It’s sad to say it, but I feel like a read a story very similar to the following every couple of weeks.
A man in a wheelchair was killed after he was struck by two vehicles while crossing Blackstone Avenue in his wheelchair Saturday evening, Fresno police Lt. Anthony Martinez said.
The man was crossing the street when he was struck by one vehicle that witnesses described as a compact car, Martinez said.
He was thrown from his wheelchair and was hit a second time by another vehicle that witnesses described as a tan-colored SUV, possibly a Chevy Tahoe.
Both drivers left the scene, Martinez said.
How can two people hit a man in a wheelchair and then flee? It’s disgusting. But I doubt we will ever read about the police investigation, and if anyone is ever caught, tried and sentenced.
There’s just never any follow up with crimes like this. Possibly because it’s too common? It seems like at least one pedestrian is killed every week in Fresno, and yet no one seems to care.
I've been thinking the same thing here in NY Metro area. If this were a murder investigation, the police would be canvassing the neighborhood, identifying private security cameras, and running down all leads.
As for hits where the driver stays at the scene, the investigation should still include a review of the drivers cell records to see whether distraction existed, and getting at the car's "black box" to figure out speed.
Let's get rid of "no-fault" crashes, and stop using the word "accident" for that matter.
The word "accident" is appropriate because nobody goes out on the road expecting to run into another car or hit a pedestrian. This is one of the reasons why the punishments are usually not as severe as some anti-car partisans would like; the element of "intent" is not present. Lack of followup by the media may be due to the likelihood that pedestrian or wheelchair-riding victims are often at the lower end of the economic scale, and are often not in the white middle class demographic that the media cater to.