Tally's Joe Mizereck Offers $500 Reward In Pinellas Park Hit-and-run Bicyclist Case

Joe Mizereck is a terrific bicycle advocate from Tallahassee who created the yellow bike jersey with the message on the back advising motorists to pass bicyclists by the minimum berth of three feet. Joe was so appalled at the Toyota SUV driver who struck the 20-year-old woman bicyclist in Pinellas Park and then fled the scene on Sunday night that he is offering a $500 reward to anyone who offers information leading to the arrest of the driver.

Here is Joe's letter:

It sickens me when I hear reports of motorists hitting cyclists and not stopping to give aid. And I am deeply troubled by the fact that Karri is just one of many cyclists who have been hit this year in the United States and the motorists have fled. It seems almost like an epidemic of disregard for human life and responsibility. This is simply deplorable and must stop.

We have to let motorists know that it is unacceptable to hit a cyclist and leave him or her in the road to suffer. There appears to be a growing number of motorists around the world who are choosing to run from their incidents only making matters worse for themselves and most certainly their victims. One way to stop motorists from choosing to run is to make running less attractive. Judges need to wake up and enforce the maximum penalties available to them by law. In addition rewards leading to the arrest and conviction violators can help law enforcement do their job in finding the criminals.

Motorists need to understand that if they run, an all-out effort will be made to bring them to justice. For this purpose, I would like to offer a reward of $500 for information leading to the arrest of the motorist who hit Karri and left her in the road to suffer. I will only need confirmation from the Pinellas Park police department that the information provided lead to the arrest of the person(s) involved.

These roads are "our" roads and we must learn to share our roads in ways that allow all users to travel safely. This kind of motorist behavior is terribly wrong and should concern all members of our communities and move us to act to stop it. If we don't act, I fear the worse.