The Law Offices of James M. Freeman, P.C.

A Colorado district attorney has dropped felony hit-and-run charges against Martin Joel Erzinger, a wealthy financial manager for Smith Barney.  Erzinger is alleged to have struck a cyclist, Dr. Steven Milo, from behind.  According to court documents Erzinger fled the scene, did not call police, drove through town, then stopped in a pizza hut parking lot to report damage to his Mercedes. 

Apparently one of the reasons the charges were dropped was becuase Mr. Erzinger would have been required to publicly disclose the felony charge.  The DA is quoted as stating that, “Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession..."

See the story here:

Milo was bicycling eastbound on Highway 6 just east of Miller Ranch Road, when Erzinger allegedly hit him with the black 2010 Mercedes Benz sedan he was driving. Erzinger fled the scene and was arrested later, police say.

Erzinger allegedly veered onto the side of the road and hit Milo from behind. Milo was thrown to the pavement, while Erzinger struck a culvert and kept driving, according to court documents.

Erzinger drove all the way through Avon, the town's roundabouts, under I-70 and stopped in the Pizza Hut parking lot where he called the Mercedes auto assistance service to report damage to his vehicle, and asked that his car be towed, records show. He did not ask for law enforcement assistance, according to court records.

Erzinger told police he was unaware he had hit Milo, court documents say.

When Avon police arrived he was putting a broken side mirror and a bumper in his trunk, court record say.

Meanwhile another motorist, Steven Lay of Eagle, stopped to help Milo and called 911.

Court records say prosecutors expressed skepticism to Milo at a suggestion by Erzinger's defense attorneys that Erzinger might have unknowingly suffered from sleep apnea, and that might have made him caused him to fall asleep at the wheel and hit Milo.

Chicago Breaking News is reporting that a man was seriously injured while crossing Archer Avenue near 40th Street.  The driver fled the scene.

A younger brother of State Sen. Antonio Munoz, D-Chicago, was struck and knocked into the air by a speeding car Tuesday morning as he walked to a Southwest Side polling place.

Martin Munoz, 40, suffered lacerations and trauma to his head as well as a broken right leg that required surgery. He was expected to fully recover, the senator said.

"He's out of surgery and doing very well," Antonio Munoz said in a statement. "I want to thank everyone for calling and texting and sending along their thoughts and prayers."

"Everything that's been told (to) me seems like a tragic accident," Munoz said at Mount Sinai Hospital, where his brother was being treated.

The motorist fled the scene, speeding through the intersection of Archer Avenue and 40th Street, witness said. A suspect was later taken into custody and was being questioned by police.

The crash happened just before 6 a.m. outside Balzekas Motor Sales, 4030 S. Archer Ave., where a polling location was being set up, said Robert Balzekas, an employee of the Brighton Park neighborhood dealership.

Balzekas said Munoz was crossing Archer when a southbound 1994 or 1995 Nissan struck him while traveling at an estimated 30 to 40 mph.

"I heard screeching, then I saw the victim hit by the car do two somersaults ... He went up 15 to 20 feet," said Balzekas.

He said he and others took blankets to Munoz and stayed with him until emergency crews responded.

The senator said his brother, a father of three, was a field operator for his re-election campaign and was on his way to the polling place.

At the hospital, Munoz's family, including his brother, wife and mother, kept vigil, thankful that the injuries hadn't been more severe. His injuries required surgery to put screws and a rod in his leg, his family said.

"When you first hear about it, not knowing the extent of the damage, (what) the injuries are," the senator said. "Then when you see him, swollen from his head, but thank God again there's no internal injuries."

An off-duty Cook County sheriff's deputy who was in a vehicle while working security outside the polling place sped off after the hit-and-run vehicle and was able to spot the license plate number before losing the car.

View Larger Map

Critical Mass is a contentious issue among drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.  New York City in particular has had a number of clashes between cyclists and massers.  The video above shows just one such confrontation between Christopher Long and NYPD Officer Patrick Pogan.  Pogan was indicted for assault and filing a false report in connection with the incident.

