They would put me in jail for this. No questions asked.



Transcript and more below the fold.



Transcript:

Male Reporter: Excuse me Mr. Novak
Female Reporter: Can you tell us what happened this morning?
Robert Novak: I don't really know
FR: Did you hit a pedestrian?
RN: That's what they said, yes. I didn't, I didn't know I hit him.
FR: And what happened? Did you even see anything?
RN: No I didn't see anything.
FR: Was it a male or a female pedestrian?
RN: I don't know.
FR: Where were you heading to?
RN: I was going to work.
FR: And about what time was this?
RN: It was about 10 o clock.
FR: So you say you were driving down K street and you didn't even (hear?) see someone?
MR: Where did it happen sir?
RN: Pardon? I just answered the question.
FR: Are you feeling OK today?
RN: Not right now. (chuckles)
MR: Are you OK sir?
RN: No well you mean, what do you mean?
MR: Physically.
RN: Yes, I'm physically alright.
MR: OK, and you're a little emotionally shaken up?
RN: Yes, I am.
MR: And you were on your way to work?
RN: Where is K street, this is K street, yes.
FR: Did you try to leave the scene?
RN: I didn't know I hit anybody.
FR: And so you just kept driving?
RN: Yes, and a bicycle rider stopped me and uh and uh said I hit someone.
FR: What were you cited for?
RN: Fail-Failure to yield to right of way (somewhat inaudible).
MR: You weren't cited with leaving the scene though?
RN: No.
MR: OK
FR: How do you feel about this?
RN: I feel terrible.

WJLA 7 DC has an additional video, in which witness Attorney David Bono says:

I see something of an older gentleman uh, in the crosswalk get hit. The black corvette convertible takes a right turn onto the K street service road. The pedestrian rolls to the left and the car speeds away.

There was a pedestrian splayed on his windshield. I don't think there is any way you could miss that.

Novak was in the police car for nearly an hour. When asked if he knew how the pedestrian was doing, Novak replied, "He's not dead, that's the main thing."

Late Update: CNN has even more video (skip to 1:25), in which the local reporters run out of questions for a clearly confused Bob Novak.



Here are the best comments I've seen on this cluster(*)(*)(*)(*).

Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson:

Our sympathies go out to the victim of Novak’s action. Once again Novak has demonstrated his callous disregard for the rights of others, as well as his chronic inability to accept responsibility for his actions.

We have long argued that responsible adults should take Novak’s typewriter away. The time has arrived for them to also take away the keys to his Corvette.

Matt Yglesias:

The penalties for this stuff ought to be much stiffer. Morally speaking, what Novak was doing here is no better than walking down a crowded street with his handgun, firing off .22 rounds at random. "He's not dead, that's the main thing," says Novak but that's just a coincidence.

I hate, incidentally, that coverage of this is using the euphemism that Novak is known as an "aggressive" driver. He's a criminal. Cars are large, heavy, fast-moving objects that share space with delicate flesh-and-blood human beings — piloting them in an illegal manner is serious wrongdoing.

John Amato:

Why wasn’t Novak given a field sobriety test? This is very weird. You hit someone, leave the scene and then the police aren’t suspicious?

(Source Link)

It sounds like he did know he hit the guy, probably didn't think it wasn't serious, so he didn't bother stopping.

I presume this actually did happen ....


but I got to admit, I don't know two people (let's make that one) that would use the word "splayed" in normal discussion. Sounds rehearsed to me.

__________________
"Making something up is a confession of both intellectual and moral bankruptcy.” - Thomas Sowell

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. - Thomas Jefferson