CNN Anchor Admits Leaving Scene Of Accident (Oops!); Jack Cafferty Pleads Guilty

WNBC-TV New York ^ | 8.5.03

[mhking]

NEW YORK -- CNN anchor Jack Cafferty will pay a $250 fine and perform 70 hours of community service after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Cafferty had been charged with the traffic infraction, along with misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, assault and harassment, after police said he knocked a man off a bike with his Cadillac on May 14.

A traffic officer and about five pedestrians ran after Cafferty's car to stop him after the accident, but Cafferty drove through at least two red lights and around other vehicles without stopping, according to a police complaint.

Cafferty was dragging the man's bike underneath his car, police said.

Cafferty later told police that he had seen a man on a bike who may have been a messenger weaving in and out of traffic as Cafferty drove south along Ninth Avenue around 10:25 a.m. When Cafferty looked in his mirror, he saw the man getting up off the ground but was unaware he had hit the bicyclist, the anchor told police.

The bicyclist, Billy Maldonado, told police he was slightly injured.

"This was never anything more than a traffic incident. It was resolved as a traffic infraction. Jack acted responsibly in this, as he always has," said Cafferty's attorney, Seth Rosenberg.

[mhking]

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[tsmith130]

"Honey, what's that grinding sound coming from under the car?"

Gone with the Schwinn!

[Onelifetogive]

A traffic officer and about five pedestrians ran after Cafferty's car to stop him after the accident, but Cafferty drove through at least two red lights and around other vehicles without stopping, according to a police complaint.

Jack acted responsibly in this, as he always has," said Cafferty's attorney, Seth Rosenberg.

Acting responsibly...lawyer style!

[steplock]

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[theDentist]

Who does he think he is? Ted Kennedy?

[Eva]

This is off the subject, but the mention of CNN made me think of it.

I was calling Comcast to drop the premium movie channels from our subscription and the salesperson was trying to discourage my decision by mentioning that they now carry BBC News on Comcast digital cable. I told her that I thought that BBC was an a leftist, anti-American propaganda machine and that I was offended to have come into my home. I would like to encourage anyone else who has Comcast digital cable to call and complain about them carrying BBC. Maybe we can have it blocked.

[1Old Pro]

Ted Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene, the minimum sentence of 20 days in jail was illegally suspended.

My Summer Vacation- The visit to Dike Bridge on Chappiquiddick Island, the crime scene.

[mhking]

Comcast is carrying BBC America on it's digital tier; it's being distributed to cable and satellite providers by Discovery.

The bulk of BBC America's programming is in the entertainment realm. They simulcast BBC News with BBC World (which isn't presently available in the US) in the early morning and at 6P ET.

BBC is currently trying to get BBC World in the US; that particular channel is currently available across most of the rest of the planet.

I'm no major fan of BBC's reporting style, but I'd certainly have them on my satellite system (gotta see what the "bad guys" are saying about us on an ongoing basis).

[BunnySlippers]

$250 fine and perform 70 hours of community service

When you think about it, it pays to "run" instead of being popped for drunk driving. Someone should look at making the penalty higher for this.

[Eva]

I find their attacks on Tony Blair to be both deceitful and offensive. It is nothing but a leftist propaganda machine.

[twigs]

I have comcast too and usually watch the BBC every night. I don't want it blocked. They can be very anti-American and when I get really offended, I do turn it off. But I want to see how the rest of the world views us. Plus, they report on areas of the world that I cannot get on any other channel. Many times, though, I find them even-handed, since this is for an American audience. IF Michel Husain is anchoring. She likes to rile her guests. So if they're lefties, as many of them are, she often takes the US side. I like that. When Katty Kay is on, that doesn't happen so much. But now, I'm seeing K. Kay when I turn on Brit Hume in the evening sometimes.

[mewzilla]

There went the last reason I watched CNN. Good going, Cafferty. Since you're not getting any jail time, and you should have, consider yourself lucky and get some help. You need it.

[martin_fierro]

Cry Havoc! and let slip the Pings of Schadenfreude!

[Eva]

How can you believe anything that the station puts out? It's worse than CNN for fabricating news.

[gathersnomoss]

Way too funny. This is how CNNMSNBCABCCBS and Clintonx2 feel your pain. They even drag the remains of your bike away.

Way too good for the common folk. Efum. I don't watch CNN anyway.

[Timesink]

Gee, WNBC seems to be conveniently forgetting a bit of its own history here...

[OldFriend]

Is his excuse that at least he didn't drive home with the biker in his windshield, therefore, he's not guilty?

[Timesink]

Actually, BBC America's nuked even the 6pm airing. They only air it for a half hour at 6 am, 7 am and 8 am.

BBC America is easily the worst-programmed channel in the entire country. I don't give a damn how good "Changing Rooms" is, you can't run it SEVENTEEN TIMES IN A 24-HOUR PERIOD.

[TontoKowalski]

When Cafferty looked in his mirror, he saw the man getting up off the ground but was unaware he had hit the bicyclist, the anchor told police.

Then this would be his normal driving behavior:

...Cafferty drove through at least two red lights and around other vehicles without stopping, according to a police complaint.

What does it take to have someone's license revoked?

[Timesink]

Schadenfreude

This is the New York Times CNN Schadenfreude Ping List. Freepmail me to be added or dropped.

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[twigs]

It can be bad at times, but I like the format and I really like Michal Husain. She's a provocative anchor in a way most American ones aren't. I'm a pretty discerning listener, and I don't automatically believe their version. But I do like the world news. As much as I like Brit Hume, my all-time favorite news profesional, I don't get the all-world perspective on his evening show, which is not set up for that.

[Timesink]

The really sad thing is that Cafferty's one of the single best anchors NYC ever had. CNN, in its infinite "wisdom," took several years to figure out what to do with him after hiring him on.

[#3Fan]

What does it take to have someone's license revoked?

A regular Joe. The protected liberal elite don't have to live by the same rules as us.

[N. Theknow]

CNN Anchor Admits Leaving Scene Of Accident

First thought upon reading this...

Big deal...he admits leaving work at CNN.

[jagrmeister]

Stupid white man.

I also like it how the CNN spokesperson says Cafferty acted responsibly. Uh, let's see: he mowed down a biker, and fled the scene. CNN can't shoot straight if they tried.

[gcruse]

I like BBC America. And I'm slowly getting addicted to The Office.

[Tamzee]

A traffic officer and about five pedestrians ran after Cafferty's car to stop him after the accident, but Cafferty drove through at least two red lights and around other vehicles without stopping

Not to jump to ANY conclusions, mind you, but doesn't this behavior essentially prove he knew he hit someone?

[L.N. Smithee]

If Cafferty wanted to get away with it, he should have taken the Halle Berry approach -- say that he woke up in his own bed with a bruise on his head, and had no idea how it happened.

I will never be able to prove it, but I believe that Berry's ability to pull that story off inspired her to greater acting on the screen, resulting in her Oscar -- and that nauseating, self-congratulatory speech.

[Liz]

Cafferty had to be blotto. How can you not see a guy on a bike? He then dragged the bike under his car, wove in and out of traffic, tearing through red lights. He was clearly trying to escape the cops...... and his responsibility.

[kitkat]

You're absolutely right, Liz.

How could he NOT know he was dragging something metalic under his car? This is outrageous!

[Liz]

Like they say.....it's not what you know, it's who you know. Cafferty obviously pulled strings.

[joesnuffy]

One set of laws for the elite
another for the sheep

[Eva]

Orwell's Warning The BBC is blind to its own biases.

[EnquiringMind]

I think he also had a cocaine problem in the 80's. He always looked high and had a nasal-y sound to his voice. Once, Liz Smith used her spot on WNBC to "send a message to a well-known NYC anchorman to get help for your drug problem". I just knew she was addressing Cafferty.

[Palladin]

Cafferty is a despicable liberal lush.