Update 3:36 p.m.:
Cyclist Floyd Landis appeared Friday in state Superior Court in Norwalk and received a simple postponement of his case involving a misdemeanor charge of evading responsibility.
On Aug. 16, Landis had reported to Norwalk police that he hit a fence in a city park at 6:30 a.m. the day before. On Aug. 17, police charged him with evading responsibility, a misdemeanor. His case was originally to go to court on Sept. 1, but was postponed until Friday.
He appeared in court Friday and received another postponement to Oct. 14—his 36th birthday.
No lawyer has filed an appearance in the case.
Evading responsibility in a case involving property damage is a misdemeanor under Connecticut law Section 14-224(b), which states that a driver who causes property damage must report the matter as soon as possible to police.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a maximum fine of $600. The minimum fine is $75. Those charged with this misdemeanor usually can apply for the state's Accelerated Rehabilitation program, a special form of probation in which charges are dropped and erased from a defendant's record after a period of time (up to two years).
Before allowing a defendant into the program, a judge may impose conditions such as restitution for property damage or community service.
Original article:
Former professional cyclist Floyd Landis was driving near very early one morning in August when he became involved in a minor car accident that damaged a city fence.
It then took Landis more than 24 hours to report the accident to Norwalk Police, who issued him a traffic ticket.
The accident occurred near the intersection of Canfield Avenue and Calf Pasture Beach Road, between and . (Calf Pasture Beach, nearby, is a popular spot for cyclists, but it's unknown whether or not Landis rode there.)
According to Norwalk Police reports, Landis said he had been at the home of a friend on nearby Shorehaven Road and was driving a rented Volkswagen Jetta at 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 15, a Monday. As he approached the intersection, he told police, he swerved to avoid another car approaching his lane, then hit the fence.
Landis told police his rental car company told him he should report the accident to police, so he called police at 8:04 a.m. the next day. The day after that, police issued him a traffic ticket.
Landis, a resident of Murrieta, CA, won the Tour de France in 2006, but was later stripped of his title after it was determined he had been taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Editor's note: This article originally was published at 11:35 a.m. the time stamp was changed for layout purposes.
