Robert Novak's hit and run "accident" leaves me to wonder what more does it take...

[zulchzulu]

....to give this knucklehead ANY credibility as a journalist who should report on the Presidential Race. Did I miss DUers not discussing this bizarre story?

Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak was cited by police after he hit a pedestrian with his black Corvette in downtown Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning.

A Politico reporter saw Novak in the front of a police car with a citation in his hand; a WJLA-TV crew and reporter saw Novak as well. The pedestrian, a 66-year-old man who was not further identified by authorities, was treated at George Washington University Hospital for minor injuries, according to D.C. Fire and EMS. Novak was later released by police and drove away from the scene.

“I didn’t know I hit him. ... I feel terrible,” a shaken Novak told reporters from Politico and WJLA as he was returning to his car. "He's not dead, that's the main thing." Novak said he was a block away from 18th and K streets Northwest, where the accident occurred, when a bicyclist stopped him and said he had hit someone. He said he was cited for failing to yield the right of way.

The bicyclist was David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, who was on his usual bike commute to work at 1700 K St. N.W. when he witnessed the accident.

As he traveled east on K Street, crossing 18th, Bono said "a black Corvette convertible with top closed plows into the guy. The guy is sort of splayed into 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. “This car is speeding away. What’s going through my mind is, you just can’t hit a pedestrian and drive away,” Bono said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11985.html

First he outs a CIA agent, gets punked by McSame and now...this....

[Cha]

1. It's bizare to not know you've

hit someone with your car..dangerously unobservant. His license should be suspended at the very least.

[ingac70]

2. A witness says the guy was splayed across the windshield!

And Novakula didn't know he hit him! He is either senile or he was drunk.

[MiniMe]

12. Option 3, he is a liar

[my2sense]

3. Why is he not in JAIL?

If any of us had done the same, we'd be locked up.

[zulchzulu]

5. E-x-a-c-t-l-y!

That was my first reaction to the story. He's not in the pokey???

Um... I wonder if he travels with a bag-0-fitties...

[Kaylee]

8. My first reaction too....

There have been numerous hit-and-runs in the DC area and in every one of them the person was jailed....

[KingFlorez]

4. Hitting someone with your car is very serious

Seems like he got off too easy

[Youphemism]

6. "Hit someone? No, but I remember a 6 foot screaming pigeon turd bouncing off my windshield..."

It sounds more believable than most of the things you hear from Novak.

[opihimoimoi]

7. Kharma....he is jinxed....he did bad once upon a time...it comes back

[MrSlayer]

9. I don't think hitting someone with a car means you are not qualified to be a journalist.

But I do think outing an undercover CIA agent and blowing that officer's entire network is treason. And a hanging offense. He should not have been alive to run anyone over.

[Skidmore]

10. He's not a journalist.

He's an over rated and overpaid provocateur.

[MrSlayer]

11. As you will.

I don't think hitting someone with a car disqualifies you from that position. That's all. I stand by my earlier statement that this all could have been avoided had justice taken its course.

[crankychatter]

14. hit and run disqualifies you as a human being... if being human isn't a requirement for a journalist

then you MIGHT be right

[zulchzulu]

16. If he was treated like a common citizen, he'd be in the tank and forced to resign

I'm sure not to many organizations would want someone who had a hit-and-run accident to be representing them. He got away this time.

[crankychatter]

13. in San Francisco once, a bus driver jumped a curb and hit like ten people... didn't stop

just kept driving back to the barn thinking "Well, there goes my job."

[sourmilk]

15. Could Novakula be in for some serious civil litigation?

I wonder just how PO'd the cyclist that had to rush around and chase Novakula until he caught up with him was?

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. “This 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 blaring, until commuters behind Novak backed up so he could 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 news personality 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.”


You mean THIS cyclist??? I hope that he was extraordinarily PISSED. I wonder if he smells BLOOD???

http://www.harkinscunningham.com/profiles/washington/bono.html

David A. Bono
Partner
Washington Office

"David Bono represents business clients in complex and appellate litigation, and he advises them with respect to their federal regulatory obligations. In his trial-level work, for example, Mr. Bono successfully argued on behalf of a coalition of the nation’s thirty-six largest railroads for a nationwide injunction against a possible labor strike. His representation before the United States Supreme Court has included a case affirming the federal courts' inherent power to impose sanctions for bad-faith conduct, and the Court appointed Mr. Bono in another case to brief the constitutional rights of property owners. His regulatory advice has included environmental and securities matters.

Mr. Bono is a former trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where he represented the interests of federal agencies, Cabinet officers and other Executive Branch officials with respect to federal regulations, statutes and policies. For example, he was lead trial counsel for the Secretary of Transportation, the Attorney General, and the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Justice in the federal lawsuit that prevented the Exxon Valdez from returning to Prince William Sound, Alaska. He also represented the Secretary of Energy in litigation seeking $120 million for his alleged wrongful termination of a contract to purchase electricity.

Mr. Bono graduated magna cum laude from Duke University in 1982, with double majors in Public Policy Studies and Economics. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1986, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review and placed second in the Williston Negotiation Competition. He served as a law clerk to The Honorable Edward R. Becker, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Bars of the United States Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit."