October 05, 2011
- Steven Topazio wrote this April 27, 2014 at 1:14 pm
The Client, a 51 year old individual, received a citation and summons to appear in court on a criminal charge of reckless operation after the client crashed his car into a parked car, causing the parked car to strike a fire hydrant shearing it off at the base. The police report stated that when the police were dispatched to the scene of the accident, the officer approached the defendant and questioned him as to what happened and the defendant stated he was traveling “too fast” up the street and “misjudged” the distance he had to get through. Primarily as a result of the client’s statements to police is the reason why the client was criminally charged. Attorney Topazio argued that not all accidents are criminal and filed a motion to dismiss the charge alleging that the evidence presented was not sufficient to establish probable cause to issue the complaint. Attorney Topazio argued that in determining whether the defendant drove recklessly, a clerk should take into account all the facts of the situation: the defendant’s rate of speed and manner of operation, the defendant’s physical condition and how well he could see and could control his vehicle, the condition of the defendant’s vehicle, what kind of a road it was and who else was on the road, what the time of day, the weather and the condition of the road were, what any other vehicles or pedestrians were doing, and any other factors that the clerk would think are relevant. Attorney Topazio argued that it is not enough for the Commonwealth to prove that the defendant acted negligently—that is, acted in a way that a reasonably careful person would not. It must be shown that the defendant’s actions went beyond mere negligence and amounted to recklessness. A defendant is reckless if he knew, or should have known, that such actions would pose a grave danger of death or serious injury to others, but he chose, nevertheless, to run the risk and go ahead. Today at the hearing on the motion to dismiss, Attorney Topazio was successful in convincing the District Attorney to dismiss the case against his client on court costs and the court agreed.