Driver who hit 12-year-old girl in D.C. charged with reckless driving

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Driver who hit 12-year-old girl in D.C. charged with reckless driving

Earl Darryl Curtis, whose car has more than $20,000 in unpaid D.C. tickets, was initially given a citation for colliding with a pedestrian on Capitol Hill.


Deirdre Allen, left, with her 12-year-old daughter, Paisley Brodie, at their home in Navy Yard. (Moriah Ratner for The Washington Post)

By Rachel Weiner
September 21, 2024 at 11:21 a.m. EDT

A driver who hit a 12-year-old girl on Capitol Hill as she was leaving school earlier this month has been charged with reckless driving, a more serious offense than the one for which he was initially cited, police said Friday. … Earl Darryl Curtis, 58, of District Heights, Md., initially was issued a citation for colliding with a pedestrian on Sept. 9. The girl he hit, Paisley Brodie, had a fractured foot that left her unable to walk.

But after local outrage at the scores of D.C. traffic camera tickets and thousands of dollars in fines Curtis’s car had incurred, police said they were investigating the incident for more serious criminal charges. A warrant was submitted Friday to the D.C. attorney general’s office, which handles lower-level traffic related crimes, authorities said. … The citation for colliding with a pedestrian carries a maximum possible penalty of 30 days in jail and a $250 fine. The new criminal charge carries a maximum possible penalty of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Curtis said in an interview before the warrant was issued that it was Paisley who hit his Land Rover and left a “nick” on its side. But he acknowledged, as a witness to the crash had asserted, that he had gone through the crosswalk at a red light. … “We’re talking about a kid that could have very well ran into my car,” he said, then added, “and did.” The police officer who issued him the ticket, he said, “can’t even prove that I collided, ’cause he wasn’t there.”

At the time of the crash, the car Curtis was driving had incurred over $18,000 in unpaid D.C. traffic camera tickets, many for speeding or running through red lights in the past few months. As of Friday that number was $20,270, including one for going 16 to 20 miles over the speed limit the day Paisley was hit. … Curtis is also on probation in Maryland from an incident in Annapolis in March, when he was charged with failure to control his speed to avoid a collision. He said he was not at fault in that incident, either. The car he was driving that day, a Chevrolet Impala, has $3,240 in unpaid D.C. camera tickets.

{snip}

By Rachel Weiner
Rachel Weiner covers all methods of transportation in the D.C. area. follow on X @rachelweinerwp

[UpInArms]

1. He needs to have his license revoked

Repeating for emphasis:

At the time of the crash, the car Curtis was driving had incurred over $18,000 in unpaid D.C. traffic camera tickets, many for speeding or running through red lights in the past few months. As of Friday that number was $20,270, including one for going 16 to 20 miles over the speed limit the day Paisley was hit. … Curtis is also on probation in Maryland from an incident in Annapolis in March, when he was charged with failure to control his speed to avoid a collision. He said he was not at fault in that incident, either. The car he was driving that day, a Chevrolet Impala, has $3,240 in unpaid D.C. camera tickets.

[Ferrets are Cool]

2. Why is this pos still allowed to drive?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Because ...

Last edited Sun Sep 22, 2024, 01:58 PM - Edit history (1)

From the article in the OP:

Camera tickets capture only license plates, not drivers, and they can only be used to boot and tow cars when they go unpaid. D.C. police said they are not responsible for that booting and towing, nor do they have the capacity to do that; the Department of Public Works does. For D.C. drivers, unpaid tickets can keep someone from registering a vehicle but not from renewing a driver’s license.

In DC, it’s trivially easy to buy fake temporary tags.

The first picture was taken on the GW Parkway in Virginia, so the problem extends to the surrounding states.

Fake tags are a real problem
TRANSPORTATION Opinion By Tom Lee (Guest Contributor) March 16, 2023


A dubious tag seen on a vehicle on a DC-area street. Photograph taken from a passenger seat by Caitlin Rogger.

{snip}

And recent years have provided a new signal that such a driver is near: the fake temporary tag. All of a sudden, it seemed, paper tags were everywhere. Often they were on credible-seeming vehicles – ones that looked new, or at least newly washed. But sometimes the expiration date had passed. And as the months wore on, they started showing up on increasingly implausible beaters.


Image by Matt Ficke used with permission.

These days it’s obvious: fake tags are part of the scofflaw trinity, along with defaced plates and opaque plate covers.

The reason this trend started is equally obvious: automated traffic enforcement, or ATE. The city’s speed cameras annually collect more than $100 million in fines from area drivers. And that’s just DC’s cameras! Compared to the era that preceded them, these systems have made enforcement of traffic laws shockingly consistent. Although it’s common to hear grumbling that traffic cameras are just a cash grab by local government, the evidence for ATE’s positive effect on safety is strong. Even AAA – a reliably brash proponent of motorists’ most chauvinistic impulses – has grudgingly admitted as much.

{snip}

Dear PoPville

“fake temporary tags?”

By Prince Of Petworth
Published January 12, 2023 at 2:35PM
Updated January 13, 2023 at 2:55PM



“ Dear PoPville,

In case anyone was wondering who’s behind the fake temporary tags? From Pennsylvania Avenue SE (westbound before the Sousa Bridge).

If “DL” is “driver’s license”, seems like a blatant advertisement for crime…”

{snip}

Car

“anyone else noticed over the past year the amount of vehicles with temp tags?”

By Prince Of Petworth
Published October 3, 2022 at 1:05PM



“Dear PoPville,

Has anyone else noticed over the past year the amount of vehicles with temp tags has gone way up and the vast majority seem to be from states that are not very close. Saw a Montana today!

The other interesting part is these cars are usually not new or in good shape at all. Most have significant damage to the vehicle. Dents on the side, etc. Not trying to judge what someone can afford but it just seems odd how widespread it is. Is this some sort of parking or camera ticket evasion thing?”

A driver’s license? Who needs one of those? Same for insurance.

[Ferrets are Cool]

6. Thank you. I learned something.

[3Hotdogs]

3. D.C. needs to hire an attorney to go to civil court about the unpaid fines. Then have the sheriff confiscate the car and

whatever is in his bank account, plus attach his wages.

[Wonder Why]

4. Is this the "I was shooting at the school and she ran into my bullet" defense?