Good Samaritan ticketed for jaywalking in Denver

A Good Samaritan who sustained broken bones after pushing three people out of the way of a oncoming pickup has been cited for jaywalking, the Rocky Mountain News reports.

Bus driver Jim Moffett, 58, and one of his passengers decided to help two elderly women who had gotten off the bus on a Denver street in a light snowstorm, the newspaper says.

Moffett's stepson, Ken McDonald, tells the paper that the four had almost made it across the street when the impatient driver of a pickup passed in a left-hand turn lane and hit them.

"He plowed right into my stepdad," McDonald says. "But not before (my stepdad) pushed the old ladies and the other guy out of the way."

Moffett was hospitalized with bleeding in the brain, broken bones in his face, a dislocated shoulder, a broken wrist and possible ruptured spleen and liver, the News writes.

He also got a ticket for jaywalking.

McDonald says the citation should be dropped, but the newspaper quotes Ryan Sullivan, of the State Patrol, as saying that while Moffett's "intentions were good," jaywalking caused the accident.

The driver of the pickup was ticketed for careless driving causing injury.
Posted by Doug Stanglin at 10:54 AM/ET, February 26, 2009