OFFICER DUDLEY DOORITE IS ALWAYS OUT THERE

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. That is especially true if officer Dudley Doorite is on the job. A Denver rapid transit bus driver and one of his passengers got out of his bus to help two old women cross the street safely. When he saw they were about to be hit by a pickup truck, he pushed the three out of the way, thus saving their lives. Unfortunately for him, he was struck by the truck and suffered some very serious injuries. Adding insult to injury, along comes officer Dudley Doorite of the Colorado State Patrol and issues him a jaywalking ticket.

Does that make any sense? Not to me! And I am not the least bit swayed by the Colorado State Patrol's valid argument that, since it leads to a lot of fatalities, jaywalking is a very serious offense. Where do they recruit some of these clowns? Don't they teach their recruits that an officer always has the discretion to issue or not to issue a traffic citation? Clearly, in this case, none should have been issued. The Dudley Doorites are the shameless lame-brained law enforcers who lack the ability to differentiate between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. And shame on the State Patrol's spokesman for defending Dudley Doorite, the fastest (ticket book) draw in the West.

The passenger who helped the bus driver escort the women across the street also received a jaywalking ticket. I guess Doorite just wasn't quick enough to cite the two old ladies. I'm surprised he hasn't called for a womanhunt to capture these two dangerous miscreants so that they too will get their just deserts - jaywalking tickets. And shouldn't Doorite also charge these old ladies with reckless endangerment for trying to get home by crossing the street?

Here is The Rocky Mountain News report describing this event:

INJURED GOOD SAMARITAN GETS JAYWALKING TICKET FOR HIS TROUBLE
by Bill Scanlon
Rocky Mountain News, February 24, 2009

He may have saved three lives, but RTD bus driver Jim Moffett got a jaywalking ticket anyway, along with broken bones.

Moffett, 58, was driving an RTD bus south on Federal Boulevard at 62nd Avenue at 9 p.m. Friday, the State Patrol said.

Two elderly women exited the bus and tried to walk across Federal to their trailer home on the east side, Moffett's stepson Ken McDonald said Tuesday.

With that light snowstorm, my stepdad didn't think they could cross the street safely," McDonald said. "So he got off the bus with another passenger, and they helped the ladies cross."

The four people had made it about halfway across Federal, and most of the northbound traffic had slowed to let them go the rest of the way, McDonald said.

But one pickup driver got impatient and passed in the left- hand turn lane," McDonald said. "He plowed right into my stepdad - but not before (my stepdad) pushed the old ladies and the other guy out of the way."

Moffett is at St. Anthony Central Medical Center with bleeding in the brain, broken bones in his face, a dislocated shoulder, a broken wrist and possible ruptured spleen and liver.

Eddie Moore, the passenger who helped Moffett assist the women, also was cited for jaywalking. The pickup driver, Steven C. David, was cited for careless driving causing injury.

The jaywalking citation should be dismissed and crosswalks should be installed, McDonald said. Ryan Sullivan, of the State Patrol, said that while Moffett's "intentions were good," jaywalking caused the accident.

Editor's Note: As of today, Bill Scanlon is out of a job. The Rocky Mountain News folded today, another newspaper that is the victim of declining revenues.