed a motorist blatantly run over a pedestrian I'd fear for my own demise in chasing them down let alone parking my bicycle in front of the car in an attempt to delay his escape.

The fact that the cyclist caught up to Novak in 1/2 a block means he's either very fast one or traffic was so congested Novak couldn't get far.

Failure to yield?

Is that what they normally cite in DC for the average hit and run of a pedestrian in a legal crosswalk?

Now why do I think that if I had done something like this, I'd have been arrested for hit and run?

I used to see Novak driving a drop-top Corvette in the District back in the day, his comb-over flappin' in the breeze.

This story reminds me of the time Clarence Thomas almost hit me in a cross walk on Capitol Hill early one spring morning. Ah, the memories!

Get the F*** out of the way. I'm going to interview Dick Cheney!

At least he didn't do what Laura Bush did back in the day. Drive outrageously fast, hit another woman driver and kill her. No charges filed of course.

Neither damning nor defending Novak here -- I don't read him, don't know a whit about him -- but to temper some of the "ran down a pedestrian in cold blood" rhetoric above, I offer the WashingtonPost.com's entire coverage of the incident as of 3:31 p.m. Wednesday. Please note the use of the term "slow-moving traffic" by the cops.

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Columnist Bob Novak Strikes Pedestrian in Downtown D.C.

By Paul Duggan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 23, 2008; 12:16 PM

Syndicated columnist and TV political pundit Robert D. Novak said he was issued a $50 citation by D.C. police this morning after he hit a pedestrian while driving his sports car in downtown Washington.

Witnesses said the collision occurred in slow-moving traffic about 10 a.m. as Novak, 77, was headed north on 18th Street NW near K Street in his black 2004 Chevrolet Corvette. D.C. fire department spokesman Alan Etter said the victim is a man in his 60s who was taken to George Washington University Medical Center with "very minor injuries."

"He's complaining about some pain in his arm, but there are no visible injuries," Etter said.

Novak, who was cited for failing to yield a right of way, said in an interview that he was unaware at first that he had struck the pedestrian. After Novak had driven about a block from the scene, he said, he was flagged down by several witnesses, including a bicycle messenger who called D.C. police.

Novak said the messenger was "shouting at me that I couldn't just hit people and drive away. But I didn't know I'd hit him. I really didn't have any idea it happened until they flagged me down and told me."

The legal blog Above the Law says it wasn't a bike messenger at all, but an attorney. Good for him, nonetheless. Link on the blue name.

Squirrelhenge, MSNBC has it differently (click on my name). Note the phrase "splayed across the winshield."

By the way--my favorite invective is "Douchebag of Liberty," as coined by Jon Stewart. I know it doesn't really mean anything, but it *sounds* funny.

Oh, my, better get that 77 year old out of that 'Vette. D.C. does not need the 77 year old Prince of Darkness cruising the streets in a 400H.P. 'Vette maiming and mangling the pedestrians. He probably only hits Democrats anyways. And bike messengers can move quite fast through traffic. A good messenger can get to 30mph easily.

Or not, since I can't seem to work this thing. Just google it.

I really think it's possible that Novak did not realize nor notice the guy rolling across his windshield.
That is a dangerous state of mind under which to be operating any vehicle.

>>>Failure to yield? Is that what they normally cite in DC for the average hit and run of a pedestrian in a legal crosswalk? <<<

That's exactly what it is... failure to yield right-of-way at either an intersection or crosswalk. A crosswalk exists, btw, at any point where a pedestrian sidewalk crosses a roadway adjacent to an intersection, regardless of whether they've taken the effort to mark it by painting the stripes on the street.

Arkansas traffic law says the same thing. Pedestrians have the right-of-way, unconditionally, when in a crosswalk. Arkansas law also requires that you stop when entering or exiting a driveway where there's a sidewalk crossing it, and yield to any pedestrians therein. If you hit a ped in a crosswalk, the law presumes that it's your fault, period.

So be careful out there...

Did he hit him - yes
Did he leave the scene - yes
Was the impact sufficiently enough for it to be seen by at least two witness - yes.

Charged with failure to yield - lame.

Update on the coverage: WaPo now reports a layer on a bicycle (no, it's not the lead-in to a joke) who says the guy Novak hit wound up on the windshield, a charge Novak denies. So maybe the "Novak is the devil" crowd has something there....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/24/AR2008072402099.html?nav=hcmodule