NEW YORK (AP) - A bicyclist has filed a $10 million lawsuit against CNN anchor Jack Cafferty for
leaving the scene of an accident.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleges Cafferty was "reckless
and grossly negligent" when he knocked Billy Maldonado off his bike with his Cadillac and drove
away on May
14.
Earlier this month, the anchor was ordered to pay a $250 fine and perform 70 hours of community
service after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident.
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, dragging the bike beneath his car, according to a police complaint.
Cafferty later told police that he'd seen a man on a bike who may have been a messenger weaving in
and out of traffic as he drove south on Ninth Avenue. He told police that when he looked in his
mirror, he saw the man getting up off the ground but was unaware he had hit the bicyclist.
Maldonado had told police he was slightly injured. His lawsuit called the injuries serious.
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To me this sounds a lot more serious than a $250 fine. With his money, tha't's no penalty at all.
He should have done 6 months or so in the can, but when you're a big-shot bush-toady journalist,
you can get away with stuff like this. He could have killed this cyclist, but he didn't care