A lawsuit  was filed on behalf of numerous bicyclists for civil rights violations.  According to the New York Times, the City recently settled those claims for a cumulative amount of just under one million dollars.  See the original article here.

The city agreed on Monday to pay nearly $1 million to participants in the monthly Critical Mass bicycle rides who claimed they had been wrongly detained and arrested by police officers.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2007, represented the claims of 83 riders who had been arrested or ticketed by police during the rides from September 2004 to January 2006. The awards to the plaintiffs range from $500 for those who were cited for minor infractions, to $35,000 for a plaintiff who was arrested multiple times and was injured because of the arrests, said David B. Rankin, one of the three lawyers who represented the riders. About half the settlement will go toward legal fees.

The settlements, totaling $965,000, do not include the many lawsuits filed by riders who were arrested during the Republican National Convention in 2004.

The Critical Mass riders and the Police Department have a long, antagonistic history. Since 2004, riders have claimed that police officers harass them, take their bicycles and arrest them without reason. The police have said the cyclists violate traffic laws. The department has deployed hundreds of officers, a mobile command unit and a helicopter to monitor the rides, which wend their way through Manhattan on the last Friday of each month.

Mark Zuckerman, a lawyer for the city, said the settlement was “in the best interest of all the parties.”

Mr. Rankin said he thought the settlement was fair, and that the city’s policies toward the riders had changed. “We hope that the cyclists and the N.Y.P.D. can figure out a way to work together,” he said.

Barbara Ross, a longtime rider who was arrested in 2005 on charges of parading without a permit and disorderly conduct, will receive about $15,000 from the settlement. She said that although the police have changed tactics, Critical Mass participants were still being harassed.

“They’re still wasting taxpayers’ money to show up every month,” Ms. Ross said.

Yesterday the Chicago Tribune ran an article titled "COPS STEP UP ENFORCEMENT OF NEW CROSSWALK LAW" (page 6) which concluded in essence that the crosswalk law passed earlier this year is largely ignored.  According to the article Chicago Police have been conducting stings where plainclothes police officers cross the street in a marked crosswalk.  If a driver fails to yield to the officer they are issued a citation. 

From Chicago Breaking News:

The new law may be a surprise to many motorists, in part because it will take some time to replace the thousands of "Yield" signs at intersections across the Chicago area. Among the changes taking place or planned in Chicago as well and area suburbs are new must-stop street signs alerting the public to the crosswalk-rule change; expanded use of crosswalk markers placed in the median of streets near schools, parks and hospitals; and stepped-up police enforcement, officials said.

Chicago police commanders said officers have been busy enforcing the new law, writing 127 tickets in August alone during crosswalk-enforcement stings at intersections with a history of accidents involving pedestrians. During the stings, plainclothes officers posing as civilians try to cross streets at marked crosswalks. Drivers who don't stop are pulled over and ticketed.

In addition to stings, there are signage changes in the works to incorporate a "stop" sign into the pedestrian crosswalk signage (seen above).  I welcome this change as the old pedestrian crosswalk signs did not adequately convey the duty of a driver to yield to pedestrians.

These are good starts to a difficult task; changing the norm.  Driver's aren't used to yielding to pedestrians, and often times, crosswalks are worn and hard to see.  In my view it makes sense that the individual who poses the greater risk of harm have the greater burden of care, but so often in our car-centric society people just aren't held accountable for their actions behind the wheel.  Hopefully CPD will continue handing out tickets and drivers will become more educated about the crosswalk law.

The upside of this new legislation is that if an individual is hit by a car while crossing the street in a marked crosswalk it is slightly easier to show the motorist to be at fault.  If you are stuck by an automobile while crossing the street in a marked crosswalk you should talk to a lawyer who specializes in pedestrian cases to explore your rights.