Former Mayor David Dinkins has been sued by a bicycle deliveryman who claims the politician struck and injured him while driving in a car last June.
Deliveryman Rodrigo Garcia, 32, says in the lawsuit that he was making a food delivery on the Upper East Side on June 30th when the incident happened. Garcia was biking on York Avenue near 69th Street and was stopped in the left lane to make a left turn when Dinkins, who was driving a Cadillac, allegedly clipped a basket on the front of his bike, then drove away.
Garcia ended up suffering a broken right ankle because of the incident. Dinkins was interviewed by police afterwards, and no ticket was issued for leaving the scene of an accident.
Dinkins, 89, acknowledged the incident in a statement, saying he was taking his wife Joyce to the hospital at the time, and didn't realize he had made any contact with the biker until after the initial incident (at which point he spoke to cops).
"I take my responsibilities as a driver in New York City very seriously and would never do anything to violate the law," Dinkins said. "I have spent my lifetime helping New Yorkers and nothing will ever change that."
Here's more of his statement:
As we neared the hospital on York Avenue, a man came up to my car window and told me my car had been hit by a bicycle about a half a block away. It was the first time I was aware of any such incident. I told the man that my wife was in medical distress and that we were on the way to the emergency room a short distance away, but that I would return to the area he described once I got her into the ER.
After I made sure that Joyce was admitted and being cared for I not only returned right away to the alleged scene in my vehicle (no one was present at that time) but also fully cooperated with officers from the NYPD who interviewed me at the hospital. The officers also inspected my car.
So it’s clear: I was not aware of any contact between the bicycle and my car at the time it may have occurred. When I became aware of the incident, I not only returned to the scene, I also fully cooperated in the making of the police department accident report.
Garcia, who is out of work because of his injury, isn't so forgiving: "You’re [89] years old,” Garcia told the Daily News. "You hit me, you don’t even realize you hit me? I completely understand that. I just think you should not be driving then. And now you’re destroying my life. Then you’re comfortable in your life, living in Midtown, and I’m here in the Bronx without anything because of you. It’s ridiculous."
