Friday, November 27, 2009

Bicycle Messenger Seriously Hurt In Hit and Run

Details are sketchy right now but a call in from the Philadelphia Bicycle Messengers Association (PBMA) plus a secondhand report on Facebook indicate that a messenger was run off the road on Wednesday Night by an irate motorist who fled the scene. According to the account on the Philadelphia Bicycle Insurrection Facebook Page the female cyclist suffered severe injuries to her face and was in Surgery on Friday.

PBMA plans to stage a protest on Monday at JFK Plaza, they are reportedly unhappy with the way the Police have handled the situation. We will post an update with more details as we receive them.

UPDATE - The assembly at JFK Plaza (Love Park) will take place at 5:00 PM.

UPDATE #2 According to the PBMA the victim was allegedly struck by a silver hatchback at 2:30 AM early Thursday Morning. The driver yelled at her to get off the road and then hit her. The Police were not called until the victim arrived at Hahnemann Hospital.

The Police officer arrived to take the report and the Officer apparently conveyed less empathy than the messengers thought warranted and told them this was an "accident" and would be treated as such. Messengers went back to the crash scene and found blood and more evidence of the crash.

4 comments:

caduceus said...

How much blood will it take for the Philadelphia police to enforce the law and protect cyclists and pedestrians? How many tragedies and assaults must occur?

The bicycling community remembers these victims.

sterlingcouriers said...

Look at phillybma.org for details

Anonymous said...

Link to the Fox Story:
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/120109_bike_courier_hurt_in_hit-run_speaks_out

I can't believe this and they are treating it as an accident. Completely absurd. I dont know if there is traffic cameras in place there to maybe find the license plate of the driver but it should be treated as a assault with a deadly weapon.

Be safe out there.

Anonymous said...

Just for everyone's information...

Assault

An assault invoves:

1. An intentional, unlawful threat or "offer" to cause bodily injury to another by force;
2. Under circumstances which create in the other person a well-founded fear of imminent peril;
3. Where there exists the apparent present ability to carry out the act if not prevented.

Note that an assault can be completed even if there is no actual contact with the plaintiff, and even if the defendant had no actual ability to carry out the apparent threat. For example, a defendant who points a realistic toy gun at the plaintiff may be liable for assault, even though the defendant was fifty feet away from the plaintiff and had no actual ability to inflict harm from that distance.