Around and a Roundy: Drivers Are Getting Away with Murder

How many times have you read this lede on a Streetsblog story: “Another person has been run over and killed on [insert street here] — and the driver was once again not charged”?

Answer: It’s pretty much every other day. And it’s not because we’re unable to come up with other stories or more creative manners of writing — it’s because the same pattern keeps playing out: A person is run over by a driver, and by the time the cops show up, the victim is either dead or in a hospital, and the driver is stammering something about how it was “just an accident — honest, officer.”

Needless to say, charges rarely follow.

Well, cartoonist Bill Roundy is sick of it. It’s not that he thinks drivers or cops are inherently bad people. It’s just that car culture has gaslighted all of us to see automobiles as so vital — so essential, so good — that neither they nor their operators can be held responsible. And police, who spend most of their days (and commutes!) in a car, are rarely able to see a crime, even though their patrol guide is filled with applicable laws: failure to exercise due care, failure to yield, reckless endangerment, etc etc etc.

So this week’s Roundy toon captures his and our frustration. Share it around — and don’t forget to tag @ManhattanDA Cyrus Vance Jr. or @BrooklynDA Eric Gonzalez to remind them to do their jobs.

Bill Roundy is Streetsblog’s editorial cartoonist. His weekly offerings are archived here.