2 Councilmen Call For Jersey City Councilwoman DeGise To Resign After Crash

JERSEY CITY, NJ — The morning after video was made public of a Jersey City councilwoman hitting a bicyclist in an intersection, two councilmen have asked her to resign, and two local street safety groups have done so as well.

Councilwoman Amy DeGise was summonsed last Tuesday, July 19, for leaving the scene of a crash at a Jersey City intersection shortly before 8 a.m.

Then, this Tuesday night, July 26, video of the incident — which shows cyclist Andrew Black flipping over DeGise's SUV, and the councilwoman continuing to drive — has sparked new criticism.

"Leaving the scene of a crash is illegal," said Ward E Councilman James Solomon Wednesday. "Doing so demonstrated a callous disregard for the life and health of the victim she hit. Public servants must be held to a higher standard. While Councilmember DeGise is entitled to forgiveness and her day in court, both should come as a private citizen. She should resign. If she fails to do so, she should be recalled."

Later that morning, Ward F Councilman Frank Gilmore stated, "After carefully reviewing the CCTV footage, considering a council member hit an individual with her SUV, and left the scene without checking on the individual am calling for the resignation of Council member DeGise. These behaviors are not indicative of someone in elected office."

A petition started by a resident on Tuesday night, July 26, asking DeGise to resign, had garnered more than 500 signatures by the end of the day Wednesday.

"Someone like this should not be a leader in our community," wrote one signer. "She didn’t even know if this person was alive, a child, or pregnant. Etc."

Victim Speaks Out

Black, the victim, told CBS on Wednesday that DeGise has not reached out to him, and that he was making a delivery for Uber Eats when he was hit. He said he hasn't been able to work since.

The organizations BikeJC and SafeStreetsJC Tweeted on Wednesday:

Two Summonses

According to the police report, last Tuesday morning at 7:58 a.m., a man "was riding his bicycle south bound on MLK Drive going through the green light on Forrest St. when he was struck by a vehicle going east that he described as a black SUV. Mr. [redacted] had a complaint of pain to his left ankle and a laceration to his right leg. Mr. [redacted] stated he did not observe who was operating the vehicle."

The man, who was wearing his helmet, was taken to Jersey City Medical Center.

The officers watched surveillance cameras in the area, "and the vehicle came back to a black Nissan Rogue registered to a Amy DeGise," the report says.

DeGise was issued two summonses, for failure to report an accident and leaving the scene of an accident, the report says.

DeGise is a councilwoman-at-large, a political "rising star" in the county, and the daughter of Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise. She works for the Hudson County Schools of Technology, the countywide public school district.

According to NJ.com, she was widely considered a possible mayoral candidate in 2025 if Mayor Steven Fulop declines to seek re-election.

The video shows a cyclist going through a red light, after which he's struck by a vehicle. He and his bike flip over the car. He then limps to the sidewalk. The vehicle continues along.

The crash between the car and bicyclist can be seen at 1:00 in this video.

The resident petition states, "To hit a constituent and leave them speaks to a deeply troubling level of self-preservation instinct, and one that has no place in public service."

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