[ Notice that the bicyclist was one o' those girlie
types who ride their bicycle to work!! He also uses
the present tense to describe events in the past,
indicates entirely too much reading of contem****ary
fiction! ]
By JONATHAN MARTIN & CHRIS FRATES |
7/23/08 2:02 PM EST Updated: 7/23/08 2:02 PM EST
Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak was cited by
police after he hit a pedestrian with his black
Corvette in downtown Wa****ngton, D.C., on Wednesday
morning [ and drove away ].
Novak, 77, has earned a reputation around the capital
as an aggressive driver.
A Politico re****ter saw Novak in the front of a
police car with a citation in his hand; a WJLA-TV
crew and re****ter saw Novak as well. The pedestrian,
a 66-year-old man who was not further identified by
authorities, was treated at George Wa****ngton
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 re****ters 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 wind****eld."
Bono said that the pedestrian, who was crossing the
street on a "Walk" signal and was in the crosswalk,
rolled off the wind****eld 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 re****ter 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."
A concierge at 1700 K Street said that she saw a
bicyclist yelling and walked outside to see what
the commotion was about.
"This guy hit somebody and he won't stop so I'm
going to stay here until the police come," Aleta
Petty quoted Bono as saying, as he stood in K Street,
blocking traffic.
D.C. police confirmed that there was an accident at
18th and K streets NW at approximately 10 a.m.
involving a black Corvette convertible and that the
driver was a white male.
The intersection is in the hub of Wa****ngton's
business district and is filled with pedestrians
who work in the law firms and lobby shops that line
the corridor.
Novak, 77, has earned a reputation around the capital
as an aggressive driver, easily identified in his
convertible s****ts car.
In 2001, he cursed at a pedestrian on the corner of
Pennsylvania Avenue and 13th streets Northwest for
allegedly jaywalking.
"Learn to read the signs, [bodily orifice]!" Novak
snapped before speeding away, according to an item
in The Wa****ngton Post's Reliable Source column.
Novak explained to the paper: "He was crossing on
the red light. I really hate jaywalkers. I despise
them. Since I don't run the country, all I can do
is yell at 'em. The other option is to run 'em over,
but as a compassionate conservative, I would never
do that."
Two years later, the same column re****ted that Novak
had gone to a racing school in Florida.
"I've wanted to be a racecar driver all my life,
and anyone who has watched me drive can tell you
that," Novak said.
Anne Schroeder Mullins and Adrienne Smutko contributed
to this story.
More from ABC7 News:
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0708/537957.html
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