Jaywalking charge will be dropped
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WINA radio reported an interview today with Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman in which Chapman announced, as Police Chief Timothy Longo suggested in a memo, that the police effort to snare an injured pedestrian cannot go forward because the technology doesn’t fit the alleged crime. In this case, the alleged crime was riding a wheelchair through a crosswalk against the universal red-hand don’t walk signal. The case has attracted outrage for a variety of reasons: that the man in question was hit by police cruiser from another jurisdiction, that the allegedly inattentive police officer wasn’t ticketed, and that, despite a passel of officers on the scene, police failed to interview witnesses, instead focusing their efforts on delivering a ticket in a hospital to AIDS-wracked, wheelchair-bound artist.
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Mr. Mitchell,
I am so delighted to learn that the charges against you will be dropped and I trust you are on the road to a full recovery from your injuries.
Please sue the Albemarle County Police Department. I can’t believe there is a jury in the world that would not award damages. Cover your medical expenses and donate a portion to charity. Hold the public officials accountable for their negligent act.
I trust one day they will apologize to you, but they haven’t even ticketed the negligent officer, so I won’t hold my breath.
Holiday Cheers,
Free Speech
I am with Free Speech. Please sue them ASAP. You certainly could use the money after all your injuries. I hope that your kidney function has improved, but you still must consider that you may go into kidney failure, and will need ALOT of financial support.
The worst thing about this is not the actual accident, but the charges they filed against you-in the ER no less.
I don’t think your lawyer did you any service either, as he did not even notify you regarding the continuance, so it would be best to find someone else. I am so glad you had a willing credible witness. I am sorry for all your trouble. Really you MUST sue, because they police department thinks this is the way to act-blame the victim, and accept no responsibility. This must change.
I doubt if this story is over.
Cville Eye is right, but for reasons that you may not be thinking about.
Gerry Mitchell’s birthday is Christmas, the 25th, so he and I made plans to have lunch today at noon. When he arrived at lunch, he told me that Courteney Stuart had just called him about the charge being dropped… and that was the first Gerry had heard of it!
They didn’t bother to even call him, but fed the story to WINA and The Progress.
The article by Kate Harmon in the Progress today contained two paragraphs of direct quotes (supposedly) from Gerry at the very end of the piece at the jump (page A9), that make it sound like not only was he aware of the pending dismissal but he was ok with it. Gerry was never called by the Progress and certainly didn’t give those quotes.
I am told that City spokesperson Ric Barrick may have passed this news along to the press. Did he also include the direct quotes that Gerry never gave on this matter?
Disclaimer: I am an attorney, but I do not represent Gerry in this matter. I am a longtime friend who happened to have lunch plans with him today who is outraged that he never was personally notified of this. And the back door way this was handled - the afternoon before four non-businesss days when everyone is on holiday - probably means that Gerry won’t be getting the apology that everyone in this town believes he is owed by both the City and the County.
This development truly adds insult to injury. How much worse can this ordeal get for him?
Cheri, as you can tell, the locals are scrambling around playing CYOA right now. They probably keep forgetting to call Gerry Mitchell and tell him anything in their rush to smooth things over. I hope you, as an attorney, advised Mr. Mitchell to sue their butts off. Both the county police and the city police. Instead of solving crimes rather than waiting for citizen tips to do all their work for them, they’re out running over people and then covering for each other. And the nerve of Longo to sit back and tell City Council there were no witnesses to this motor vehicle vs pedestrian event. If Longo honestly didn’t know there were witnesses, his chain of command is just about as much use to him as a broken cell phone.
According to Mrs. Lewis “Gerry was never called by the Progress and certainly didn’t give those quotes.” Now, some people can see why I constantly warn them not to believe everything they read. I don’t know why I’m surprised.
Mr. Mitchell may be a victim by all parties here, the City, the County, the media and those who have their own persoanl vendettas. And all he wants is an apology.
I called WINA after I grabbed Dave Chapman on the Downtown Mall yesterday and he told me that they were going to drop the charges. He also told me that he had spoken to Gerry Mitchell’s attorney about this earlier in the day. Rob Graham of WINA then spoke to Dave Chapman and verified what I had told him. The Progress put most of their story together by using the story on WINA’s web page. I am not sure of where the quotes from Gerry Mitchell originated but they were definitely used out of context in the story. The story on WINA incorrectly said that the walk signal uses a green man. It’s white. That error was repeated in The Progress’ story.
Oh yeah, just to clarify things, I never called The Daily Progress.
Chief Longo has been quoted as suggesting that the citizens need to “trust†that he will do the right thing.
Well, Chief Longo, do you really think the failure of not informing Mr. Mitchell that the charges would be dropped is earning you any trust?
I have a New Year’s Resolution for you: “I, Chief Longo, will earn the trust of the citizens by demonstrating that I deserve their trust.â€
Kate Harmon wrote the article in The Progress, so I sent an email to her to find out where the Gerry Mitchell quotes came from. If I get a reply I will post it here.
Happy Birthday Mr. Mitchell!
And if you end up needing ongoing kidney/nephrology care, I highly recommend my own nephrologist, Dr. Kevin McConnell near Martha Jefferson Hospital. He’s on vacation until Jan. 1 though. He and his staff will treat you with respect, dignity and give you all the information you need rather than keeping you in the dark.
[...] who was hit by an Albemarle County Police Officer. Mitchell was originally charged with jaywalking, but the charge was dropped this week. Stuart also reports on a memo from Police Chief Longo about the case that surfaced this week. [...]
Kate Harmon’s response to my email (recieved Monday, December 24, 2007 12:37 PM) about Mr. Mitchell not making the quoted comments according to Cheri Lewis:
I spoke with Gerry on Monday or Tuesday of last week about the follow-up I was working on regarding his case. Friday afternoon as I was writing it up, we got a hold of Chief Longo’s memo to the city council which said the charges would be dropped. I apologize, as I should have called Gerry to check back in with him. I will give him a call today.
Thanks.
Kate
Poor Kate never mentioned where she got Gerry’s quotes, or why she made them if? Write her again and remind her she wrote this and people would like to know who fed this baloney to her!:
“Good comes out of this,†Mitchell said. “People will pay more attention to laws of crossing the crosswalks.â€
Mitchell’s charges will be officially dismissed Jan. 3. “I’m just very happy to be alive, certainly not angry,†Mitchell said. “It’s a miracle I didn’t get killed.â€
Sick Of The Local Rambos, you write her, I’m not your secretary!
Get off your backside and do your own investigative work.
I work for no one!
OK, Free Speech. I will see her this week.
Just a clarification to Free Speech’s comment, “Please sue the Albemarle County Police Department.” There is ALWAYS a misrepresentation of jurisdiction in newsworthy cases. Wouldn’t he have to sue the Charlottesville Police, not the Albemarle county Police? Longo is Chief of Charlottesville …
I believe he would sue the employer of the person that struck him. There’s the damage.
He could actually sue all involved. The city police department, the county police department, and the driver as an individual. Which of course would include the Charlottesville police chief and officer Grissom. Chief Longo for failure to properly train his officers. And Grissom for failing to conduct a reasonable, good faith, or professional investigation to determine what took place; Grissom acted maliciously and/or with gross negligence in conducting his investigation. Grissom, a 25+ year veteran police officer, didn’t even discover there were witnesses to this accident. Did he not talk to the county police officer? The county police officer certainly knew there were witnesses.