When Robert Novak struck a pedestrian in a Washington DC crosswalk with his black Corvette convertible, it was a bicyclist who chased him down and had him stop until police arrived.
The news that the 77-year-old conservative columnist, formerly of Crossfire on CNN, was in trouble obviously delighted The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. I caught the evening rebroadcast of his Wednesday show. Stewart summed up his report:
“The only difference between this and the rest of his [Novak's] career, is that this time, someone stopped him.
“D'you know what Washington needs? More vigilante bicyclists!”
Update
Here's an update at WJLA-TV's website. The guy Novak struck was a homeless man who was splayed across the hood of Novak's car. In an on-street interview with Novak, shown on the website, he repeatedly says he never saw the guy, a story the homeless man says is possible.
In spite of several witnesses, police only issued Novak a $50 citation for failure to yield to a pedestrian. This is after a hit and run in a crosswalk.
Washington DC police chief said just because a citation was issued at the scene, doesn't mean more charges can't be brought later.
Bicyclist
CBS News interviewed the commuting bicyclist, David Bono, a partner at the Harkins Cunningham law firm:
As he traveled east on K Street, crossing 18th, Bono said a “black Corvette convertible with top closed plowed into the guy. The guy is sort of splayed onto the windshield.”
Bono said that the pedestrian, who was crossing the street on a “Walk” signal and was in the crosswalk, rolled off the windshield and that Novak then made a right into the service lane of K Street. “The car is speeding away. What’s going through my mind is, you just can’t hit a pedestrian and drive away,” Bono said.
He said he chased Novak half a block down K Street., finally caught up with him and then put his bike in front of the car to block it and called 911. Traffic immediately backed up, horns blared and commuters finally went into reverse to allow Novak to pull over.
Bono said that throughout, Novak “keeps trying to get away. He keeps trying to go.” He said he vaguely recognized the longtime political reporter and columnist as a Washington celebrity but could not precisely place him.
Finally, Bono said, Novak put his head out the window of his car and motioned him over. Bono said he told him that you can't hit a pedestrian and just drive away. He quoted Novak as responding: “I didn’t see him there.”
Posse
As for Stewart's idea for “vigilante bicyclists,” that's a great idea. Let's deputize all the bicyclists into a posse and haul in motorists who run us off the road and cut us off at intersections.
I could probably make an arrest on half my rides.
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