No Good Deed
Posted by Kramer on September 24, 2009
I realize the story in this post is a little outdated. I’ve had some computer problems lately, in addition to being pretty busy. There was an incident involving my beloved MacBook and a glass of water. It’s best not to talk about it.
Moving on…
A Texas A&M University student was ticketed this week after he stopped to help a woman whose car was on fire, stepped into traffic and was hit by an oncoming vehicle.
J.D. Swiger was taken to the College Station Medical Center after the accident on Wellborn Road on Sunday.
So much for being a Good Samaritan.
He was in a hospital bed with a neck brace on and surrounded by several nurses when a College Station Police Department officer wrote him a $300 ticket for failure to yield the right of way to the vehicle.
The junior finance major from San Antonio said he didn’t understand the officer’s decision.
“It was like a slap in the face. It was insult to injury,” he said. “I begged him to write me a warning. I told him I had learned my lesson. And he proceeded to write the ticket. The nurses were livid at him for doing that.”
Kate Shafer, the woman whose car was on fire, was also surprised when she found out about the citation.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” she said. “Here was this Good Samaritan, trying to help me. He gets hit by a car. And he’s not even mad at the person who hit him, he just wanted to avoid a $300 ticket. I think that’s ridiculous.”
So let’s get this straight. Mr. Swiger, someone who doesn’t know Ms. Shafter from anyone else stops and helps out a woman who’s car is one fire. He tries to run across the street to get a fire extingishure, looks both ways, doesn’t see a car, steps across the street and gets hit. He reward, for trying to help (besides a trip to the hospital) is a ticket for failure to yield right of way.
Was the officer technically correct, yes? However, I do not believe that CSPD is now employing a RoboCop that can only obey laws and has no discretion at all. Fortunately, the story has a happy ending.
Swiger went to the Brazos County Courthouse on Thursday to pay the ticket and asked a county prosecutor about the chances of getting it dismissed.
Swiger said the prosecutor seemed embarrassed when he told her the story, and when Shafer verified the facts, the citation was dropped.
So, the price you pay for being a Good Samaritan in College Station? A trip to the hospital and a ticket that you have to go to court to get dismissed. I’m sure that will just encourage everyone to help there fellow citizens around town.
