Once Again, the Law Does Not Apply to the Political Classes

Assume, dear reader, that you are illegally parked, and as you pull away, you hit a pregnant woman hard enough to have her sent to the hospital, and then you drive away as though nothing happened. What would be the case when the police hunted you down? How many years in jail would you receive.

Well, if you are a privileged member of the New York City political class, the answer is...nothing. Former NYC police commissioner Howard Safir did what I described above this past Friday. Reports the New York Times:

Howard Safir, a New York City police commissioner during the Giuliani administration, backed his sport utility vehicle into a pregnant woman on the Upper East Side on Friday afternoon and then drove away, the police said.

The woman, Joanne M. Valarezo, 30, of the Bronx, was not knocked down and was not seriously injured in the accident, which occurred at 2:25 p.m. in front of 1418 Third Avenue, the authorities said. They said she was able to jot down the license plate of Mr. Safir’s black 2009 Cadillac Escalade.

Ms. Valarezo was taken by ambulance to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was treated for a bruised shoulder and then released, the police said. Ms. Valarezo’s unborn child, nearing its seventh month, was apparently not affected, she later said.

Detectives from the 19th Precinct tracked Mr. Safir down, questioned him and “determined there is no criminality,” said a law enforcement official. The detectives determined that Mr. Safir was unaware that he had struck the woman before driving away, another law enforcement official said.

But the woman’s account raised questions about that.

The account from the victim goes on:

“I was crossing the street in between cars and he hit reverse, and his female passenger screamed, ‘Are you not looking, there’s someone there,’ and as he was reversing, he hit me on my shoulder and my knee and the side of my stomach,” she said.

Then he started to drive away, she said.

“I confronted him and I said, ‘I’m pregnant. Did you not see?’ And he just disregarded that and kept going,” she said. She said if the passenger had not screamed, causing her to turn, she would been hurt more seriously.

So, we see once again how government agents protect each other. Great work if you can get it.