Man Struck by Car Given Jaywalking Ticket By Associated Press
document.write(getElapsed("20051203T064905Z")); Sat Dec 3, 1:49 AMUPDATED 7 HOURS 7 MINUTES AGO
WASHINGTON - A former secretary of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts received a $5 jaywalking ticket after he was hit by a car and critically injured while crossing a busy street.
Charles Atherton, 73, was conscious when he was issued the ticket before being taken to George Washington University Hospital, District of Columbia police told The Washington Post.
However, witnesses reported that Atherton was unresponsive and struggling to breathe as he lay crumpled in the road Thursday night. They said he was knocked out of his shoes and his head hit the vehicle's windshield, leaving him bleeding from his head and nose.
Police said Atherton received the ticket because he caused the accident by crossing Connecticut Avenue in mid-block.
"He was issued a ticket because he was at fault. That's all I can tell you," Lt. John Kutniewski of the police department's major crash investigation unit, told the Post. "If he's outside the crosswalk, he would be at fault."
Michael Baker, a witness, said he overheard a police officer "reassuring" the driver involved in the accident that she was not at fault. He said he thought police wrote the ticket "primarily to assuage her."
Atherton's daughter, Sarah, 35, said she was puzzled by the police version of the accident.
"Dad always felt strongly about crossing at intersections," she said, noting that he was particularly careful after a friend was killed crossing the same street.
Atherton was secretary of the presidentially appointed commission for 40 years and reviewed countless proposed monuments and projects in Washington, including the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the National World War II Memorial.
Ruby, I agree with you that this may not have been the most compassionate police work we ever saw...
I was hit by a car when I was a kid. I was riding my bike and crossing the street from one parking lot to another when a car made a turn on to the street I was crossing and hit me.
I was found 30% at fault even though I was 80% across the road.
I think drivers are so inattentive today. They are usually doing several things besides driving.
The majority of the burden for safety lies on the driver...pedestrians; even ones that dont use cross walks, should not be targets.
