Natasha Pettigrew was a 30-year-old Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate out of Maryland. The reason that I have the misfortune of referencing Ms. Pettigrew in past tense is because she was killed on Monday night; Pettigrew was hit by a car while riding her bike.
She was critically injured at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday while training for a triathlon. The driver of an SUV said she thought she'd hit a deer until she saw Pettigrew's bicycle caught underneath her truck. She didn't realize the bike was under her car until she arrived home. The young politician died at 10:30 p.m. at Prince George's County hospital.
The driver of the vehicle, Christy R. Littleford, called the police around 6:30 a.m.
"She had driven to her home and called from her home," Greg Shipley, a Maryland State Police spokesman, told The Washington Post. "The initial indication was that she thought she may have hit a deer or an animal in the roadway. That's the indication our troopers were given. When she arrived home and saw the bicycle, she assumed it was something else."
Natasha Pettigrew was an outstanding woman and a high achiever. She graduated from Ohio State University and was taking a break from law school to run for the U.S. Senate. She was a law student at The University of Miami in Florida. I send the Pettigrew family my condolences. Natasha sounds like an amazing human being. Given that she is a black woman who attended my alma mater (Ohio State), I feel like I know her myself.
Watch her talk about her running for the U.S. Senate here:
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So let get this right...This lady thought she hit a deer? You pass someone on a bike, you hear a loud thump, you see no deer or wild animals in the road, you don't hear anything dragging under your SUV for the rest of the ride home (bike, deer)for a full hour???? Sounds fishy to me, I live in MD and most people that I know that have or thought they hit a deer, STOP to look at there vehicle. They don't just keep driving until they get home like nothing ever happened. I think some people just don't care anymore about anything but themselves and what concerns them
Exactly. How could you not see someone on a bike if you had your headlights on? And, in the event that you didn't see them, and you hit something, wouldn't it be safer to stop and look? I don't get this. If you had a bike under your car, wouldn't there be some kind of noise? If she called the police at 5:30 am, was she just getting home from a party? Or then again, if she was getting up to go out, whatever alcohol she may have drank would not be on her breath. They did not test her for drugs, did they?
Dag, people just need to be careful. If you are out on the highway and you "think" you have struck an animal, please take the time to get out and check. Perhaps if this driver had checked on Ms. Pettigrew when she was first struck, she may have saved her life. This poor woman lay out there injured all that time.
This driver should have her license revoked if she thought a human on a bike was an animal. An even so, what type of animal is the driver if she thought she hit an innocent deer and not care to look and see. Secondly, most bikes have flourescent things on them so they can be seen in the dark. It is evident that Ms. Pettigrew had a professional bike if she was training for a professional run. Thirdly, what driver would not know that something as huge as a bike is underneath the truck all that time. Is the driver deaf? Since this lady was killed, an arrest should be made and this driver should be charged accordingly. Let's see what type of justice plays out in this one or it there is a new stigma. RBWB -riding bike while black.
LT I'm with you except for one thing. Injured wildlife is nothing to mess with. She could have stop her vehilce and did a visual from the inside of the car (maybe then she would have seen the shape that look nothing like a deer!)but I would not recommend getting out of a vehicle if their are wild animals are around, injured or otherwise
yeah...this sounds a little fishy to me too. If you hit a rabbit or cat etc. you might not see them being they're low to the ground..but you'd hear a thud. But a deer or human-on-a-bike -- I find it hard to believe they would not come into driver's view either before hitting or after hitting them...and on a bike ? The bike's reflector lights should have caught the driver's eye. And, dragging the bike that distance without realizing something's under your car. I'm not buying it. THIS WAS A HIT AND RUN attempt. Driver whent home to collect his/her thoughts & get their story straight before calling it in. ARREST and CHARGE with Manslaughter
I'm curious as to what color clothing Natasha was wearing. Was she wearing dark clothing? If so, driver might have a case as to WHY they hit her, but still no excuse for leaving the scene. If Natasha was wearing light-colored clothing, the driver is hiding the REAL reason they left the scene (they were either on cell phone, high on drugs, drunk, under the influence of something and/or had contraband in their car....OR the driver would lose their license or were drving on suspended/revoked license -- so they had to make it home some somebody at home was willing & waiting to forge that THEY were the driver.
