D.A. to Honor Valiant Recovery of Woman Hit by Uninsured Driver

Michelle Richardson was unloading boxes from her car parked outside her Linda Vista apartment last year when her life changed horribly.

She was hit by an out-of-control car traveling 40 m.p.h. and pinned against her own car. Her left foot and ankle were broken in eight places; her right knee was dislocated.

Her legs were so badly torn and bloodied that a doctor thought at first that he would have to amputate.

As Richardson lay screaming for help, the driver of the car ran away but was quickly captured.

Richardson spent 21 days in the hospital and several weeks in a wheelchair. It took months of therapy for the onetime ballet dancer to relearn how to walk.

She had to adjust to large scars and constant pain. She also had to adjust, prosecutors say, to a legal system that has trouble dealing with defendants like the 17-year-old driver, who was charged with felony hit-and-run.

“She’s a minor, an illegal alien, and an uninsured motorist,” Richardson said. “That’s a triple whammy.”

Because the driver is a minor, the Juvenile Court sentenced her only to undergo therapy and do community service. Richardson had pleaded for at least one day in jail.

Because the driver was uninsured, Richardson had to bear the full cost of her own medical bills and rehabilitation.

Because the driver is an illegal alien, and thus not able to work legally in the United States, the judge didn’t even bother to set a payment schedule when he ordered her to pay $63,000 in restitution.

Not a nickel has been paid. Civil attorneys have told Richardson that a lawsuit would be useless.

For her grit, Richardson, 23, will be among those honored today at the district attorney’s annual Crime Victims Luncheon. She hopes soon to finish her graduate work in education at the University of San Diego and teach elementary school.

“I feel no animosity,” she said. “You have to realize when something like this happens to you, that it’s not your fault.

“Scars will fade, and life will go on.”

Valley Parking in the Valet

Words, words, words.

* I like those radio commercials for the Sycuan Bingo Palace in El Cajon where the woman promises valley parking. That’s El Cajon Valley, I presume.

* Morris Dees, the Alabama attorney who won a $12.5-million judgment against Fallbrook racist Tom Metzger, speaks at tonight’s fund-raising dinner of the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program.

Metzger’s also on the speech circuit: He’s in Meridian, Miss., to address the Confederate Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

* Lyn Sherwood, bullfight columnist for La Prensa, explaining the fight among bullfight operators that has imperiled the Tijuana season:

“The 1991 Tijuana bullfight season, which has been on and off more frequently than a sailor on home leave, appears once again to be on, but for how long is anybody’s guess.”

Skirt-Watching Voters

If, as rumored, mediagenic gynecologist Dr. Michael Resnick becomes a candidate for Congress, he may need to learn the value of appearances.

Take the gathering last Friday in La Jolla of Republicans for Choice, a new political group dedicated to keeping abortion legal and “women’s issues” in general.

Members are still talking about the much younger woman who accompanied the 43-year-old Resnick: Movie-star gorgeous, a short-short skirt and completely devoted to the good doctor.

The sober-sided ladies, feminists all, were aghast at Resnick’s supposed breach of gender-correct political etiquette that frowns on men dating beneath their age group.

“Not appropriate,” said one. “Harummph,” said another.

Resnick, who does “Staying Healthy” spots on KGTV-Channel 10 and ABC’s “Home” show, says he’s shocked that anyone was offended. He says his girlfriend is an actress with a degree in biochemistry:

“I can’t even sit in an audience without people gossiping. Maybe this is one of the reasons people don’t run for Congress.”