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A few details about the Bay Ridge incident that killed a female pedestrian and injured other pedestrians yesterday afternoon. At 86th Street and 5th Avenue, reports say that the driver of a Honda CR-V "made a wrong turn" (1010 WINS) and/or "mashed the accelerator" (Daily News). The SUV jumped the curb, first hit Lance Sevorwell (throwing him 15 feet in the air), and then pinned Lyudmila Piyavskaya, a 53-year-old Ukrainian woman, against the wall of a bakery. Piyavskaya was instantly killed and Sevorwell had leg and head injuries.
The News reports that driver Lou Lou Sayeg got out of her car, crying, "Oh my God!" and "I killed that lady!" Her passenger had minor injuries; Sayeg was not charged. Piyavskaya's upset husband said, "I was with her earlier, but I had to go to Queens. I wish I could have been with her. I could have saved her. I could have pushed her out of the way."
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First, let me say that that is monumentally sad.
Second, for those of you studying for the bar exam: Lou Lou Sayag's statement, (1)concerning a startling event (2) made while the declarant was under the stress caused by the event, is admissible to prove the truth of the matter asserted within the statement. Excited utterance statements are excepted from the bar on generally unreliable hearsay evidence becasue excitement is thought to suspend one's capacity to fabricate.
Would someone with knowledge of how the legal system works please point out under what kind of circumstances a driver is charged for a crime when something like this happens?
Being as how we're all pedestrians at some point or another, if someone can plow down two people and not even be charged with a crime, doesn't that sound a little odd? Not even involuntary manslaughter or something?
The cops never charge drivers. The job of NYPD is to protect property and an automobile is property. Pedestrians are simply nuisances that get in the way of other people's property. I'm sure NYPD is exploring ways of charging pedestrians with assault in these cases. After all, it was the pedestrian's body that "assaulted" that poor SUV. Cars rule in New York City. And the cops are here to uphold the rules...
#3,
Almost constantly overlooked is the fact that the most important piece of property you own is you.
Most reminders of this fact are met with responses such as "yeah, whatever you crazy ass Libertarian".
But it's a fact nonetheless.
Guest [1], that's a good point. But while her statement seems like it'd be an admissible hearsay as an exception under excited utterance, I'm not sure how useful it'd be, since it doesn't seem to be in dispute that Ms. Sayag did kill Mrs. Piyavskaya. It's not like she said "Oh my God, I saw her but I made the turn anyway because I thought there was room!"
In any case, though, for the purposes of helping out those folks who might be studying for the bar exam, good catch by you.
I would also like to know more about this "no charges filed" phenomenon, which is reported with most serious accidents that make the papers. (The exception seems to be with DUI.) My theory is that some charges come later, after the story is run. I mean, in a case like this it's just inconceivable that it is not a traffic violation.
Gothamist should find an anonymous member of the NYPD and start a new "ask the officer" feature. In instances like this, we keep asking over and over, "why is the driver NEVER charged?" It would be interesting to get a response from someone on the inside.
This would also be handy for dispensing answers on such issues as bike safety, and when people are issued tickets for placing a bag on the seat on an empty train.
I for one, as a pedestrian and cyclist and never a driver, ever, am getting fucking sick of this, and I can't be the only one.
If the law isn't going to protect our rights, even the most basic of them (per #4), what logical argument can be made against vigilantism?
[8] becasue vigilantism disrespects the rule of law. What civilized societies are based on. You can vote, you can persuade, you can move. If you can't do any of those learn how to. Take the law into your own hands and you are closer to a common criminal than the Jean Valjean you are in your head.
What wrong turn did she make, exactly? 5th Ave and 86th are both 2-direction streets.
My theory is that she was making a K-turn in the middle of the street, like a jackass, and mistook gas for brake or forward for reverse.
She is a fucking idiot. And with a name like Lou Lou Sayeg, she probably immigrated to the United States and didn't give a fuck about our laws or people. I live in Brooklyn, and what she did is a dramatic testament to what goes on every day in Brooklyn: These fucking foreigners who have no business being here are destroying this once great place to live.