A councilwoman in a New Jersey city is facing calls for her resignation after she allegedly struck a bicyclist with her SUV but never even slowed down to help, in an incident that was caught on camera.
The incident occurred around 8 a.m. on July 19, as first-term Jersey City Councilwoman Amy DeGise was seen on the city's closed circuit TV cameras driving north on Martin Luther King Drive. She had a green light and was going through the intersection when her Nissan Rogue struck the bike, sending the rider flying into the street.
The 31-year-old rider, Andrew Black, could be seen falling to the ground, and appeared stunned and shaken as he got back up.
"Someone of prestige would fall to the point where they would ignore the law," Black said in an interview with HudPost.
At first, Black claimed he had the green light, but officials say he was mistaken. However, it's not who had the right-of-way in the incident that has people upset — it's what DeGise did immediately afterward that people said was wrong. The driver, the daughter of longtime Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, didn't stop or even slow down to check on the cyclist.
"Past being elected its a living human being, it was really hard for me to witness that,” said Councilman Frank Gilmore. "It's a matter of public trust, it's a matter of respect, it's a matter of human decency."
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It has led to growing calls for DeGise to stop down. Fellow councilmember James Solomon was among the first to sign a change.org petition calling for the first-term councilwoman to step down in the wake of the incident.
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"The word I use is horrified, that’s how I felt watching the video," said Solomon. "She's an elected official and we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard and that’s why I think she should resign."
No one answered the door at DeGise's apartment on Thursday. She has been charged with failure to report the accident and leaving the scene.
The president of Safe Streets JC, Jimmy Lee, said what happened is criminal and inhumane — but isn't the first time they've seen such things happen recently.
"We experienced two hit and runs back in November and the people in both cases were still alive but later died because they weren't able to get help in time," Lee said.
He said that Vision Zero safety efforts have worked to make Jersey City streets safer, but the recent incident is a setback.
"How can we have someone making the laws breaking the laws?" asked Lee.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop has been quoted as saying the incident was a terrible mistake but stopped short of calling on DeGise to resign. He did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.
