Repost from Bike Snob - If you are rich enough, feel free to run over cyclist with your car and leave the scene of the accident...

Wheelsucking and Name-Calling: So Much for "Bike Culture"
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010/11/wheelsucking-and-name-calling-so-much.html

As a person whose physical and emotional constitution can best be described as "feeble," I'm not particularly well-equipped to deal with serious matters. This is especially true on Monday mornings, when even the smallest hint of adversity can cause me to writhe and wince as though a Serotta-owning dentist is digging into a decaying tooth with one of those sharp little pokey things. For example, simply waking up on Monday and discovering that I'm out of Froot Loops and chocolate milk is enough to send me right into the coat closet, where I'll often sit gently sobbing for hours.

It's no wonder, then, that I can hardly bear to even contemplate--let alone address--the doughy money manager in Colorado who hit a cyclist and fled the scene, but will not be charged with a felony because that would "have some pretty serious job implications" for him:

The cyclist this doughy money manager hit is a surgeon, and I would imagine that being hit by a Mercedes and left to bleed on the side of the road might have pretty serious job implications for him too, but in terms of importance you really can't compare surgery to managing people's fortunes.

Before you rush to judgement though, bear in mind that the doughy money manager did express concern after the accident--for his car:

Erzinger drove all the way through Avon, the town's roundabouts, under I-70 and stopped in the Pizza Hut parking lot where he called the Mercedes auto assistance service to report damage to his vehicle, and asked that his car be towed, records show. He did not ask for law enforcement assistance, according to court records.

Also, the District Attorney who dropped the charges doesn't want to cost the doughy money manager his job because "justice in this case includes restitution and the ability to pay it."

In other words, treating him like the criminal he is might make it slightly more difficult for him to buy his way out of this and any other future vehicular assaults, and that would be downright un-American.

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010/11/wheelsucking-and-name-calling-so-much.html

Bike Snob looks to have picked up the post from 
Tree Hugger at the link below:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/11/rich-vail-fund-manager-gets-off.php

The rich are different from you and me; they get to hit and run, almost killing a cyclist, but get off without serious charges because it is hard to be money manager for Smith Barney if you have a record. District Attorney Mark Hurlbert is not charging Martin Joel Erzinger with a felony, because "Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession," which is managing billions for rich people.
Dr. Steven Milo, the victim, is not impressed.

Mr. Erzinger struck me, fled and left me for dead on the highway," Milo wrote. "Neither his financial prominence nor my financial situation should be factors in your prosecution of this case."

Dr Milo's lawyer notes that the accident had some pretty serious job implications for his client:

He will have lifetime pain,' his lawyer Harold Haddon told the court. His ability to deal with the physical challenges of his profession - liver transplant surgery - has been seriously jeopardized.'

According to the Vail Daily,

Milo was bicycling eastbound on Highway 6 just east of Miller Ranch Road, when Erzinger allegedly hit him with the black 2010 Mercedes Benz sedan he was driving. Erzinger fled the scene and was arrested later, police say.

Erzinger allegedly veered onto the side of the road and hit Milo from behind. Milo was thrown to the pavement, while Erzinger struck a culvert and kept driving, according to court documents.

Erzinger drove all the way through Avon, the town's roundabouts, under I-70 and stopped in the Pizza Hut parking lot where he called the Mercedes auto assistance service to report damage to his vehicle, and asked that his car be towed, records show. He did not ask for law enforcement assistance, according to court records.

At Cyclelicious, Richard Masoner is organizing a boycott of a race in Vail next August.
At Change.org, a petition has been started, asking DA Hurlburt "Don't drop felony charges against hit-and-run wealth manager."

Traffic laws exist to motivate all drivers to act in a manner that is safe for other users of the road, including pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers. To those of us who rely on bicycles for transportation and recreation, enforcement of laws that ensure our safety on the road is vital. The enforcement of traffic laws should not differ depending on a driver's ability to write a check, but rather on the ability of the law to motivate drivers to drive safely. What Martin Joel Erzinger is accused of doing is clearly criminal, but dropping felony charges will set a message to drivers that the penalties for neglecting the welfare of others on the road, causing life-altering injury, and showing no concern for the victim might not be as serious as the law indicates.