Do we still live in America?

Jim Treacher (that's his blogger name; real name, Sean Medlock), a blogger for the Daily Caller, was run down in Washington, D.C. as he was crossing the street last week by an SUV driven by a State Department Security Agent named Mike McGuinn. Treacher was served IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM with a $20 jaywalking citation, even though Treacher reports that he was walking with the light and within the crosswalk. Mike McGuinn, the driver who ran down Treacher, was not cited nor did he provide Treacher with his information.

Treacher says the jaywalking citation was "fact deficient." The Daily Caller reports that the ticket said Medlock was struck at an intersection four blocks from where the accident actually took place. It claims that Medlock was walking diagnonally across the intersection at the time. "In one of his strikingly short conversations with The Daily Caller, agent Mike McGuinn acknowledged that Medlock was not jaywalking at all, but was walking 'outside the crosswalk when the incident occurred.'"

Here are some statements from the State Department regarding the accident. This was posted on The Political Class:

Calls to the State Department were met with evasion and indifference. One DSS spokesman requested that questions be submitted in writing. This is from Sarah Rosett, a DSS spokeswoman: "A jogger collided with one of the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service's offical vehicles"--sort of like Treacher had somehow attacked the SUV. Treacher, by the way, does not jog.

Interviewed by the Daily Caller, the driver of the SUV, Mike McGuinn had this to say: "I'm a federal agent, and I'm not allowed to talk to the media." He cited "liability" and declined to identify the agency he worked for. "You can refer to the [D.C.] police department report."

Treacher had this to say: "The police never told me who hit me. Guess they were too busy keeping the streets safe from my 'jaywalking.'" Treacher says he was crossing with the light and had "plenty fo time left," according to the countdown clock. That's when he says a black SUV made an illegal left turn and hit him head-on.

The Daily Caller website, which Treacher works for, said that calls to the State Department were met with "evasion and indifference." DC says spokesman for the department ignored a series of questions about whether the driver, Mike McGuinn, was on or off duty, who he might have been escorting or protecting, whether McGuinn identified himself to police at the scene of the accident, and whether McGuinn had anything to do with the jaywalking citation.

Treacher, blogging on 8 Feb, said that they took all the broken bone pieces and stuck them together with bone paste. They also attached a piece of metal "someplace . . . . So that's the outside of my knee. My right leg is pretty banged up too, but not nearly as bad as the left. . . . Oh, I have blood clots in my lung, did I mention that? Pulmonary embolisms, they're called. . . . They can't do anything about the clots that are already there. Those will just be absorbed eventually. But to prevent further clots they've put me on something called Lovenox. This is an anticoagulant that I have to inject myself with. It goes in the fat at the very bottom of the stomach, so that's no problem for me. . . . Then, once I'm out of the hospital, I'll have to visit the lab at least once a week to make sure my blood isn't too thick or too thin. This will continue for 3-6 months."

He also won't be able to put his full weight on his knee for 3-6 months. So his knee gets strapped to a continuous motion machine every day; in addition, of course, he'll be going to physical therapy, which after a few days is going to feel like a full-time job.

Update. Feb 9, after surgery. It really sounds as if the guy's knee was destroyed. After surgery he now has crutches, a walker, and a wheelchair: "I'm awesome with the walker, pretty good with the crutches, and I haven't tried the wheelchair yet. I'll probably need that to get around outside, especially in all this snow."

Treacher ended his blogging on The DC Trawler for the day by saying, "This is not over. You can count on it."