The news that a man was hit by a car and critically injured crossing Bay Street brought out the worst in some of my fellow citizens. Commenting on a story in the Savannah Morning News, they celebrated the fact that “karma got this guy.” The pedestrian, 36-year-old Joshua Goodwin, was described as a “perp” and a “criminal” while listed in critical condition at Memorial Health University Medical Center on Saturday night.
News the next day that his condition improved must have been a bummer to the person who hoped Godwin’s injuries would be a “lesson to the jay walkers on Bay St.”
During the same time period, the Savannah Morning News published numerous stories about car crashes including:
2-vehicle accident blocks southbound Abercorn
Several accidents delay morning traffic
Car crashes into Carol’s Pampered Pets, goes through building
None of these articles attracted a single comment, not even the one about an SUV crashing into the lobby of a pet shop. None of the drivers were called criminals. No one said they got what they deserved. No one said they hoped these crashes would serve as a lesson to other drivers.
The message is clear: Crash your car? It happens to the best of us. Get hit by a car? You’re a menace and you had it coming.
When I worked downtown, I always looked both ways before crossing one way streets. You don’t have to have too many close encounters before you wise up.
But I don’t recall the police ever cracking down on that. Odd how pedestrians are the enemy, somehow.
Seems as if nothing was taken from the previous incident of the terracotta lion that was destroyed by a driver speeding across the same street. I’m sure that statue was just as much of a criminal.
I am curious though, as to what the driver would think about the comments on the article.