WHO DIED? This elderly lady is critical, but don’t be calling the coroner just yet. Reading links is your friend.
The squirrel fetus is dead. The one EVE ran over.
[sub]That’s the gist of the thread, right? I’ve only skimmed it.[/sub]
when you kill somebody and its not intentional its manslaughter, you go to jail for it not get a ticket.
i think its pretty obvious that you should yield to pedestrians, if you don’t see a person crossing the street - whose problem is that ? YOURS.
i think that bitch should have definitely done some good jail time.
What if it’s dark and the person is wearing dark clothes? It’s my problem I can’t see them? I would think it would be THEIR problem for crossing the street in the dark and wearing dark clothes!
Any Miami Dopers out there? I’m betting Biscayne Boulevard near its intersection with Northeast 79th Street is not dark, they are both major roads according to mapquest. Maybe the victim was dressed all in black but I’ll bet against that too. For the trifecta I’ll bet that the woman wasn’t on the crosswalk against the lights because the traffic was stopped.
I think in Australia you wouldn’t be trotting off home after driving your vehicle into a pedestrian whatever the circumstances. The police would expect you to have remained stationary.
I am a Miami Doper. (THE WOMAN IS NOT DEAD, YET!) Squirrel fetus, maybe. You don’t give jail time for non-lethal pedestrian strikes.
It is a large intersection, NE 79th is one way eastbound toward a causeway out to Miami Beach. It may be 4 or 5 lanes wide there. Yes, probably with streetlights, but again, as said before, dusk is the toughest time of the day to see well. No details, but very possibley this woman was crossing Biscayne (the N-S street) at the south end of the intersection, and Givens was waiting at the light at the north end. She would not be able to see the woman begin the crossing with the traffic passing in front of her, and after the eastbound traffic gets the red light and Giovens gets the green, she STILL has to wait for the four or five cars to run the red light in front of her before she goes.
OOPs, misread the OP, but it still sounds like she was RG was not paying attentioon. Also, at least here in Texas, many lights turn to quickly to give pedestrians, espectially elderly time to cross. Often, before I can even complete one full step, the warning light starts blinking and I either have to sprint or dodge cars creeping up to the edge.
Fortunately she is not dead, but does sound like she is fairly badly injured. There should be some punishement for the driver. Take away her car and license and impose a large fine, maybe next time she will be al lttle more careful. Unfortunately our society seems unwilling to hold drivers responsible for how they operate their vehicles. Unless they are driving drunk or transporting drugs, drivers are just not held accountable.
Yes, I’ve had this happen as well here in FL. Particually noticable if I’ve taken my parents out and have to help them across the street. Typically they will be somewhere around the middle of an intersection when the light will turn. Given that both parents are in their 80’s they can only achieve a certain top speed on foot. I’m well familar with the type of driver that where “Green=GO!!!”.
Also, and hopefully I can avoid glaring stupid spelling errors, I think things should be set up to favor the pedestrian over the driver. Put speed bumps in front of the crosswalk. Make turns tighter so drivers have to slow down. In spite of what people will think, this will not slow drivers down and if it prevents negligent auto assault, then I’m all for it.
Yes they are; it’s called civil liability.
Hell, I’d be pretty critical too, if someone ran me over!
You just did, didn’t you? With nary a warning or corrective remark from a Mod.
Interesting.
Wonder how many hours it’d take me to lost my member name here if I went about calling you names.
At any rate, back to the O.P. Any Miami Dopers aware of a follow-up to this story? How is the poor lady doing? Were any charges filed against Ms. Givens post-accident, after the accident investigators finished their work?
Ha! Very funny! I don’t think this was intentional humor, but that makes it all the better… Sure, next time she’ll be a little more careful because it will be very hard for her to hit anyone without a license or a car! That is, assuming that she doesn’t steal a car and drive without a license… In which case, she’d probably be more likely to accidentally mow down pedestrians…
Fine, whatever, let’s just assume she’ll get her car and license back at some point. Also, I’m sure she would never consider borrowing a friends car and driving without her license. But either way, I would think she would be more careful afterwards.
That’s not so.
If you kill someone accidentally, without intention and not due to any negligence or recklessness on your part then you do not go to jail. You don’t suffer any criminal penalty at all. The law does not penalize accidents that do not arise from at least negligence.
- Rick
A dear friend of mine hit a pedestrian under similar circumstances – the woman crossing the street was only 4’5" and was wearing dark clothes, and it was dusk. My friend was driving a minivan and she hit the woman after turning a corner. She just didn’t see the woman nor did she expect for her to be there. She was cited and her insurance was cancelled, but that was the limit of the penalty she incurred.
However, she hasn’t driven since. It’s been nearly two years, and she can’t get behind the wheel of a car. She has nightmares. She’s on a heavy-duty dosage of Xanax. She has panic attacks nevertheless. As far as she’s concerned – because she’s a person with a conscience – she’s no better than Ted Bundy. She’s taken a human life.
It’s one thing to wonder why Givens was simply permitted to walk – drive? – away from the scene, though that seems par for the course when there is a pending investigation and no initial evidence of intentional wrongdoing. But I think it’s fair to say that no matter what else happens, Robin Givens probably feels like crap today, and it’s going to be a long time before she’ll be able to simply jump into her car and go about her regular routine.
When I was 16, I was in the car as my 17 year old friend hit a boy. He darted out from between parked cars. He didn’t see him, I didn’t see him as the front-seat passenger. He literally ran into the car, bouncing off of it and falling to the ground.
He was fine, just scuffed and scared.
My friend couldn’t drive home. He was so deeply upset by the very possibility of what MIGHT have happened. The police talked to us, talked to witnesses and didn’t write a ticket. ( There was nothing to ticket, we had a clear green light, etc. ).
To this day, if I drive down that road in Mt. Airy in Philly I can see it before me, and I was just the passnger. I believe that TeaElle is entirely correct.
Ms. Givens is likely having a bad time of it, not a hilarious joke-fest of it. I seriously doubt that she finds it amusing, or finds the woman she struck to be beneath her, or worthy of being mowed down.
Of course, when we find out that she’s pulled a Lizzie Grubman, we’re both going to have egg on our faces, Cartooniverse!
TeaElle, who still feels bad to this day about the 2 possums who were sent to their greater nasty rodent reward under her wheels more than twenty years ago.
Boy, I sure hope not.
I was driving an ambulance a few years ago. Coming back to the bay, so it was just my partner and I and it must have been like 2 or 3 am. Dead of night. A possum ran across the roadway. It took no time for me to NOT swerve to avoid it and risk trashing the ambulance.
Thumpetty-thump. 
However, that’s an animal and this was a fellow human.
An updated Sun-Sentinel article indicates that Givens was turning right, and the woman was almost all the way across the street. And the woman is still not dead, is recovering, in fact. The squirrel fetus, on the other hand, is a goner.