Taxi Driver Online

Mayor’s plea bargain seems to be way to go

Published: Saturday, Jan. 22, 2005

BACKGROUND: Mayor Streeter has agreed to a plea bargain on a charge of leaving the scene of a fender-bender accident in Manchester without identifying himself.
CONCLUSION: If Streeter in the plea agreement owns up to his alleged actions after the minor accident, it would seem the wise thing to put this case to rest.


If Mayor Bernie Streeter has said yes to a plea agreement for the charges connected to his arrogant actions on that fateful day on Oct. 23 when his city car and a taxi made contact on a Manchester street, then we say amen.

The details of the plea bargain have yet to be released, but if the plea puts the case to rest without compromising justice, then it’s time to move forward.

Previously, Mayor Streeter had agreed to let his lawyer fight the misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident without identifying himself to the taxi driver with whom he collided, as well as making a left turn from the right lane of a two-lane, one-way street.

Following the collision, the taxi cab driver has alleged that the mayor pointed to the government plate on his city-issued Crown Victoria and asked, “Do you know who I am?”

Then the mayor left, saying his lawyer would be in touch with the cab company, according to the cab driver.

The amusing part of this situation is that since the cab driver is a nonpolitical, working stiff in the Queen City, of course he didn’t know the other driver was Nashua’s mayor.

It was obvious to most people, with perhaps the exception of the mayor, that it should never have mattered who he was.

After Streeter was allegedly uppity with the cab driver, he proceeded to park in a private parking lot, then met his family at an event in the Verizon Wireless Arena. During the event, police towed his city car from the private lot, where he was not supposed to park, and kept the car until he bailed it out.

And if this behavior wasn’t bad enough, the mayor’s lawyer, Nashua’s own Adam Bernstein, wanted a chance to argue in court that the cab driver did not identify himself either and so should be charged as well.

That looked like a move to intimidate the driver from testifying and an attempt to clear the mayor through hard ball tactics. The maneuver, however, would have resulted in Streeter digging himself into a deeper hole in the court of public opinion.

This was a minor accident that led to little damage to both cars, and there was no personal injury other than to Streeter’s ego.

So both the mayor and his lawyer have pulled back from this strategy that would have made them look high-handed in court.

Streeter on deciding to put this incident behind him can move on to more positive actions.

The cab driver can focus on his work, too, and live to tell the tale of how he dealt a Very Important Person a well-deserved and humbling comeuppance.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

For a minute I thought that perhaps the Manchester mayor had collided with JD.

But it's the good old US of A

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I like this bit;




hint in journalism, never use the words testify and hard ball in the same sentence

Captain Cab

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Mayor guilty of crash conduct

Nashua Mayor Bernie Streeter enters the courtroom at Manchester District Court on Thursday. Streeter was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of conduct after an accident in connection with an October collision.
MANCHESTER - Nashua Mayor Bernie Streeter was found guilty Thursday of reduced charges stemming from his collision with a Queen City Taxi cab last fall, but paid the maximum fine.

Streeter, 70, was charged with leaving the scene of the Oct. 23 crash in his city-owned Crown Victoria without identifying himself to the cabbie. Streeter also was charged with making an improper turn, a violation.

The misdemeanor charge of conduct after an accident was reduced to a violation as part of a plea agreement negotiated by Streeter’s lawyer, Adam Bernstein of Nashua, with Manchester City Solicitor Michele Battaglia.

Streeter pleaded no contest to both violations, and paid $2,400 in fines and $1,076.40 in restitution to Queen City Taxi. Streeter also wrote “a meaningful letter of apology” to the cab driver, Eddie Mercier of Manchester.

Streeter paid the fines and restitution Thursday and had already written the letter, Bernstein said. Streeter also must perform 50 hours of community service in Manchester as part of the plea deal.

Streeter has yet to choose how or with which agency he will perform the service, Bernstein said.

Hampton District Court Judge Francis Frasier presided over the hearing and accepted the plea bargain. Streeter declined to comment on the matter after the hearing.

Streeter later released a brief written statement.

“I regret my actions on Oct. 23rd and I sincerely apologize to all parties concerned,” he wrote. Bernstein said he and Streeter were “glad it’s done.”

“It’s a fair resolution. It gives the mayor an opportunity to put this behind him,” he said.

The agreement also gives Mercier and the cab company “closure,” Bernstein said. Mercier did not attend the hearing.

Streeter felt badly that he put Mercier and himself in the situation, Bernstein said.

“I think he’s sorry that it came to what it came to,” he said.

The collision, on a Saturday morning in Manchester, caused minor damage to both cars, but no one was hurt.

Police charged that Streeter’s car hit the cab while he was trying to turn left onto Central Street from the right lane of Pine Street, a two-lane, one-way street. Streeter and Mercier exchanged words, but not their identities or insurance information, after the collision, police reported.

Mercier spoke with an officer at the scene, but Streeter left and parked in the private lot of a nearby apartment complex.

Streeter spoke with police later, when he went to the station after his car had been towed.

Mercier told police that Streeter pointed out his government plate and asked him: “Do you know who I am?” Police reported that Streeter asked if police usually towed cars with government plates.

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin