Bill Hangley, Jr. sends word that his wife, Cheshire Agusta, a prominent West Philly rock musician and the drummer for the veteran trio Stinking Lizaveta is recovering after surgery following a serious hit-and-run bike/car accident. Agusta was on the bike and her injuries required metal plates and cadaver bone chips.
Cheshire Agusta and her beloved but now mangled bike. (Photo by Bill Hangley Jr.)
Agusta was struck on Friday, June 1, at 60th and Chestnut Streets while riding to her gym for a morning workout. After waiting at a traffic light, Agusta had just started pedaling north on 60th Street when a car on her left took a right turn across her path – a maneuver known among cyclists as the “right hook.” Agusta and her bike ended up trapped beneath the car. As Agusta recalls, the driver stopped briefly, backed up, paused again briefly and then drove off with the bike still underneath his car, leaving Agusta sitting in shock on the pavement.
Thanks to helpful bystanders who got the car’s license plate number, police soon located the driver, an 18-year-old man who told police that Agusta was in his “blind spot” and that he did not know anything was wrong. In part because of his clean driving and criminal record, police declined to charge him. Both Agusta and the driver were insured.
The accident partially crushed the top of Agusta’s left shinbone, which had to be reconstructed with cadaver bone chips and titanium plates. She faces a total of six months of rehab. Possible long-term complications include chronic stiffness and early-onset arthritis in the joint. Doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) say Agusta now faces a painful rehab but should be ready to tour in September in support of Stinking Lizaveta’s latest record, “Seventh Direction,” to be released in the U.S. and in Europe.
“My summer plans have changed dramatically, but my fall plans are still the same,” said Agusta. “We’re really proud of this record. There’s eighteen years of work behind it.”
“The worst thing that could have happened is that I could have died,” Agusta said, “but the next worst thing would be if I couldn’t get out and play this music.”
The band has scheduled a five-week European tour starting in September to support “Seventh Direction,” recorded at Chicago’s Engine Music Studios. The record features original compositions from all three band members (Cheshire Agusta and brothers Alexi and Yanni Papadopoulos).
Agusta is the second member of Stinking Lizaveta to be seriously injured in a West Philadelphia traffic accident. Alexi Papadopoulos, a co-owner of the popular Satellite Café on Baltimore Avenue, was struck by a car on his motor scooter two years ago, suffering multiple fractures and internal injuries. “The consensus among friends is that I’m next,” said his brother Yanni but the guitarist had no comment on any steps he might take to avoid his bandmates’ fate.
We are wishing a speedy recovery to Cheshire Agusta and hope that this was the last in the series of unfortunate happenings involving Stinking Lizaveta members.
June 15th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
OMG! I wish her my best. I remember seeing them 10 years ago at the Khyber. It was a great show. I feel so badly for her. Who amongst us who rides a bike in this city can not relate to her story? I hope the driver’s insurance company is picking up her medical expenses. I still think the driver should be charged. Why the heck is a lack of a criminal record in the past a reason for not charging someone for a hit and run? This should at least be put on the driver’s record for the next time (God forbid) he hits someone. Careful out there neighbors!
June 15th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
A driver crushes someone’s leg and drives away, but they aren’t charged because it is only the first time they have done it (that we know of)?
The guy backed up before driving off, yet he didn’t know anything was wrong? BS.
June 15th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
He was not charged?? That’s crazy. I feel so much safer now.
Get well Agusta.
June 15th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
This has been bothering me all day and I had to reply again.
I don’t buy the driver’s story. First of all, as a safe driver you’re responsible for knowing what’s in your blind spot and if you are not sure what’s in your blind spot, you should not assume you can turn into it. That’s just basic common sense.
Second, if we believe Ms. Augusta’s story that she was stopped at the light and then proceeded up 60th after the light went green, then the driver should have at some point been aware that someone was in the bike lane prior to turning. Either the driver was behind her in traffic in which case he/she should have seen her clearly before pulling ahead of her. If the driver was parallel with her while waiting at the light then perhaps Ms. Augusta pulled up after he was stopped and was not noticed. It’s conceivable that the driver would not have seen her in his rear view pulling up to the light. And it’s conceivable that when the light turned green he did not see her yet. HOWEVER, if you’re making a right turn you should not only look to your left to make sure you’re not pulling into on coming traffic, but you need to look to your right to make sure you’re not driving into a pedestrian crossing the intersection and/or a bike in the bike lane.
This driver is going to make the same idiot mistake again. Either he/she is going to hit another cyclist or it will be a pedestrian crossing the street legally.
This city has some miserable drivers. And it does not help that you can get away with being a miserable driver for years because our police force does a miserable job of enforcing traffic laws. This is bull. The driver should be charged with whatever charges apply (wreckless driving and a hit and run). If this accident happened outside of the city in the burbs he would have been.
To all my cycling comrades, let this be a lesson that you can not trust the drivers out there to have their heads OUTSIDE of their asses at any given time.
June 15th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Even if Cheshire was in his blind spot, you think a bike and a human under you car would get your attention.
June 15th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Yeah, great point 46th. This driver was a complete idiot seeing as they ran over a person and a bike and then drove with the bike dragging under their car and claimed to have not noticed anything. Case closed.
June 15th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
^ “Case closed.” This concludes another day of The People’s Court of Public Opinion.
June 15th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Thanks for posting C’s story – she’s been getting lots of good wishes from folks all over, and she really appreciates them, as she’s working hard to get better. Those of you who know her know that being cooped up in bed all day is NOT Cs style.
The fact that the driver wasn’t charged has raised a lot of questions from friends. The officer who investigated told me that given the fact that negligence is hard to prove (i.e. it’s hard to prove that Cheshire WASN’T in his blind spot; “A judge will say, ‘this is all you’ve got?” the officer said); that the kid had insurance and a clean record (criminal & driving); and that his family cooperated in helping the police track him down, in his opinion, charges weren’t warranted.
The general thinking seemed to be: let’s let the insurance companies pay for this, and let’s let the kid learn his lesson when his premiums get jacked up, instead of by losing his license, his job, getting a criminal record etc. I had this conversation in the emergency room, so I was a bit distracted & didn’t exactly grill the officer, but my impression was that his professional judgement was that of the kids in West Philly who need to be thrown into the justice system, this wasn’t one of them.
June 15th, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Criminal charges are not the same as a civil suit. Let her sue the hell out of this guy. Before she accepts any check from the insurance company or signs anything, she should get herself an attorney to review. Otherwise, she may waive her right to sue him.
June 15th, 2012 at 4:14 pm
Trust me: plenty of lawyers in my family. She hasn’t signed anything.
June 15th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Bill, thank God it was not worse. I am very sorry for you guys having to go through this. I immediately think of my wife and I who both ride bikes around town when I read this story. Best of luck in her recovery and with any civil case. Use those lawyer connections as this can not be a cheap process to endure (hospital, physical therapy, loss of work, pain and suffering, etc., etc.).
And I hope your wife is back behind the drum kit soon as possible. Keep on rocking on!