Despite Claim, No Evidence Of Campaign Volunteer Hit By Car

The nastiest claim of campaign malfeasance yesterday, that a Storobin supporter driving a van hit a volunteer for the Lew Fidler campaign, turned out to be bunk, according to police.

A report first issued by City Councilman David Greenfield, a staunch backer of Fidler, that a supporter of the Democratic candidate was struck by a van in front of Cunningham Junior High School is now being disputed by authorities. Greenfield claimed that after hitting the volunteer, the driver jumped out and grabbed the volunteer’s pro-Fidler literature and drove off.

According to the New York Times:

The cries of dirty politics wailed loudly even on Election Day. The police were called to investigate a 911 call of a woman believed to be a Fidler volunteer who said she had been struck by a vehicle outside a polling station at a school in Sheepshead Bay. The police, according to a spokeswoman, Deputy Inspector Kim Royster, said that the woman had not been hit, but that there was also a dispute nearby involving a campaign poster torn off a pole.

The initial report resulted in a sternly worded statement from the Fidler campaign, first published by City & State.

Councilman Fidler sends his best wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery to our campaign volunteer who was reported to have been assaulted earlier today by a Storobin thug.

All day long, we’ve received reports that Mr. Storobin has been barging into polling sites disrupting operations and illegally campaigning within the no-campaign zone.  The Election Law provides a no-campaign perimeter around polling sites for a reason.  Perhaps Mr. Storobin was asleep when they taught that course in law school, but ignorance of the law is no defense.

For at least this final day of the campaign, it would be nice if Mr. Storobin could conduct himself honorably.  Not that we expect him to, but still, it would be nice.

The claims of illegal electioneering at poll sites has not been verified by authorities.