Lance Armstrong hit the headlines once more - and not for a very good reason.
The disgraced cyclist figured in the news recently for a hit-and-run citation. What made the incident more controversial is the fact that the 43-year-old initially let his girlfriend take the blame for the mishap to avoid being in the public eye once more.
"Aspen police cited Armstrong with failing to report an accident and speeding on Jan. 12 after the Dec. 28 accident, but only after his girlfriend, Anna Hansen, admitted to lying for him," USA Today reported. "Armstrong declined immediate comment, and his attorney, Pamela Mackey, didn't immediately return a call."
According to the police report, Hansen initially said that she was driving the car from an Aspen Art Museum party. She said she took the wheel as "Lance had a little bit to drink so I was driving. I was not drinking," according to CBS Denver.
She then went on to say she lost control of the car and hit some parked cars. She then promised the homeowner whose vehicle was affected that she and Armstrong will pay for the damages.
"I'm Anna, we're the Armstrongs, my husband's Lance, he was just driving too fast around the corner or something," she was quoted by the homeowner as saying. "We're so sorry, we came around the corner and slipped on the ice, and we hit your cars," she was said to have added. She also left her details to the homeowner.
However, the pair left the scene even before the police arrived, prompting the authorities to contact Hansen, NBC News said.
About three days after the incident, Hansen finally admitted that she wasn't the one driving and that it was in fact Armstrong who was at the wheel when they hit the parked vehicles.
"We've had our family name smeared over every paper in the world in the last couple of years, and honestly, I've got teenagers," Hansen was quoted as saying in the police report. "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 hit some cars,' it's going to be a national story."
Well, now, it has become a national story of sorts, despite the initial cover up.
Meanwhile, USA Today contributor Nancy Armour commented that the hit-and-run news involving Armstrong should not come as a surprise.
"He built a career and a lucrative cult personality out of lies, seeing the truth as something only suckers or the weak would champion," she said. "Once a cheater, always a cheater."
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