Cyclist Floyd Landis Applies for Probation on Evading Charge

Former professional cyclist Floyd Landis, a Murrieta resident, spent about 2 1/2 hours of his 36th birthday sitting on a hard bench a coast away in state Superior Court in Norwalk, Conn.

Landis is facing a misdemeanor charge of evading responsibility for an Aug. 15 motor vehicle accident involving his car and a city-owned fence in the Connecticut city.

Landis applied for the Accelerated Rehabilitation Program, a special form of probation in which he does not need to plead guilty, and the charges will be dismissed if he gets into no further trouble with the law over a specified period of up to two years.

was issued a summons on Aug. 17, two days after the 6:30 a.m. accident at the intersection of Canfield Avenue and Calf Pasture Beach Road in Norwalk, Conn.

According to Norwalk police reports, Landis said he had been at the home of a friend on nearby Shorehaven Road and was driving a rented Volkswagen Jetta on Aug. 15, a Monday. As he approached the intersection, he told police, he swerved to avoid another car approaching his lane, then he hit the fence.

Landis told police his rental car company suggested he report the accident, so he called Norwalk police the next day. The day after that, police issued him a traffic ticket.

Landis won the Tour de France in 2006. He was later stripped of his title after it was determined he had been taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Once Landis' case was called, he spent only two minutes before Judge Bruce Hudock. As in all such cases, he was quickly sworn in as a witness, declaring he previously had not been convicted of any crimes.

Judge Bruce Hudock told Landis to return to court on Dec. 1 for hearing during which the victim—in this case Norwalk city government—may object to granting accelerated rehabilitation. If the judge finds Landis eligible for the program, the December hearing would be his third and last in the Norwalk court.

After the court hearing, Landis declined to comment about the case.