Almost all drivers are involved in automobile accidents at one point in their lives or another. Disgraced former cyclist Lance Armstrong is one of the few people who can turn an accident into international tabloid fodder.
The Aspen Daily News reported that Armstrong was issued two traffic citations in January for allegedly hitting two parked vehicles and leaving the scene.
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Not only did he leave the scene, but he also conspired with his girlfriend, Anna Hansen, to tell Aspen police that she was driving when their vehicle ran into the other two.
The troubling part of the story was that she originally told police that Armstrong had been drinking, which is part of the reason she agreed to say she was the driver.
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After admitting that Armstrong was the driver later to police, Hansen told them why she lied.
"No, that was a joint decision and um, you know, we've had our family name smeared over every paper in the world in the last couple of years, and honestly, I've got teenagers," she told police. "I just wanted to protect my family because I thought 'Gosh, Anna Hansen hit some cars,' it's not going to show up in the papers, but Lance Armstrong hit some cars, it's going to be a national story."
On that point, Hansen is correct - if Armstrong had been drinking.
Had Armstrong simply lost control of the car and was sober, there would have been a story - a three- or four-paragraph report on what happened and whether Armstrong was harmed (which the Daily News reported he wasn't).
Because he and Hansen conspired in a cover-up about who was driving, the incident only adds to the disgrace of a fallen hero. It was just more than two years ago that Armstrong, who won seven Tour de France titles, finally admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he was doping throughout his cycling career that had ended in 2011.
"I will spend the rest of my life trying to earn back trust and apologize to people," Armstrong told Winfrey during his January 17, 2013 interview, according to USA TODAY Sports.
Armstrong also confessed last month that if he had to redo his cycling career all over again, including the cheating, he would.
The disgraced former cyclist has hired Denver attorney Pamela Mackey, who defended Kobe Bryant during his sexual assault allegation in 2003-04, who told the Aspen Daily News that Armstrong did not wish to comment.
For Armstrong's damaged reputation, silence may his best option - not in hopes that the public forgive him but rather that they just forget about him.
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