Posted on 01/25/2011 1:12:12 AM PST by buccaneer81
DeWine's assistance not enough for bicyclist who collided with car Monday, January 24, 2011 11:29 PM By Alan Johnson The Columbus Dispatch
In Mike DeWine's first week as Ohio attorney general, his car collided with a bicyclist Downtown - and he ended up having the man taken on a 100-mile round trip to be treated by the officeholder's personal physician.
Jonathan Kirk, 28, a dishwasher at Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails, wasn't seriously injured, but he was shaken up in the Jan. 13 morning accident.
According to a Columbus police report, confirmed by accounts from DeWine and Kirk, Kirk rode his bicycle against a red light at Front and Main streets. He was knocked to the pavement by a 2008 Chrysler 300 in which DeWine was a passenger. A DeWine staff member, Robert Lagergren, was driving DeWine's personal car.
Kirk, who said he has no insurance because he can't afford it, didn't want to go to a hospital emergency room and left the scene to make a scheduled appointment with his parole officer. Story continues below Advertisement
However, DeWine tracked him down and insisted that he see a doctor.
The attorney general had a staff member, Ann O'Donnell, drive Kirk to Jamestown, Ohio, about 30 miles southeast of Dayton, to see DeWine's physician, Dr. Kevin Sherrett, who is also the Greene County coroner.
"He's my personal doctor, and he's extremely thorough," DeWine said. "I thought it would be the fastest way. I called him up, told his office it was an emergency, and he said to bring him over, he would fit him in."
The doctor did not charge for the visit, but DeWine said he asked to be billed for the cost of X-rays.
Kirk told The Dispatch that he doesn't know the results of an X-ray taken at Sherrett's office because he doesn't have a home phone and his cell phone was crushed in the accident.
"When I got up (the day after the accident), I wasn't able to make it to work. I was so sore," Kirk said. He said his right ankle and foot were injured.
O'Donnell said she gave Kirk $70 in cash to make up for missing a day's work and bought him lunch.
The next day, Kirk called the attorney general's office seeking payment for missing a second day's work and reimbursement for his cell phone. He suggested he might go to the news media with his story, she said.
At that point, DeWine conferred with attorneys in his office and decided to provide no more help to Kirk.
"They did do a good thing," Kirk said of DeWine's help. "But it's not like I'm asking for a whole lot. I'm just asking for $80 and a new phone."
ajohnson@dispatch.com
Mike DeWine is a freakin’ attorney and knew what he was getting into. He needs legal advice from no one. It’s just hilarious seeing politicians being outraged at $80 worth of extortion
Just curious, dennisw, how do you know DeWine “went” to the media?>>>>
His side is certainly represented in the article. Maybe the media went to him. Either way he got in his licks
Get some help, Dennis. Or go over to DU.
I do not understand your point of view at all, dennisw. This is a prime example of no good deed going unpunished. And all you can do is rail against the person who attempted to do the decent thing despite not being at fault.
I’m done discussing the matter.
Kirk suggested blackmail.
“....spandex-wearing scofflaws on two wheels.”
I’m LOL because I have no love of bicyclists where I live. It’s a beautiful, rural area with narrow, hilly and twisty roads but bike clubs from nearby cities frequently come out to ride them.
They are not scofflaws but I cringe when I know they’re out. It’s dangerous and I’ve seen people do extremely stupid things trying to get around them when they’re riding 2-3 abreast as they approach bends in the road.
Are you trolling?
Precisely. Dennis thinks DeWine should sign his house over to Kirk. After all, Dennis says DeWine is "rich" and would never miss the money,
Kirk suggested blackmail. >>>>>>>
Are you sure a poor schmuck dishwasher requesting $80 and a new cellphone meets the legal minimum for blackmail? This is ridiculous
I like how everyone here is feigning outrage at such a pathetic level of extortion
Here in my suburb they run red lights and stop signs.
We're not feigning, and you are admitting that it's extortion.
Extortion, no matter how pathetic the attempt is, is still extortion.
I might freely give $100 to someone without a second thought, but add a threat of extortion on top of the exact same circumstances, and I would not be inclined to give a single cent.
I am really having a hard time understanding how you can take this stance. It just seems completely out of character for you (from what I have seen on FR in the past...you have been here a while, so I know you aren’t a DUmmy troll or anything.) Seriously. I am puzzled.
Kirk should have been responsible for any expenses since he was at fault and DeWine should bill him for any touch up work his car needed after the collision.
If I was Mike Dewine I would have been amused at this dishwashers lame attempt at blackmail and would have forked over the $80 and gotten him a cellphone replacement. I would have done it just for good luck. I would not have been offended
Mike Dewine reached out halfway but not all the way because he is a phony. He is as bad as the cyclist
DeWine’s initiative was to help. The punk’s initiative was to get even more free stuff that wasn’t owed to him. Even at that, had he merely asked and been turned down—rather than threaten the media blackmail, what he did would have been less egregious.
Let me get this straight - the kid runs a red light and hits DeWine’s car, and DeWine wants to help the little pumk? What he should have done was call 911 and let the little scofflaw get the citation he deserved.
I agree. But we have a 12 year FReeper acting like a troll on this thread who thinks DeWine should fork over even more money to the punk.
DeWine was trying to be a nice guy in the matter. When the parolee wanted more money or he’d go to the press, he stepped over a line called extortion.
I’m sure that DeWine’s attorney told him not to pay another dime. It would not have stopped at another $80 and a cell phone, DeWine and his lawyer knew that. To pay him any money to begin with is fodder for the bicyclist’ pro bono liberal lawyer, the con man is sure to get too.
We are in agreement and I don’t understand any conservative saying the con man deserved another red cent.
Agreed 100%.
Somebody must have been hitting the sauce hard last night. Extortion is extortion no matter what the price.
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