Posted on 12/06/2005 6:48:03 AM PST by southernnorthcarolina
WASHINGTON - A 73-year-old man who received a $5 jaywalking ticket after he was struck by a car later died from his injuries, police said Monday.
Charles Atherton, a former secretary of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts that advises the government on architecture and design in official Washington, was hit Thursday while crossing busy Connecticut Avenue. He died Saturday night at George Washington University Hospital.
Although witnesses said he was badly injured and unresponsive at the scene, police issued him the ticket. His family found it with his belongings when they went to the hospital.
"We knew it was a serious injury, but we didn't know it was life-threatening," police Capt. Willie Smith told The Washington Post in a story for Tuesday editions. He said officers would not have issued the ticket "if we knew he was going to die."
Police said they determined Atherton was at fault when he was hit by a car driven by a 31-year-old woman.
Atherton was secretary of the presidentially appointed commission for 40 years and reviewed countless proposed monuments and projects in the capital, including the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the National World War II Memorial.
so does the man's family still have to pay his ticket?
Had he paid the ticked before he died though?
I know that if I had been driving the car that struck him, the ticket would be very important. Count me as one of the 'anal' crowd.
You want to go to court defending yourself againt sharges of manslaughter? Be my guest.
"I know this is true because my wife told me it was."
We obviously have something in common.
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