Urban Designer Gets Jaywalking Ticket After Car Strikes Him

Reknowned urban designer Charles Atherton was hit while crossing a busy D.C. street, and was issued a $5 jaywalking ticket before being rushed to the hospital with critical injuries.

1 minute read

December 6, 2005, 7:00 AM PST

By Brenda Meyer

"Before paramedics rushed him to the hospital, police issued Atherton the ticket, which his family found among his belongings when they visited him at George Washington University Hospital.

...On the face of it, Baker said, it may seem "offensive" that Atherton was ticketed, but he believed that the officers were seeking to establish liability. "It seemed primarily to assuage her," he said of the driver. "She was just distraught. She was wailing for 45 minutes."

For 40 years until his 2004 retirement, Atherton was secretary at the commission, a panel appointed by the president that reviews and advises the federal government on issues related to architecture and design in the nation's capital."

FULL STORY: Struck D.C. Pedestrian Has Critical Injuries, $5 Ticket

Saturday, December 3, 2005 in The Washington Post

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