Today's post is a follow-up to two recent posts.
The cyclists who were killed in a Michigan charity ride, and the driver who ran them down, have been identified.
On Saturday, Michael Salhaney of Bloomfield Hills, a Detroit suburb, posted a Facebook Live video telling his viewers that he faced a "tough day in the saddle": 112 miles through the middle of the state. Ann Arbor resident Edward Erickson was participating in the annual Make-A-Wish ride for the ninth time and, according to his participant website page, exceeded his fundraising goal of $3500. He was riding on the team Salhaney captained.
From Edward Erickson's participant webpage.
"I hope we are able to ride together in 2022!" Erickson wrote. He added that he was committed to raising money for Make-A-Wish Michigan to grant the wishes of children with critical illnesses. "A wish replaces fear with confidence, sadness with joy and anxiety with hope. And hope is essential for these courageous children, more than ever," he added.
Salhaney was a partner at a litigation law firm and a former prosecuting attorney at the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office. It looks like his counterparts in Ionia County, where the ride ended for him and Erickson ended, are doing their job, so far: Local resident Mandy Marie Benn has been arraigned and charged with two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, operating a vehicle under the influence of a controlled substance, and a second notice of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. She is being held on a $1 million bond in Ionia County jail.
I hope that Jersey City Council Member Amy De Gise is similarly held to account. Two weeks ago, around 8 o'clock in the morning, she struck cyclist Andrew Black. Although he caromed off the hood of her Nissan Rouge and his bike was trashed, he wasn't seriously hurt. Still, De Gise continued on her way as if a pigeon ricocheted off her roof.
A petition with around 5000 signatures calls for her resignation, which she resolutely refuses to do. So far, she hasn't even acknowledged the hit-and-run incident. It seems that she's been shielded, directly or indirectly, by her father: Tom De Gise, the powerful longtime Hudson County Executive.
I think that she should not only resign, she should also apologize and pay for any expenses Black has incurred (whether through medical costs, lost wages or his bike) from her own purse, not through some government insurance plan or slush fund.
In the Michigan charity ride tragedy, three other cyclists, all men from the eastern part of the state, were injured. One is in critical condition but expected to recover; the other two were treated at a local hospital and released.
