The New York Times article about how killing a cyclist almost never leads to prosecution got me looking at my own list of DC-area cycling deaths. In particular I looked at the death of Walter Penney back in 2002.
Penney, an experienced cyclist, was struck by a car while riding his bike on Sligo Creek Parkway at about 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. Scott Davis, 23, of the 10900 block of Bucknell Drive in Wheaton, was driving a 1986 Volkswagen south on Sligo Creek Parkway near Dallas Avenue, according to Montgomery County Police.
For unknown reasons, Davis crossed the road's center line, striking Penney, police said. Penney was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring; Davis was taken to Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park with non-life-threatening injuries.
Scott A. Davis was not drunk and did not leave the scene, but he was charged, prosecute and convicted of vehicular manslaughter, which is pretty unusual as noted in the NYT article
“We do not know of a single case of a cyclist fatality in which the driver was prosecuted, except for D.U.I. or hit-and-run,” Leah Shahum, the executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, told me.
So looking him up I found the court records of his case. He was convicted in March 2003, and sentenced to 7 years in prison (with all but three suspended). But it looks to me like there were several appeals made and denied and some hearings on probation violations and then it is unclear what finally happens. Can anyone understand this better than me. Did he ever go to prison for this?
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