You didn't read that wrong.
In Alhambra a seventy-eight year old man was run down in his wheelchair while crossing the street in a crosswalk. According to Alhambra police, there was no way that the driver could not have been aware that he had collided with Shih-Saing Ho's wheelchair. From the story on ABC7 (video above):
Police said Ho was familiar with the area and was a longtimeAlhambra resident, often visiting his sister, who also lived in thearea. Ho was heading home from his sister's house when he was struckfrom behind. Given the extensive damage to the wheelchair, police saidthe driver must have known that they hit someone.
"It waspretty well demolished," said Alhambra Police Sgt. Brandon Black. "Ithad been flattened, it had been disassembled by the impact. Personally,I have never seen one in that bad a condition after an accident."
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the police were able to track down the woman who slammed into a pedestrian after she had drug her victim for a mere half-mile.
A female pedestrian was killed Thursday after a vehicle hit and dragged her several city blocks in downtown Los Angeles.
Police were able to catch up with the suspect just before 1 a.m. at the intersection of 5th and Los Angeles streets.
Authorities believe the victim was hit at 7th Street and Ceres Avenue,and the female driver dragged the woman about a half-mile. Police hadto pull the driver over to get her to stop. She is now in policecustody.
And I haven't even gotten into the cyclist injured in a hit-and-run in North Hollywood.
Sometimes the news conspires to remind you that no matter how safe one tries to be on the road, the reality is all the precautions in the world won't save you from an unsafe, uncaring, and dangerous driver. Hopefully the police and prosecutres treat these "accidents" as the assaults that they really are. One doesn't have to be as diabolical as Dr. Thompson to be a menace behind the wheel.
(Update: The LAPD is now referring the the half-mile dragging in the Downtown as murder per ABC7.)
