What's disturbing is his "Mission Statement" in his DA's Office web page

"Mission Statement
The Office of the District will strive to always:

Do the right thing
To the right people
At the right time
For the right reasons"

He is being truthful to this statment. He is doing the "right" thing (according to him) to the "right" people (in this case Mr. Erzinger as supposed to ALL the people).

interesting viewpoint from CNBC...

The clear implication is that Erzinger is getting off easy because of his wealth. I think this is probably 100% backwards.

I suspect that if Erzinger hadn't been a wealthy guy driving a brand new Mercedes Benz he would never have been arrested for the hit and run.

In 2007, I was struck by a white mini-van while crossing the street in lower Manhattan. The van sped off after throwing me across the street. My leg was shattered. It's now held together with a rod made of a special metal alloy. Walking took months of physical therapy. I can still feel the pain on some days.

Thanks to eye-witnesses we found the owners of the vehicle. Her insurance paid for the extensive surgery required, as well as the extensive medical bills. She had no real assets, so I never pursued her in civil court. The police, after the initial interview at the scene of the crime, never followed up. It was just a hit-and-run, after all.

Maybe things are different in Eagle, Colorado. Maybe the cops are super-vigilant about pursuing hit-and-run drivers. Or maybe Erzinger was arrested because he was driving a fancy new car.

From the CO Atty General to me today:

Jordan-

Under Colorado law, the Office of the Attorney General has no ability or authority to intercede in this matter. The Office of the Attorney General can only become involved in a hit-and-run case either at the request of the local district attorney or by executive order of the governor.

Additionally, the Attorney General has no authority over local district attorneys, who are independently elected.

You can file complaints concerning the conduct of a district attorney with the Colorado District Attorney Disciplinary Council, 303-893-8121, x356, or request a special prosecutor be appointed in this matter by filing a motion with the appropriate district court clerk's office, per Colorado Revised Statute 16-5-209.

---

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Gotta get the word in the Governor's hands then, since the local DA clearly wont do it.

Easy enough: http://bit.ly/xBBPt

---

---------------------
James Huang
Technical Editor
Cyclingnews.com
BikeRadar.com

Hit the front page of Reddit and is on boingboing - let the nerd rage commence.

---

---

ErgDB Erg & PowerAgent workout generator | My blog - special thanks to Kiwami

Thanks for posting this and taking action Jordan. Read this yesterday and thought it was disgusting, glad you are moving us to action. Just saw the DA's phone number posted on a Huffington Post Article:

DA Mark Hurlbert may be reached (970) 393-2600.

James, you know better than anyone how ugly the Quiznos Pro Challenge time trial stage (on August 25) will be if this isn't resolved by then in a sensible way; it could well be better known for its demonstrations. And I'm certain our little sport can, with a bit of resolve, make sure the town doesn't benefit (via a mad day influx of tourism dollars) from being a host-stage. I would hope the teams (if not the event organizers who probably have to babysit the whole situation) could think enough of this to find alternate hotels elsewhere as well for that one day. Sometimes, dollars are the only thing that will make people react.

Well, evidently that's the DA's take, anyway.

Well done to you and Jordan for kicking this in the ass....the lack of sensibility is arresting and insulting. Maybe I'll buy you a beer at our next event...

---

Jay Prasuhn
Marketing Specialist, American Bicycle Group (Quintana Roo//Litespeed//Obed)
twitter.com/jayprasuhn

Governors comment page "...encountered a problem" when I tried to post a note.

Perhaps an overload problem?....

Note eventually went through on the 5th try.

I wrote an email to Mr. Carney in response to his position. I think it [the email] was quite kind. We'll see if anything comes of it.

---edited to remove italics

The story has now hit ABC News:

http://abcnews.go.com/...un/story?id=12088074

---

---------------------
James Huang
Technical Editor
Cyclingnews.com
BikeRadar.com

*all* I'll say in defense of *one* aspect of that column is that it doesn't surprise me that when the guy got hit in New York, the driver didn't face sufficient consequences. I follow streetsblognyc, and the number of cases where drivers injure/kill/flee, even when driving illegally/dangerously, yet face zero consequences, is shocking.

I'm with you, though, in not buying the whole "oh it's so hard to be rich" part of his argument. And I really don't understand the "i didn't get justice so no one else should either" argument, seems like he'd go the other way. But who knows.

I'm ashamed to say that I live in Eagle County and have this person as our DA.

this quote is my favorite:

“Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession, and that entered into it,” Hurlbert said. “When you're talking about restitution, you don't want to take away his ability to pay.”

---

-----------------------------------------
Donate now to the war on ALS

Is it just me, or is the DA singing a completely different tune when ABC calls him?

"He [Erzinger] could say in two to four years that nothing happened, which I could not stomach. So we decided to have two misdemeanors...." Hurlbert said. ABC even points out how this varies from what was said to the Vail Daily.

On a positive note, it appears that ABC is the first to follow up and knock on doors. Up to this point, the Vail Daily was the primary source for other news sources. When ABC news calls you, your employer, etc... you're either having a really good day, or a really bad one.

Nicely done, James, Jordan, ST, etc.

DA Hurlbert expressed that sentiment privately to an STer after said STer inquired when Hurlbert shut down his Senate page that we were bombarding. It's back on one of the earlier pages.

What he says there, and to ABC, sounds like what everyone wants, but he never explains why Dr. Milo objected to the plea. . .

Dr. Milo and his lawyer(s) need to jump in the PR game if we're gonna tackle this beast.

yay!!!

This story has gone viral; 43 stories in Google News feed:

http://news.google.com/...Xc7ZrM9UfWRvAvjgVdqM

Well done!

Sadly though more folks seem to be interested in a guy who pooped in his shorts. Oh well

I agree. Felonies have major implications to ANYONE convicted of one, that is the point. If you don't want a felony to alter your life, DON'T COMMIT A FELONY.

---

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Starting from scratch...

nice to see that his employer has been forced to publicly acknowledge this...

A spokesperson for Erzinger's employer Morgan Stanley said: "This is an unfortunate situation. We are monitoring it and will take any actions necessary when it is finally adjudicated."

And yeah, Hurlbert is most definitely talking a different game today thanks to all the negative press this is getting.

signed...

Signed. Thanks for doing this.

Good point Jay - I like that angle.
I signed the petition.

---

--
Paul Lantinga
Sable WaterOptics from See Worthy
paul@sablewateroptics.com