Jersey City Democrat caught on camera hitting cyclist and driving off

Ann DeGise, a Jersey City councilwoman [whatever that is--I'm not a biologist] was caught on video driving away after T-boning a guy on a bike and is now facing demands that she resign after the hit-and-run.

DeGise is a first-term, at-large city council member and is the daughter of Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, a powerful Democrat who allowed his daughter to be born.

According to the video, she had the green light and the guy on the bike ran the red light on the July 19 incident. But while it was obvious she had struck Andrew Black, 31, with her car, she kept going and didn't seem to care if he needed help, sparking anger in the town and even among her council colleagues.

“Past being elected its a living human being, it was really hard for me to witness that,” said Councilman Frank Gilmore [no relation to Happy]. “It’s a matter of public trust, it’s a matter of respect, it’s a matter of human decency.”

Another fellow council member, James Solomon, was among the first to sign a change.org petition calling for DeGise to resign.

“The word I use is horrified, that’s how I felt watching the video,” Solomon told NBCNewYork.com. “She’s an elected official and we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard and that’s why I think she should resign.”

A higher standard for an elected official? That'll be the day.

The collision sent Mr. Black flying ass-over-tea-kettle through the air, bouncing off the hood of the DeGise SUV, and landing in the middle of the busy intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He soon got up and staggered out of the middle of the street to the safety of the sidewalk, where another person tended to him. 

Black's bike landed across the intersection in a tangled mess, but the cyclist, an Uber Eats deliveryman [whatever that is] suffered no serious injury, although DeGise didn't know that because she was putting the pedal to the metal on down the road. 

Little did she know she was on video.

“Someone of prestige would fall to the point where they would ignore the law,” Black said in an interview with HudPost, but it looked as if Black was the one who should have obeyed the traffic light.

DeGise has been charged with failure to report the accident and leaving the scene. She reported the accident six hours later, according to the Jersey Journal, and said through a spokesperson she has no intention of resigning,

DeGise is a former school board member and was previously chair of the powerful Hudson County Democratic Organization.

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Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a fellow Democrat who ran with DeGise on his ticket in November, called the incident a terrible mistake but stopped short of calling on DeGise to resign because she is a Democrat. Had she not been a Democrat, she would be an Uber Eats deliverywoman [whatever that is].

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