Drivers should be charged with crime in pedestrian deaths

During construction to remove the Little Ferry Circle, only one left-turn lane is provided, above. But in a typical Jersey gambit, drivers turn left from two lanes, causing congestion and delays, then merge into a single lane before crossing the Route 46 bridge over the Hackensack River, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Will the schoolbus driver who failed to yield to pedestrian Leyla Kan in Leonia -- then struck, dragged and killed her -- join so many others in getting away with murder?

Police gave bus driver Esperanza Jaramillo, 54, of Tenafly summonses for careless driving and failure to yield to a pedestrian on Thursday morning, The Record reported on Friday. 

But Leonia police said Jaramillo could not be charged with a crime, because there was no evidence she was using her cellphone before she struck Kan, 60, owner of a Turkish restaurant in Palisades Park.

Final word?

I'm shocked there is no follow up in today's paper. And I hope the Bergen County prosecutor's fatal accident unit challenges the reasoning of Leonia police not to charge Jaramillo with a crime.

When is the Woodland Park daily's editorial board going to call on the state Legislature to change the law to make drivers criminally responsible for killing pedestrians, especially if they are in the crosswalk?

How many times in recent decades have drivers literally gotten away with murder by merely saying they "didn't see" the pedestrian?

'Didn't see' excuse

Friday's L-1 story reports the police version that "Kan was struck [as she crossed the street] by the protruding passenger compartment of the minibus behind the door, apparently unseen by Jaramillo" (Friday's L-1).

"[Police Chief Thomas Rowe] said that as witnesses watched in horror and screamed and honked their horns to get Jaramillo's attention, the bus dragged Kan 71 feet along the street before it came to a stop."

There was no reporting on why the school bus driver didn't know that she had struck Kan or that she dragged her 71 feet, nor does The Record say whether the woman was in the crosswalk. 

A news radio report said the victim's blood stained the pavement.

Lazy editors

The Kan story is another example of the slipshod editing of fatal-accident stories by head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza.

These lazy editors are so desperate to fill their pages they often blow up photos as big as possible, as they did on Friday's L-3 with a totaled Porsche 911.

A story reports Stuart Liberman, 55, allegedly was drunk when he crashed into the back of a truck on the George Washington Bridge after midnight Thursday, breaking a thigh bone. 

Big deal.

Rouse leaves

Karen Rouse, a transportation reporter who covered NJ Transit for about seven years, is now a "politics reporter" at WNYC-FM, New York and New Jersey Public Radio, according to her Twitter page.

Rouse's investigative reports for The Record on Superstorm Sandy damage to NJ Transit locomotives and rail cars in 2012 were featured prominently on WNYC-FM.

Her shoes are now being filled by Staff Writer Christopher Maag, the onetime Hackensack reporter who last Sunday wrote about delays at the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.

Today, Maag reports on what caused "the big mess" after the Super Toilet Bowl six months ago, when 20,000 fans were delayed boarding NJ Transit trains (A-1).

Who cares? 

What a waste of space, as commuters continue to scramble for rush-hour seats on trains and buses into Manhattan every weekday morning, and face the possibility enormous delays leaving the bus terminal to go home won't be eased for years.

Meanwhile, former Hackensack reporter Hannan Adely's byline appears today on a story reporting an employee's lawsuit against the city (L-2).

More Christie B.S.

Editors and reporters have adopted Governor Christie's portrayal of himself as a compromiser so wholeheartedly they ignore all evidence to the contrary.

That must be the explanation for how The Record's crack Trenton staff missed the GOP bully's 11 vetoes on Aug. 1 (A-1). 

How embarrassing.

Has Christie used the veto more times than any other governor before him? Don't hold your breath for an answer in The Record. 

Voters don't care

The upbeat story on door-to-door campaigning by freeholder candidates papers over the huge problem of voter apathy (L-1).

In local elections especially, candidates for council and board of education often are elected by a fraction of registered voters.

In last November's gubernatorial election, that bum Christie won a second term, but turnout was the lowest in history for a statewide contest.

So, the freeholder candidates' strategy of targeting residents "with a history of voting regularly" simply doesn't make sense.