Police in Washington Park, Illinois are searching for a driver and passenger who ran down a bicyclist at a gas station, as shown on the video below.
Anthony Jackson has not just a criminal complaint to bring but an obvious tort case for assault, battery, and negligence. It is rare to have such video tapes to document a civil case, but this one would be pretty cut and dry. Putting aside the total lack of humanity, the driver shows an equal lack of brains. They paid for the gas moments before and drove out of a station festooned with security cameras. The passenger might also be charged as an accessory in the crime.
For the story, click here.
Pardon this post for its unfeeling legalism, but just analyzing the situation of the passenger in the van, how could he be charged as an accessory if he’s rendered no assistance in the commission of the offense or gained nothing thereby? It seems the mental state involved on the part of the driver is “recklessness.” How could that passenger be in any way culpable for a reckless act of the driver, much less a wanton or intentional act?
I’d go so far as to say that if apprehended by the police, there wouldn’t be probable cause to even arrest the passenger barring some really odd admission of involvement on his part. Then again, I’m not familiar with the law of the jurisdiction in question.
But I think I’d represent the passenger either civilly or criminally in a heartbeat.
I was the passenger and at the time I was looking at child porn and wanking into a bagel which I intended to feed to my daughter. You think I shouldn’t be arrested, really? Eat my come bagels, bitch.