This same kind of accident kill my niece a number of years ago the lady said she thought she hit a deer and my niece was wearing a white blouse black pants and black and white tennis shoes my niece was a black female hit by a white older lady whom the court system did nothing to.I never even heard this woman say that she was sorry so to this family my heart goes out to you over this sorry lie.you should know the difference between a deer and someone on a bike.
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Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
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By: pchand29 on 9/22/2010 1:51AM
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By: Rio on 9/22/2010 7:46AM
What a shame, and very, very sad. The loss of one so young. My best wishes to her family and loved ones.
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By: T on 9/22/2010 8:02AM
So let get this right...This lady thought she hit a deer? You pass someone on a bike, you hear a loud thump, you see no deer or wild animals in the road, you don't hear anything dragging under your SUV for the rest of the ride home (bike, deer)for a full hour???? Sounds fishy to me, I live in MD and most people that I know that have or thought they hit a deer, STOP to look at there vehicle. They don't just keep driving until they get home like nothing ever happened. I think some people just don't care anymore about anything but themselves and what concerns them
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By: Camerie on 9/22/2010 9:57AM
Exactly. How could you not see someone on a bike if you had your headlights on? And, in the event that you didn't see them, and you hit something, wouldn't it be safer to stop and look? I don't get this. If you had a bike under your car, wouldn't there be some kind of noise? If she called the police at 5:30 am, was she just getting home from a party? Or then again, if she was getting up to go out, whatever alcohol she may have drank would not be on her breath. They did not test her for drugs, did they?
Dag, people just need to be careful. If you are out on the highway and you "think" you have struck an animal, please take the time to get out and check. Perhaps if this driver had checked on Ms. Pettigrew when she was first struck, she may have saved her life. This poor woman lay out there injured all that time.
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By: LT on 9/22/2010 8:55AM
This driver should have her license revoked if she thought a human on a bike was an animal. An even so, what type of animal is the driver if she thought she hit an innocent deer and not care to look and see. Secondly, most bikes have flourescent things on them so they can be seen in the dark. It is evident that Ms. Pettigrew had a professional bike if she was training for a professional run. Thirdly, what driver would not know that something as huge as a bike is underneath the truck all that time. Is the driver deaf? Since this lady was killed, an arrest should be made and this driver should be charged accordingly. Let's see what type of justice plays out in this one or it there is a new stigma. RBWB -riding bike while black.
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By: Lahelama on 9/22/2010 1:34PM
LT
I'm with you except for one thing. Injured wildlife is nothing to mess with. She could have stop her vehilce and did a visual from the inside of the car (maybe then she would have seen the shape that look nothing like a deer!)but I would not recommend getting out of a vehicle if their are wild animals are around, injured or otherwise
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By: Towa on 9/22/2010 9:29AM
yeah...this sounds a little fishy to me too. If you hit a rabbit or cat etc. you might not see them being they're low to the ground..but you'd hear a thud. But a deer or human-on-a-bike -- I find it hard to believe they would not come into driver's view either before hitting or after hitting them...and on a bike ? The bike's reflector lights should have caught the driver's eye. And, dragging the bike that distance without realizing something's under your car. I'm not buying it. THIS WAS A HIT AND RUN attempt.
Driver whent home to collect his/her thoughts & get their story straight before calling it in. ARREST and CHARGE with Manslaughter
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By: Towa on 9/22/2010 9:39AM
I'm curious as to what color clothing Natasha was wearing. Was she wearing dark clothing? If so, driver might have a case as to WHY they hit her, but still no excuse for leaving the scene. If Natasha was wearing light-colored clothing, the driver is hiding the REAL reason they left the scene (they were either on cell phone, high on drugs, drunk, under the influence of something and/or had contraband in their car....OR the driver would lose their license or were drving on suspended/revoked license -- so they had to make it home some somebody at home was willing & waiting to forge that THEY were the driver.
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By: carla ford on 9/22/2010 9:48AM
She drove home in time enough to call her lawyer before she called police I bet. She was probably drunk or high...she thought she hit a deer huh?
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By: Ecollier on 9/22/2010 10:45PM
This same kind of accident kill my niece a number of years ago the lady said she thought she hit a deer and my niece was wearing a white blouse black pants and black and white tennis shoes my niece was a black female hit by a white older lady whom the court system did nothing to.I never even heard this woman say that she was sorry so to this family my heart goes out to you over this sorry lie.you should know the difference between a deer and someone on a bike.
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