What a drag
Conservative host Michael Berry writes a big check to hit-and-run victim in gaybar incident
It looks like that "very expensive" legal advice that conservative talk show host Michael Berry is getting on his gay bar scrap has paid off.
A representative for Berry's attorney Dick DeGuerin delivered a letter and a $2,000 check to T.C.'s Show Bar bouncer and hit-and-run victim Tuderia Bennett outside the Houston police department on Thursday.
The letter claims that Berry has cooperated with police in the investigation, including voluntarily offering paint samples from his car, but it does not admit guilt.
"I wanted to make you aware that from the very beginning of HPD's investigation, Mr. Berry made it known to HPD that if they were of the opinion that he caused damage to your car, Mr. Berry wanted to make it right with you," reads the letter from DeGuerin. "We are prepared to pay whatever your actual damages are and we will do so immediately, whether Mr. Berry is found at fault or not."
The letter claims that Berry has cooperated with police in the investigation, including voluntarily offering paint samples from his car, but it does not admit guilt.
Bennett told KPRC that he would like to meet with Berry face-to-face to discuss what happened but that he would no longer push for charges to be filed. Whether a misdemeanor Failure to Stop and Give Information change will be filed is at the discretion of the district attorneys, and the investigation is still ongoing.
At 11 p.m. on Jan. 31, Berry allegedly drove his Chevy Tahoe in reverse for 70 feet outside of T.C.'s Show Bar before hitting Bennett's parked car and fleeing the scene. Bennett told police he witnessed the accident and could identify Berry as the driver. A police investigation traced the license plate of the Tahoe to Berry, and bar owners provided surveillance video of Berry inside the gay bar just before the time of the accident.
Berry has railed against media coverage of the event, describing it as a "smear campaign."
