Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Security Cameras in Washington DC Save the Day

A client came in recently and reminded me of a powerful tool in personal injury cases in Washington DC. He was involved in a vehicle accident in Washington DC. The claim was that he had run a red light and struck a car turning left past the intersection. He was confident that he had the green light but it was only his testimony. An independent witness who knew neither the driver nor the bicyclist also testified that he ran the red light. The car driver naturally stated that he had run the red light. The police officer gave my client a ticket for running a red light.

Washington DC has many security cameras throughout the city. This particular intersection had such a security camera. The information is not kept indefinitely, in fact the recorded information is only for a few days and then recycled. My client did a freedom of information act through the early Metropolitan Police Department and was able to get the footage of the accident.

The camera was mounted at the intersection. The camera pans around and shows various parts of the intersection. The camera clearly showed the car making a left turn directly in front of my client and my client having less than a second to react. He collides violently with the car. The camera continues to pan showing the direction where my client came from. It shows many many cars continuing through the intersection clearly indicating that he had a green light. The camera continues to pan and shows the traffic light in the intersection showing that the light was green. It also shows how many seconds were left because it picks up the walk don't walk signal.

This evidence is overwhelming and short-lived. Contacting the Metropolitan Police Department and requesting freedom of information is quick and cheap. You should just Google Metropolitan Police Department freedom of information act and it will take you directly to their website and they are helpful.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Driver Acquitted of Striking a Bicyclist

Recently I represented a very nice mature lady. She was leaving her doctor's office where she had had work done on her knee. While leaving the parking lot she came to a sidewalk which crossed over the driveway leaving the parking lot. A bicyclist came across the sidewalk and there was a collision. The bicyclist got up and either sat close by on the curb or picked up his bicycle and moved a distance away. My client remained at the scene for at least 3 min. in her car. She was in pain and could not get out. The bicyclist did not come over to her even though he was ambulatory. Thereafter she left and her intent was to go to a local grocery store and call the accident in. The telephone was not available at the grocery store and she went home. A witness took down her tag and the police found her at her house. She told her story to the police and they were willing to let the case go with her going to a driver improvement program and no charges being filed.

Apparently the bicyclist had a bit of a history. When I ran his name on the criminal database search available in Maryland, he came back with two pages of criminal charges. He was apparently incensed that this lady did not suffer criminal charges. He contacted the officer many times requesting that he issue a citation and the officer denied that request. He pulled rank and went to the officer's Sgt. who also denied the request. He went to the lieutenant who capitulated and the officer wrote citations against my client.

My client was charged with the following:

1. Failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk
2. Failure to stop after an accident

These are somewhat serious charges. They carry jail time and of course points on your driving license.

The case was called for trial and everyone showed up. I told the prosecutor not to drop the charges because I was concerned that the bicyclist would go after this prosecutor going all the way up to John McCarthy, the state's attorney for Montgomery County. At trial the state proved that the victim was riding a bicycle in the crosswalk when he was struck. They also proved that my client remained at least 3 min. and probably more than 5 min. stopped at the scene after the accident.

At the close of the state's case I argued to the judge that a bicyclist is not a pedestrian and that is clearly defined in the Maryland code. A pedestrian is somebody who is "afoot" (is a bicyclist somebody who is "abike"?) The judge threw out that charge immediately. I further argued that the state proved in their case that my client did stop after the accident. Under the statute it requires the driver to stop. It does not say how long the driver needs to stop. Arguably, one second is enough. Clearly at least 3 min. is enough. Again the judge threw out the charge.

Not surprisingly, the bicyclist began haranguing the prosecutor and almost needed to be escorted out of the courthouse by the bailiffs.

All that being said, I do not condone driving away after an accident. My client should have been charged with hit and run and failing to provide proper identification and failing to provide assistance. That would've made the case tougher. For whatever reason, she was not charged with the correct crimes and she is acquitted as she should be. If you have an accident, you should remain at the scene, exchange information, give aid and assistance and just be a decent human being.

Montgomery County public library has many online resources

This is an unusual blog and has nothing to do with legal content but I thought that someone out there might be interested in this powerful resource. The Montgomery County public library website has Consumer Reports as well as many other publications online. If you need to find Consumer Reports online all you need is your library card. I hope that the below directions are understandable. I received them from the librarian and they work for me.

Go to www.MontgomeryCountyMd.gov. At some point it will ask for your library card number, put that in.

Go to the most popular page
click on a-Z electronic resources
click on M
click on Masterfile Premier

Go to the Blue Bar and Click on Publications
in the second search box type in Consumer Reports
click on Consumer Reports
you can search within this publication or each individual year

When you find your general topic look to the left and open up the PDF. You will have the complete article.

Bonus points to the individual who finds the article that describes how to rate a law firm.