Former Miss America kills cyclist

The below quoted article is from an AOL "pop up" news release.

ARTICLE QUOTE:
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 13) - A former Miss America and wife of Lt. Gov. Steve
Henry struck a bicyclist with her car, killing the woman, police said.

Heather French Henry, who was Miss America 2000, told police the sun was in her
eyes as she was turning at an intersection Sunday evening and struck the
43-year-old woman, who was crossing outside the crosswalk.

Witnesses told police Henry had a green light at the time. Henry and her infant
daughter were not injured.

The victim later died at University of Louisville Hospital. She was not wearing
a helmet, police said.

Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said she did not expect
charges to be filed, though an investigation was continuing.

"We're very concerned about the lady," Steve Henry said in a phone interview.
"We've been in touch with the physicians at the hospital. That's where our
primary thoughts are. Heather is extremely concerned about the lady and
obviously very upset."
END QUOTE
===========================
What makes my blood boil is "sun was in her eyes" is NOT an excuse...if
you can't see, you don't drive. "struck the 43-year-old woman, who was
crossing outside the crosswalk"....she was a cyclist and didn't need to be
in the crosswalk!!! "Henry and her infant daughter were not injured."...that's
nice...let's see 4,000lb motor vehicle vs cyslist....nah, not much chance of
injury there!!!! "The victim later died at University of Louisville Hospital.
She was not wearing a helmet, police said.".....why even include that
statement...I'll
tell you why...it's a police "gloss".....10 helmets wouldn't have proctected
that
cyclist. "We're very concerned about the lady," Steve Henry said in a phone
interview. "We've been in touch with the physicians at the hospital. That's
where our primary thoughts are. Heather is extremely concerned about the lady
and obviously very upset.".......they needn't be...she's dead - God rest her
soul.

Another accidental murder destined for obscurity!

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 21:08:58 +0000, WBtobal wrote:

What makes my blood boil is "sun was in her eyes" is NOT an excuse...if
you can't see, you don't drive. "struck the 43-year-old woman, who was
crossing outside the crosswalk"....she was a cyclist and didn't need to be
in the crosswalk!!!

But she did need to wait for a green light. According to the report, the
cyclist was running a red light. Yes, the driver was also at fault for
not stopping when she could not see -- although many drivers do continue
despite sun glare.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve
_`\(,_ | death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to
(_)/ (_) | them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.
-- J. R. R. Tolkien

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 17:44:06 -0400, "David L. Johnson"
wrote:

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 21:08:58 +0000, WBtobal wrote:

What makes my blood boil is "sun was in her eyes" is NOT an excuse...if
you can't see, you don't drive. "struck the 43-year-old woman, who was
crossing outside the crosswalk"....she was a cyclist and didn't need to be
in the crosswalk!!!

But she did need to wait for a green light. According to the report, the
cyclist was running a red light.

Not necessarily: "Heather French Henry, who was Miss America 2000,
told police the sun was in her eyes as she was turning at an
intersection Sunday evening and struck the 43-year-old woman, who was
crossing outside the crosswalk."

Since Mrs. Henry was turning, the cyclist may have been crossing with
the green when Mrs. Henry turned into her. Journalists being what they
are, the reporter never tells us which way the cyclist was crossing.

Yes, the driver was also at fault for
not stopping when she could not see -- although many drivers do continue
despite sun glare.

--
"And I'm very glad we've got the great team in office, men like Colin Powell,
Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Paul O'Neill - people I know very
well - our president George W. Bush. We need them there."
--Gen. Wesley Clark at a GOP fundraiser, May 11, 2001

In article , "David L. Johnson"
writes:

But she did need to wait for a green light. According to the report, the
cyclist was running a red light. Yes, the driver was also at fault for
not stopping when she could not see -- although many drivers do continue
despite sun glare.

I saw no report that mentioned any "green light", what's your source,
and if you please.....post it.

Regards,
Bill

In article ,
8SPAM says...
The below quoted article is from an AOL "pop up" news release.

ARTICLE QUOTE:
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 13) - A former Miss America and wife of Lt. Gov. Steve
Henry struck a bicyclist with her car, killing the woman, police said.

Heather French Henry, who was Miss America 2000, told police the sun was in her
eyes as she was turning at an intersection Sunday evening and struck the
43-year-old woman, who was crossing outside the crosswalk.

Witnesses told police Henry had a green light at the time. Henry and her infant
daughter were not injured.

The victim later died at University of Louisville Hospital. She was not wearing
a helmet, police said.

Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said she did not expect
charges to be filed, though an investigation was continuing.

