Monday Morning Commute - Denial

Good morning.

• The owner of the car seen in a viral video intentionally hitting a cyclist and then driving away turned himself in to police. "The case against John W. Diehl, a retired Metropolitan Police Department officer, has stalled for several months as authorities were apparently unable to serve him a judicial summons ordering him to show up for court. A spokesman for the D.C. attorney general said Mr. Diehl will be formally charged when he appears in court with leaving the scene after a collision causing personal injury and leaving the scene after a collision causing property damage." Mr Diehl is denying involvement in the crash. 
• New condo will have a bicycle maintenance facility.
• MTA has shown new plans for the CCT through the Silver Spring Tranist Center. The trail will now be higher up - on the third level on the station - but on a different level than the train station. "The trail would will hold straight and to a 12+ foot width through the station, but there would be a sharp turn at the south end of the station where the CCT would meet the MetBranch Trail." (image below)
• The Montgomery County Department of Transportation will fill the vacant bicycle cooridinator position.

 

Comments

[antibozo]

FYI: link to www.silverspringtrails.org is missing http://

[SBG]

Lets hope that the Silver Spring transit will open in the not too distant future. It will be nice to have a dedicated bike path within the structure itself.

[w]

Has MOCO posted the job announcement for bicycle coordinator? I looked for it but didn't see it listed.

[Read Scott Martin]

I now take the sidewalk and crosswalks when going around the Mount Rainier circle because of that video.

[SJE]

Mr Diehl is a retired MPD officer. Gee, I hope that the failure to bring him in isn't a case of "professional courtesy."

[JimT]

What can we make of the fact that the Washington Times seems to be motivating the Diel case forward?

Speculating, all I can figure is that the Washington Times is always critical of the DC government, which is a good thing when the city fails to fulfill its responsibilities.

[charlie]

@JimT; great point, and no idea on the answer.

And what to make of this:

William Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said Friday that prosecutors are continuing to investigate the case and that no charges have been filed.

A spokesman for the D.C. attorney general said Mr. Diehl will be formally charged when he appears in court with leaving the scene after a collision causing personal injury and leaving the scene after a collision causing property damage.

[SJE]

This may legitimately be a reasonable time for the US Attorney's Office.

OTOH there is plenty of evidence in the literature that police and prosecutors (in general) alike are very slow to prosecute anyone in law enforcement. It seems to take a public outcry.