Wisconsin
is an odd place. I don’t say that
because I’m from Chicago and hate the Packers.
Or because I went to college in Minnesota and the state is wedged in
between. I say it because it’s true and sometimes
things like this come up. It is a hard-drinking state. It is a state that has some folks who take
the whole next-door “Minnesota-nice” thing a bit too far, too. Those two thing collided literally last week.
Steven
Gove, age 56, delivers newspapers on a three-wheeled bike. He wears a blue jacket with reflective
stripes and has blinking lights on his bike. These safety features are there so
people see him in the early morning hours and don’t hit him with their cars
when he’s out delivering papers. It still seems like a relatively slow,
dangerous way to deliver papers. In my
neighborhood, it’s a guy in a Ford Ranger who drives by and has mastered the
art of the cross-seat, other window throw into the driveway. People running or driving their cars at 4:30
a.m. are the ones who have to watch out for him. He’s relatively accurate, though.
Gove,
though, goes it on the trike. That decision met up with a twenty year-old who
police suspect was drunk. So does this
blog. The twenty year-old, who isn’t
named for some reason in the article (link here), hit Gove, who then lodged in the windshield of
his car. Gove, being from Wisconsin, is equal parts tough and nice. So, when lodged in the windshield, Gove said,
“Hello, I’m the guy you hit on the bicycle.”
Seriously. No cussing. Just an upside down introduction to the dude
who’s driving you to his house.
And
the dude kept driving all the way home before he realized that Gove was
literally stuck in his windshield. Then
this happened:
"He looked at me and said `Who are
you? What are you doing in the car?'" Gove said. "He started freaking
out: `I'm going to jail, I'm going to jail.'"
He should be going to jail. He should be going for a long time. Instead of then helping, the kid ran into his house and Gove wedged himself out of the car and walked down the street. Some neighbor had called the police. They took Gove to the hospital wehre doctors removed glass from his eyes and treated him for cuts to his legs and head.
The driver has been arrested, but not formally
charged. He’s facing charges including suspicion of drunken driving (no
brainer - if not drunk, drugged driving,
or seriously impaired driving), hit and run and failure to render aid.
He needs to spend some serious time in jail or a
mental hospital. He was likely either so drunk and drugged that he didn’t see a
guy lodged in his windshield, or having such a psychotic episode that he needs serious
help. Either way, he doesn’t need to be
on the road for quite some time.
Gove needs to get an old Ford Ranger and learn
to throw papers out the window. This
bike thing isn’t working, though he seems both exceedingly nice and tough as
nails. The Wisconsin combination.
Full
story: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/24508309/cyclist-driver-didnt-see-me-stuck-in-windshield#axzz2r8SQud97
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