"We're very concerned about the lady," Steve Henry said in a phone interview.
"We've been in touch with the physicians at the hospital. That's where our
primary thoughts are. Heather is extremely concerned about the lady and
obviously very upset."
END QUOTE
===========================
What makes my blood boil is "sun was in her eyes" is NOT an excuse...if
you can't see, you don't drive. "struck the 43-year-old woman, who was
crossing outside the crosswalk"....she was a cyclist and didn't need to be
in the crosswalk!!! "Henry and her infant daughter were not injured."...that's

She was also crossing against the light, according to the witnesses
quoted in the article, so I'll reserve judgement for now.

.....


--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

David L. Johnson wrote:
On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 21:08:58 +0000, WBtobal wrote:


What makes my blood boil is "sun was in her eyes" is NOT an excuse...if
you can't see, you don't drive. "struck the 43-year-old woman, who was
crossing outside the crosswalk"....she was a cyclist and didn't need to be
in the crosswalk!!!


But she did need to wait for a green light. According to the report, the
cyclist was running a red light. Yes, the driver was also at fault for
not stopping when she could not see -- although many drivers do continue
despite sun glare.

I am not sure that the report stated that the cyclist ran a red light.
Just because she had a green, doesn't mean she wasn't required to yield
to oncoming traffic. Now if she had a green arrow, that's a different
story.

Again the clueless reporter or police spokesperson have to throw in a
statement to initially find fault with the pedestrian/cyclist (out of
cross-walk, not wearing helmet, not having a light on, etc.).

Kerry

"David L. Johnson" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 21:08:58 +0000, WBtobal wrote:

What makes my blood boil is "sun was in her eyes" is NOT an excuse...if
you can't see, you don't drive. "struck the 43-year-old woman, who was
crossing outside the crosswalk"....she was a cyclist and didn't need to
be
in the crosswalk!!!

But she did need to wait for a green light. According to the report, the
cyclist was running a red light. Yes, the driver was also at fault for
not stopping when she could not see -- although many drivers do continue
despite sun glare.

The account I heard said that the cyclist was also on the wrong side of the
road (facing traffic).

Bill "withholding judgment since I wasn't there" S.

8SPAM (WBtobal)

wrote:

I saw no report that mentioned any "green light", what's your source,
and if you please.....post it.

Re-read your own post.
"Witnesses told police Henry had a green light at the time. Henry and her
infant daughter were not injured."

Look at the totality of circumstances. Just for ease of explanation, let's say
a northbound car turns east onto an east/west street from a north/south street.
The car driver has a green light. If the car strikes a cyclist travelling
northbound on that north/south street- IOW, a classic "right hook"- then the
driver is 100% at fault. If the cyclist in that situation is traveling in any
other direction then a good part of the blame for any crash rests on the
cyclist. In that case it's a shame but hardly murder. Since the news clipping
doesn't give enough details about the cyclist's direction of travel condemning
*anyone* is just baseless supposition.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

P.S.- About that "police gloss"... did you ever consider that the reason the
lack of a helmet was even mentioned is because a reporter asked if the deceased
cyclist was wearing one? I've had reporters ask me if people killed in cars
were wearing a seatbelt. Some of those times I've had to bite my tongue to keep
from asking them, "He bled to death on the way to the hospital after being
shot. Exactly what kind of seatbelt protects against that, a tourniquet?"

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 23:13:32 +0000, WBtobal wrote:

In article , "David L. Johnson"
writes:

But she did need to wait for a green light. According to the report, the
cyclist was running a red light. Yes, the driver was also at fault for
not stopping when she could not see -- although many drivers do continue
despite sun glare.

I saw no report that mentioned any "green light", what's your source, and
if you please.....post it.

Original poster:

"Witnesses told police Henry had a green light at the time."

I do agree with others that that does not confer right-of-way on the
driver, nor does it imply necessarily that the cyclist had a red light.
But it might mitigate against the assumption that the driver was a
"murderer" as asserted in this thread.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | "What am I on? I'm on my bike, six hours a day, busting my ass.
_`\(,_ | What are you on?" --Lance Armstrong
(_)/ (_) |

"David L. Johnson" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 23:13:32 +0000, WBtobal wrote:

In article , "David L. Johnson"
writes:

But she did need to wait for a green light. According to the report,
the
cyclist was running a red light. Yes, the driver was also at fault for
not stopping when she could not see -- although many drivers do continue
despite sun glare.

I saw no report that mentioned any "green light", what's your source,
and
if you please.....post it.

Original poster:

"Witnesses told police Henry had a green light at the time."

I do agree with others that that does not confer right-of-way on the
driver

?

a.