An 11-year-old Texas boy who was ticketed for walking on the wrong side of the street after he was hit by a vehicle has asked for a jury trial.

Noah Popovich, 11, of Texas City, asked a municipal judge Tuesday for a jury trial to fight the citation he received Sept. 27 after he was struck by an 18-year-old driver in a sport-utility vehicle while he was walking to Levi Fry Intermediate School, The Galveston County Daily News reported Thursday.

Popovich initially continued on to school, but was later sent home due to the pain from his injuries, which were not specified.

Police questioned the driver and Popovich and issued the boy a ticket for walking on the wrong side of the street. The driver was not ticketed.

"First and foremost, I don't want that petty crap on his record," said Ashley Falks, the boy's mother, of the decision to seek a jury trial. Secondly, I have $10,000 in medical bills that can be denied by the insurance company if the case isn't dismissed or if he isn't found not guilty.

how do you walk on the wrong side of the street? like, was he walking on the sidewalk to the left side of where he was facing, or was he like actually in the street? if the former, wtf is this shit?

I believe what it means by wrong side of the street is if your back is turned to the car, that's wrong. It'd be great to know which side he was walking on, and how he was hit.
Oh yeah, and 11 year old ticketed for this?
Wow, America I'm impressed.
I'm even more ashamed of living in your country.

I think both of them are pretty at fault for this, honestly.

The driver really should have had the sense of mind to just avoid the little bugger, but in that same vein - How do you miss the sound of an SUV coming up behind you?

If the answer is music, then why in the hell are you listening to music and walking on the wrong side of the street?

If it was coming towards him, then there is no excuse. None.

Carelessness on the driver's part. Stupidity on the kid's. I'd punish the stupid one before the careless one.

Stupid Texas drivers & children.

America just sounds better and better X)

The driver should have seen it, but it's not like the kid was the innocent one... or the smartest. This is where street smarts come into play, and if all you got is an iPod when a large SUV comes rolling around the corner, you're gonna be the newest incorporated grease spot.

Kid was stupid, driver was stupid.
Kid shouldnt of been walking where he was, driver shouldve been paying more attention.
Im doubtful he got hit hard enough to cause 10k in medical bills.
then again ive never been admitted to a hospital so idk

IMO, boy deserved it. There are laws against Jaywalking for a reason. The mother is even more retarded for trying to appeal the ticket in court. What the mother should do is file a civil suit against the driver's insurance company if the driver's insurance doesn't cover the accident (insurance is supposed to cover bodily harm in most states; it is the law).

The driver did nothing wrong from a criminal point of view. You cannot get ticketed, let alone arrested, for hitting someone unless:

- Negligence results in death of an innocent (usually a misdemeanor, sometimes a felony),

-You were drunk or driving distracted (almost always a felony; must be demonstratable in court),

-You flee the scene of the accident (always a felony), or

-You intentionally run someone down (always a felony; motive must hold up in court).

>>8 If you're hit by a car and internal injuries occur, the cost rises exponentially. The reason for this has a lot to do with CT scans costing an arm and a leg.

Back in September I spent two days in the hospital with severe stomach flu symptoms. My bill: $11,000. $3400 of it was CT scans.

Agreeing with punishing the kid too. I mean, honestly - if you could get a lawsuit out of getting hit by a car, when you were walking in the middle of the road, I'd see that as exploitable. It's almost justifying throwing yourself into the way of a moving vehicle. "It's okay, it's always the driver's fault~"

The fact the kid was injured has nothing to do with the fact that he broke a law in the first place. It's not the responsibility of the driver to make sure nobody's in the road - morally, maybe, but in terms of the law, they cannot be held responsible for someone else's mistake.

>>3 >>6 Yes, let's take this one instance of stupidity to rag on America as a whole. America did this. It's America's fault for being a terrible place.

Nobody in any other country does stupid shit, ever.

Link?

>>5 This.