Colorado's Governor Bill Ritter Killed A Man

This blog is a reference to the fact of Colorado's Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. killing an elderly Zambian man in a truck/pedestrian accident while then citizen Bill Ritter, Jr. was volunteering on a charity mission. This is hard data to find anywhere, and it appears to me a concentrated effort has been and is being made to eliminate any data on this incident. Go ahead and search for it yourself, if you don't believe me.

Here is a mention from the Denver Post (07/30/2006 ):

http://www.denverpost.com/counties08/ci_4113098

There's one death Ritter rarely speaks of.

One afternoon, he was driving a church truck down a rutted, two-lane road. He slowed down to pass a group of people in the roadway, honking to warn them that his vehicle was approaching, he recalls. Then an elderly man carrying a piece of wood walked quickly into the road.

Ritter says he couldn't steer the truck away in time.

"He just came right into my path," he says. "And I had already slowed down. And I braked and swerved to miss him, and it was the back end of the pickup that knocked him over."

"Very big tragedy"

Ritter seldom speaks of the fatal accident in Africa, comparing it to a war veteran's memories.

Ritter and Billy Fuller, a fellow missionary riding with him, say they scrambled out of the car to see whether the man, an elderly villager, was all right. Then, they placed him in the back of the truck and rushed him to a hospital, they say. The man, whom Ritter soon discovered was the father of a local priest he knew, died within 24 hours.

The day of the accident, Ritter and Fuller say, they contacted the police and church members. The police, after interviewing witnesses, cleared Ritter of wrongdoing, according to church officials. The U.S. State Department does not track such incidents.

Ritter says accidents were common in the underdeveloped country. He sought "spiritual counseling" from priests and other missionaries involved in similar episodes, he says.

"Bill was just devastated," Fuller says. "He didn't go to Africa to kill somebody. He went over there to help."

Ritter says he seldom speaks of the incident, comparing it to a war veteran's memories.

"It is a very big tragedy," he says. "But it was one of many, many things."

Isn't that last line interesting? "It is a very big tragedy," he says. "But it was one of many, many things." So it wasn't that big a deal to Governor Ritter that he killed a man, just one of many, many things?

Here is the accident mentioned in a Rocky Mountain News article (October 14, 2006 ):

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5065480,00.html

During his time in Africa, Ritter was at the wheel of a supply truck when he hit and killed an elderly man wandering along a potholed Zambian road, an accident that still upsets him nearly 20 years later.

That is really the only mention of it in the article. One line.

Not much data I have been able to find on the man Governor Ritter killed. Only that he was reportedly the father of a Zambian priest. No names mentioned anywhere. I wonder if Bill Ritter even knows his name.

Well, I do. It is Mushibi Katiki Chinyama.

Reportedly, the following data is from Redstate:

In 1988, Mr. Ritter and his family lived in Zambia as lay missionaries for the Catholic Church. Mr. Ritter’s wife was a Peace Corp volunteer. According to a report from Zambian lawyers obtained by RedState, in 1988, Mr. Ritter killed a man named Mushibi Katiki Chinyama.

From the Zambian lawyers’ report:

Investigations have revealed that the road traffic accident herein occurred in May, 1988 when the deceased was hit by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Mr. Bill Ritter at Maloyi Village in Mongu at a spot where people usually crossed the road. Mr. Ritter was driving from Senanga District and heading towards Mongu District. According to eye witnesses, Mr. Ritter was over-speeding. The eye witnesses who include the deceased’s son, John Makai Chinyama, stated that Mr. Ritter failed to reduce the speed in time or at all when approaching the spot where people crossed the road at Maloyi Village.

They also stated that after the accident, Mr. Ritter stopped the vehicle and requested the local people to assist him in putting Mr. Chinyama in the vehicle and that he took him to the hospital but that he unfortunately died on the way to the hospital.

The lawyers further report that “a police docket, or file was opened, to investigate the matter” and take action under a formal complaint. But, no charges were ever filed and, the lawyers report, “the docket and all other records of the case went missing in very suspicious circumstances.”

Mr. Ritter was never prosecuted and he never compensated the family, which lost its head of household. The law in Zambia is very clear. Again, from the Zambian lawyer: Any person who causes the death of another person by the driving of a motor vehicle on a road recklessly, or at a speed, or in a manner which is dangerous to the public, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, including the nature, condition and use of the road, and the amount of traffic which is actually at the time, or which might reasonably be expected to be, on the road, shall be guilty of an offence and liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding fifteen thousand penalty units or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years, or to both. § 199 (1)of the Roads and Road Traffic Act, Cap 464 of the Laws of Zambia

Mrs. Zhita Ngumbu Chinyama is still alive and in her late eighties. She lives in Maloyi Village in Mongu, which is in the Western Province of Zambia. Mrs. Chinyama “complained bitterly that Mr. Ritter was not prosecuted and that no proper explanation was ever given by the Police or the Courts as to why Mr. Ritter was not prosecuted. She also complained about the family not having been compensated after the death of her husband.”

The average family income in Zambia is $580. Fifty percent of the country is unemployed. Mr. Ritter could have very easily compensated Mrs. Chinyama and her family, but he did not. Instead, he returned to the United States and used the story of his missionary work in Zambia to gain greater prominence and boost his profile as he headed toward seeking elected office. But he never mentioned the death of Mr. Chinyama. Only when confronted recently about his involvement in Mr. Chinyama’s death did Mr. Ritter have to confront it. The Denver Post profile said Ritter and Billy Fuller, a fellow missionary riding with him, say they scrambled out of the car to see whether the man, an elderly villager, was all right. Then, they placed him in the back of the truck and rushed him to a hospital, they say. The man, whom Ritter soon discovered was the father of a local priest he knew, died within 24 hours.

And yet, though Mr. Ritter knew the family, Mrs. Chinyama says Mr. Ritter never paid any sort of compensation to her family. Losing the head of household in Zambia, who Mr. Chinyama was, is a devastating loss.

Perhaps Mr. Ritter is lenient with criminals in Denver County because of leniency shown him in Zambia. But there is a widow in Zambia who woke up one day with her husband only to see him run over by Mr. Ritter.



This site will hopefully keep the issue from being totally buried as well.