Law question in regards to auto hitting cyclist (not in DC area)

[Anonymous]

I was visiting a family member out of state. I noticed a dent in his small truck. I asked him what happened, and he said he (accidentally) hit a cyclist and spent 5 days in jail. He did hundreds of community service hours to help the causer of cyclist awareness. He said it happened because the sun was in his eyes as he was approaching a hill and he ran a red light by mistake. My question, which I didn't dare ask, was did he kill the person?

[Anonymous]

He was probably drunk. Hitting a cyclist and killing them while sober probably isn't sending you to jail in most of the country

[Anonymous]

I think he probably did kill them, or it was a DUI. It’s very rare for there to be criminal penalties.

[Anonymous]

You can probably find the details of the case online. In Maryland just google Maryland Judiciary Search.

[Anonymous]

OP here: He doesn't drink alcohol due to religion unless he's hiding it really, really, really well. I'd place money on not being a DUI. It was not in Maryland. I will try a judiciary search in his state.

[Anonymous]

Found the report. Charge of "carless driving" 5 days in jail. The only other thing it said was the dates and the judge name. No mention of victim.

[Anonymous]

Why would you not ask? That’s so weird.

“Wow uncle Dale, that must have been really intense for all. How is the cyclist doing now?”

You would have heard about it if he killed someone though.

[Anonymous]

I didn't ask because he was really ashamed in telling me what happened, like he had kept it a secret. Sometimes when it's sensitive topics, a listener just listens. If he wanted to talk about the victim, he would have offered it up. Also in the scenario, this was a 20 second side conversation with a lot of other things happening around us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Found the report. Charge of "carless driving" 5 days in jail. The only other thing it said was the dates and the judge name. No mention of victim.

Could be texting.

[Anonymous]

If the cyclist is not dead, he probably has life changing injuries. I hope that cyclist (or his family) is fully compensated for this tragedy.

Your family member is probably in the process of being sued.

[Anonymous]

5 days in jail - was that a sentence or just the time in jail while he awaited court?

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine hit a teen in a similar situation, blinded by the sun and the teen swerved on their bike to go around a pothole.

However she didn't run a red light. She wasn't charged in the end but did a course.

Teen had minor injuries and fully recovered (physically at least)

[Anonymous]

I seriously doubt the cyclist is dead because 1) you described the dent as small, 2) I think if you got jail time for causing someone’s death, you’d be sentenced to more than 5 days, 3) the court search says nothing about a victim, 4) uncle would have either had trouble talking about the whole incident or would have mentioned it. If you’re super curious, google local news sources and then use them to search your uncle’s name.