A well-known Wilmington lawyer was critically injured in a hit-and-run crash near the city’s Tubman Garret Riverfront Park Saturday night.
Wilmington Police could not provide the victim’s name, but Delaware Online/The News Journal has confirmed the 45-year-old victim to be Sanjay Bhatnagar, a lawyer who has worked with Wilmington’s City Council, the New Castle County administration and helped those in need.
“Please keep him in your prayers,” said Attorney Thomas S. Neuberger, adding that Bhatnagar has stepped down from the ICU and has started physical therapy.
Bhatnagar was struck by a vehicle about 9:50 p.m. Monday in the unit block of S. Market St., according to police.
The motorists fled the scene, but officers found Bhatnagar there. He was taken to an area hospital in critical condition. The incident remains under investigation.
Bhatnagar is not expected to walk for some time, according to Neuberger, who represents Bhatnagar in a federal lawsuit claiming he was fired without due process by New Castle County — a violation of his Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Bhatnagar said that after being fired, he was not permitted access to his office so he could pick up his personal belongings and is now missing a religious artifact — a Ganesh which in the Hindu religion is the “remover of obstacles.”
Read more about this:New Castle County lawyer’s firing is subject of federal lawsuit
This case is on appeal to the Third Circuit in Philadelphia.
According to that lawsuit, Bhatnagar was key in overhauling New Castle County’s sheriff sale program, resolving a $550,000 sewer dispute with Glasgow Mobile Home Park, and negotiating a sophisticated agreement with the Delaware Board of Trade that repaid a full $3 million loan along with a final $180,000 interest payment when jobs the group promised didn’t materialize.
More:NCCo taxpayers get their $3 million back from controversial Delaware Board of Trade loan
“We wish him a speedy recovery,” said Wilmington Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo, adding the incident is “definitely tragic.”
Congo said Bhatnagar has done work for City Council. Bhatnagar was previously a Wilmington Assistant City Solicitor.
Along with the Neuberger Firm, Bhatnagar represented a blind man who a magistrate judge ruled last year had been wrongfully evicted from his Wilmington home.
Subscribers learn more:Blind man wrongfully evicted from Wilmington home sues court system, landlord
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.
