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

Last month charges were dropped against the former Attorney General of Ontario, Michael Bryant, after an incident in which he fled the scene after a fatal bicycle/car crash.  As an attorney who has handled many hit-and-run cases, I'm not surprised by this disappointing outcome.  Neither is Bob Mionske, who analyzed and rebutted the arguments for dismissing the charges against Michael Bryant in his article, "This is Justice?"

I estimate, based on my experience, that one in five bicycle/auto collisions in Chicago is a hit-and-run.  Often times, a hit-and-run collision starts out as a moment of inattention or recklessness followed by a panicked decision to flee.  Other times hit-and-run collisions are the result of and intentional act or road rage.  Either way, there is no excuse for leaving the scene of a collision.  Defendants in hit-and-tun cases often claim that the victim, "...was fine.  So I left."  They sometimes, as in the case of Michael Bryant, claim that they were simply acting out of fear for their safety.  This defense usually goes something like this, "The pedestrian/bicyclist was screaming and acting aggressive.  I was scared and just trying to get away."  This defense may be believable in instances where a motorist calls the police immediately after fleeing the scene, but just to be clear, neither of these arguments is overwhelmingly effective in my experience.  

Victims of hit and run accidents are encouraged to call us to discuss their potential legal recourse.  Even in instances where the defendant gets away and cannot be identified there may be ways to recover for your expenses and/or injuries.  In fact, we have had several very successful results in cases where the hit-and-run defendant is never found.  

See some stories about Darcy Allan Sheppard and Michael Bryant hit-and-run collision can be found here, here and here.

Some interesting videos of the incident can be found here, here, and here.