Postal driver accused of leaving scene of Dershowitz accident 'felt a bump'

Postal driver Ian Clement is on trial for leaving the scene of an accident.

He's sorry for their loss.

The postal driver accused of leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the death of lawyer Marilyn Dershowitz has taken the stand in his own defense in Manhattan Supreme Court.

"First and foremost, I want to say to the Dershowitz family, I'm sorry for your loss," Ian Clement announced from the witness stand of Manhattan Supreme Court, looking straight into the audience at the victim's solemn-faced husband, Nathan Dershowitz, the brother of noted Dream Team lawyer Alan Dershowitz and himself a lawyer.

Clement has steadfastly insisted that he had no idea he had run over the 68-year-old victim and her bicycle. But he pulled his seven-ton postal truck over on W. 29th Street and turned on his hazard lights after he felt "a bump," and heard cars honking behind him, he told jurors.

"I felt a bump, and horns honking," he testified, his voice carrying the accent of his native Jamaica as he described the tragic events just after 12 noon on a July Saturday last year.

"I slowed, checked my mirrors, and noticed that there were cars stopped," he said, under direct examination by his lawyer, John Arlia.

"At that time did you recall hearing any screams?" his lawyer asked.

"No, I did not," Clement, a 64-year-old father of two, told jurors.

He never saw the bicyclist, either upright to his side or fallen afterward, he insisted. Marilyn Dershowitz, a 68-year-old mediation lawyer, had suffered mortal injuries to her head and torso, and was dying on the pavement.

Still, Clement testified, he pulled over, "Because I wasn't sure that I had been involved in an accident... I wasn't sure if I was involved."

Asked what he was waiting for, as he stood parked for more than two minutes near 10th Avenue, Clement answered, "Someone to come and say something."

When no one did, he drove off, he explained.

"Did you believe at that point that your vehicle was involved specifically in an accident?" his lawyer asked.

"No I did not," he said. "For safety reasons, they ask us not to leave our vehicle," unless there is actual knowledge of being involved in an accident, he told jurors.

Even after he picked up his load of mail at the nearby depot -- and saw the chaos of emergency vehicles in the street -- he still drove away, as directed by nearby cops.

"Did it dawn on you that you were involved in an accident?" his lawyer asked. "No," he said, "I did not."

Only hours later, after learning there had in fact been a serious accident -- and learning he had been there at the time, "I'm thinking there's a possibility that I could have been involved," he testified.

Clement's testimony -- and cross-examination by assistant district attorney Erin LaFarge -- are expected to wrap the case by day's end, with closings slated for Wednesday.

NY POST