Traffic Justice

A Brooklyn jury has found defendant Michael Oxley not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the 2010 death of Jake McDonaugh, the Post reports.

Time was, all a driver had to do to get away with killing someone with a car in New York City was prove sobriety and stay at the scene. But given the outcome of two recent cases it seems that, at least when the victim is a cyclist, police and prosecutors are flexible on the latter requirement.

The family of Mathieu Lefevre, the 30-year-old artist killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike in East Williamsburg last week, was joined by dozens of supporters outside 1 Police Plaza today to demand that NYPD rein in deadly driving and end its policy of silence when it comes to fatal traffic crashes.

Last week, Mathieu Lefevre was biking south on Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg when he was killed by a truck driver turning right from Morgan onto Meserole Street. The driver parked a short distance away and left the scene. After trying to locate the driver for days, the NYPD finally tracked him down, but as Gothamist's John Del Signore reported yesterday, they're not going to file charges. Police say the driver was not aware he struck Lefevre, who died before ambulances reached the scene.

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the adoption of Hayley and Diego's Law, which established the charge of "careless driving" in New York State and gave police and prosecutors a new tool to hold motorists who injure pedestrians and cyclists accountable. Unfortunately, says Transportation Alternatives, over the past 12 months the law has gone largely unenforced by NYPD.

Camille Dodero at the Village Voice brings us the most in-depth piece of NYC traffic justice reporting in recent memory. It's the story of Michelle Matson, who was struck from behind and left for dead by a hit-and-run driver while she was riding her bike in Greenpoint last October. While Matson and her boyfriend, James Paz, who was also injured in the collision, knew the NYPD had identified the vehicle that struck them, they were repeatedly rebuffed by the detective assigned to the case when they pressed him about the investigation into who had been driving that night.

Raquel Nelson, the Georgia mother who was convicted of vehicular homicide after a motorist killed her 4-year-old son as she crossed the street with him, was given the option of seeking a new trial at her sentencing today, the Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting.

We've written quite a bit about Raquel Nelson over the past week or so, but now, we'll let her speak for herself. The Today Show devoted an eight-minute segment to her case this morning, including an interview with Raquel.

Last week, we reported on the horrific story of Raquel Nelson, whose four-year-old son was killed as she attempted to cross the street with him to reach their home. Nelson was convicted of reckless conduct, improperly crossing a roadway and second-degree homicide by vehicle, all for the crime of being a pedestrian in the car-centric Atlanta suburbs. The conviction carried a sentence of up to 36 months, while the driver who killed Nelson's son -- who'd been drinking and using painkillers before getting behind the wheel -- got off with six months on a hit-and-run charge.