Video: Dem Councilwoman Accused of Plowing Into Bicyclist with Car, Now Refuses to Resign
A Jersey City, New Jersey, councilwoman whose car breezed through an intersection last month, flipping a bicyclist as it went, is resisting calls to resign.
Democrat Amy DeGise has been charged with failure to report the accident and leaving the scene, according to WNBC-TV.
The incident occurred about 8 a.m. July 19, according to the New York Post. Traffic camera video released by the city last week and posted to YouTube shows a black SUV driven by DeGise enter an intersection while a bicyclist was trying to cross.
The SUV never slowed down even after it collided with the bicycle.
The man went up onto the hood of the car before sliding off and landing on the pavement. His bicycle landed on the far side of the street.
A WNBC report is below:
The cyclist, identified by WNBC as 31-year-old Andrew Black, said he had the green light, although WNBC said police dispute that.
However, DeGise is in hot water for not stopping.
John Solomon, a fellow member of the Jersey City City Council, has signed onto an online petition demanding DeGrise step down.
“The word I use is ‘horrified.’ That’s how I felt watching the video,” Solomon told WNBC. “She’s an elected official and we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard and that’s why I think she should resign.”
The bicyclist DeGise struck agrees.
“[That] someone of prestige would fall to a point where they would ignore the law they are demanding to uphold, and they are trying to clean our streets or whatever they are calling it, they can’t even do it themselves — that really upsets me,” Black told HudPost, a news site serving Hudson County, New Jersey, according to NJ.com.
A spokesman for DeGise said she will not quit.
“Councilwoman DeGise was elected overwhelmingly just a few months ago and she has no intention of walking away from the commitment she made to serve the people of Jersey City. She will not resign and plans to complete her full term and continue in public service,” Phil Swibinski said in a statement, according to Fox News.
“Amy recognizes the calls that have been made for additional information and transparency,” Swibinski said. “She would very much like to address this situation more comprehensively, but there is a legal process that must play out first and she will not be making any additional public comment at this time.”
Democrat Amy Degise who became an elected official on New Jerseys city council, pulled a hit and run a few days ago. She refuses calls to resign and so far no arrest??? She feels justified to have kept on going because she had a green light.????? pic.twitter.com/vP0P5Ua2dk
— Nancy Patriot ? Free Speech! (@chairityj2004) August 1, 2022
“As she has said previously, she is thankful that no one was seriously injured and she fully intends to speak out more when the legal process is concluded. She will continue working hard to serve the people who elected her, just as she has since she was inaugurated in January,” the statement said.
Not everyone agreed with that position.
“Past being elected it’s a living human being, it was really hard for me to witness that,” Councilman Frank Gilmore told WNBC. “It’s a matter of public trust, it’s a matter of respect, it’s a matter of human decency.”
Megan Carolan, author of a petition calling on DeGise to resign that had almost 3,600 signatures as of Monday morning, said even though DeGise reported the incident to police eventually, it was still a six-hour wait, according to NJ.com.
“I think that some folks have really been relying hard on this idea that she did the right thing eventually,” Carolan said. “Six hours is not doing the right thing. It’s not.”
“This man could have been in the hospital. He could have been dead. She had no way of knowing that,” Carolan said.
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