الوسم: confirms

Police: Lance Armstrong hit Parked Cars after partying in Aspen, blamed girlfriend

Police originally cited Armstrong’s girlfriend, Anna Hansen, after the Dec. 28 accident, but those citations were transferred to Armstrong on Jan. 12 after a police investigation raised doubts about Hansen’s account.

It’s not about the bike — it’s about the SUV and the Parked cars.
Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong allegedly hit two Parked Cars after a night of partying in Aspen — and tried to put the rap on his Girlfriend to avoid negative press, the Aspen Daily News reported Tuesday.
Police in the Colorado ski town issued two Armstrong traffic citations last month for failing to report an accident and exceeding safe speed for conditions. Police originally cited Armstrong’s girlfriend, Anna Hansen, after the Dec. 28 accident, but those citations were transferred to Armstrong on Jan. 12 after a police investigation raised doubts about Hansen’s account.
Hansen allegedly lied when asked by police if Armstrong had been drinking.
An Aspen homeowner told authoriies on Dec. 29 that relatives’ rental Cars had been damaged in a hit-and-run accident the night before, according to a police report. Police later contacted Hansen after a community safety officer saw an SUV owned by Armstrong had suffered significant front-end damage.
Hansen met with police at the home she shares with Armstrong later that day, telling investigators that she drove the GMC home from an Aspen Art Museum party because her boyfriend had “a little bit to drink.”
The police issued the two citations to Hansen, who said she had not been drinking that night.
But her story fell apart after an investigator spoke to an employee of the valet company who worked the art museum event at the St. Regis Aspen Resort. The employee told police that he saw Armstrong enter the driver’s side of the vehicle and drive away from the hotel.
When an officer spoke again with Hansen and told her about the valet’s account, she said she told Armstrong to get in the passenger seat after a stop at a local market.
The Aspen homeowner who originally reported the accident also raised questions about Hansen’s version of events. The homeowner told police that Hansen got out of the car after the crash and assumed responsibility.
“She said, ‘I’m Anna, we’re the Armstrongs, my husband’s Lance, he was just driving too fast around the corner or something,’” the report said. Hansen later told police she did not know that she was required to report the accident.
But Hansen came clean after she was questioned again by police on Dec. 31, following their interviews with witnesses. She told an investigator that it was Armstrong who had been driving when the SUV hit the Parked cars.
Hansen said she and Armstrong agreed together that she should take responsibility.
“That was a joint decision,” she said. “You know we’ve had our family named smeared over every paper in the world in the last couple of years and honestly, I’ve got teen-agers, 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 his some cars, it’s going to be a national story.’”
Hansen told police Armstrong was not intoxicated when he drove home from the St. Regis that night.
“He was not intoxicated, and that was um, you know, I’m sorry I lied to you that morning but I was trying to make (it) sound like, well, I was driving because that was, just, I don’t know … I was just trying to make something up at that time.”
Pitkin County deputy district attorney Andrea Bryan told the Aspen Daily Newsthat Hansen will not be charged with filing a ***** report because she came forward with the truth quickly and was cooperative with police.
“The policy of our office is to encourage all witnesses to tell the truth, and if witnesses lived in fear of being prosecuted for coming forward after making a mistake, we would rarely, if ever, get the full truth from our victims or witnesses," she said.
Armstrong is scheduled to appear in court on March 17. His lawyer, Denver attorney Pamela Mackey, told police that Armstrong did not want to speak to authorities about the incident.