Most Americans who clip a parked car and drive away don’t get the luxury of skipping their own court date. Paul Pelosi apparently does. The 86-year-old husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a no-show Friday for his first scheduled appearance on a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge in Napa County, Fox News reports, sending an attorney to enter his not guilty plea for him.
Attorney Amanda Bevins stood in for Pelosi in Napa County Superior Court and declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital. The appearance — or non-appearance — came nearly a month after the Napa County District Attorney’s Office formally charged Pelosi with misdemeanor hit-and-run and an infraction for an unsafe turning movement stemming from a July 3 crash.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by Fox News Digital, Pelosi allegedly struck and damaged a parked Tesla while driving a burgundy Maserati convertible, then left without attempting to identify the Tesla’s owner or provide the information required under California law. Deputies found him roughly a half-mile away, where he allegedly told officers he had intended to return to the crash site. Notice the word intended.
The district attorney’s office admitted it doesn’t typically issue news releases for misdemeanor hit-and-runs involving only property damage — but made an exception because of the “significant public and media interest” surrounding Pelosi. Translation: even prosecutors know the country is watching to see whether a Pelosi gets treated like everyone else.
This isn’t the venture capitalist’s first tangle with Napa County traffic law. In 2022, Pelosi pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DUI after a separate crash in the county, walking away with probation, restitution and fines, a DUI education program and an ignition interlock device. The New York Times reported last month that Pelosi has racked up driving infractions in four different Bay Area counties in recent years — San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo and Napa — including speeding, driving the wrong way down a one-way street, using a cellphone without a hands-free device and failing to stop at a red light.
And what does the former Speaker have to say about all of it? Nothing. Nancy Pelosi declined to answer Fox News Digital’s questions about her husband’s charge.
This is a window into what happens when a family spends decades at the top of the political food chain: the rules start to feel optional. An 86-year-old with a prior DUI conviction and a four-county trail of driving infractions allegedly leaves the scene of a crash — and then can’t even be bothered to show up and face the judge. Regular Americans would be in that courtroom, on time, no excuses. The Pelosis, as always, play by a different set of rules.
Source: foxnews.com