Impatient driver causes personal injury to pedestrian on pavement

Many New York car accidents are caused by impatient drivers. Sometimes, frustrated drivers who are caught in gridlocked traffic resort to unlawful methods to move along. Such behavior by a driver in an April incident may lead to her incarceration if she is convicted of the first-degree assault charge that was filed against her. This charge followed the personal injury suffered by a pedestrian who was struck by the driver.

Authorities say the 34-year-old driver tried to escape gridlocked traffic on a busy Manhattan street by driving on the sidewalk. The incident was apparently captured by a surveillance camera that showed the driver striking a pedestrian. The impact reportedly sent the 37-year-old woman flying through the air. She suffered facial lacerations and a shattered knee. Furthermore, a mother with two small children was forced to push the stroller into the busy street to get out of the way of the speeding car.

The driver reportedly went back onto the street, but soon got impatient again and rammed into another vehicle several times. She apparently then fled the scene on foot. The other driver reported the incident to police who later located the driver at her home. The driver admitted to smoking marijuana prior to the collisions. She was charged with assault, reckless driving and fleeing the scene of the accident; she pleaded not guilty at her arraignment.

An assistant district attorney contended that such reckless behavior by a driver is inexcusable as it is the right of pedestrians on sidewalks and in crosswalks to feel safe and secure. The woman who was injured in this incident that appears to have been caused by the negligence of the driver may pursue compensation for medical expenses and other documented financial losses. She retains the right to file a personal injury claim in a New York civil court.

Source: New York Post, “Charges upgraded for driver in brazen hit-and-run case“, Rebecca Rosenberg, July 22, 2015