A Philly bike crash attorney is working to crack the Kelly Oubre Jr. case

A well-known bicycle crash lawyer in Philadelphia is seeking potential witnesses in the hit-and-run reported by 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr.

To be clear, no one has asked Stuart Leon to help crack the mysterious case that generated widespread debate in both the NBA and the Philadelphia Police Department last week. The first thing attorney Leon said when he picked up the phone Monday is that he’s not representing Oubre.

Oubre has not publicly expressed interest in identifying the driver who allegedly struck him in Center City on Nov. 11, leaving him sidelined with a broken rib and other injuries. He returned to Sixers practice on Monday, where he worked out with coaches, and is expected to return in a matter of weeks.

But Leon said he’s investigating the case to advocate for crash victims, and he’ll share any leads he obtains.

“We’re soliciting information about the crash as a public service,” Leon said. “If we find something out, we’ll tell it to Mr. Oubre and we’ll tell it to the cops.”

Leon’s firm put up fliers around the initially reported crash site near 15th and Spruce Streets over the weekend, and while they didn’t mention the new 6-foot-7 Sixers player by name, the details on the handbill were unmistakable: “WITNESSES NEEDED, Tall Male, HIT-AND-RUN BY CAR, vehicle fled south on Hicks Street.”

The problem for Leon is that there’s no evidence a crash actually occurred at that location.

Leon put up fliers in the area based on the initial description given by police, which described a silver vehicle fleeing south on Hicks Street. But the police department said last week that investigators had found no visual evidence confirming a crash at that intersection that night. Surveillance footage from nearby businesses did not capture any traffic incidents, according to employees.

A source close to Oubre told The Inquirer last week that the player was new to the city and may have been confused about the exact location of the crash. Oubre appeared to return home before seeking medical assistance, according to a video with no time-stamp posted by TMZ, and provided a statement to police at the hospital later that evening.

Leon said that tracks with other crash victims, adding that he was disturbed by what he saw as a kind of victim-blaming speculation on social media. In his years representing crash victims, he said it wasn’t unusual for people to wait hours to file a police report, at which point the details sometimes become fuzzy.

“We’ve worked for many hit-and-run crash victims, and they just want to get home however they can,” he said. “They’re not gonna call 911 and wait for an ambulance to take them to the hospital.”

Leon said he represents bicyclists, as well as people who are struck while walking with bikes. But Oubre has not said anything about being on or with a bicycle at the time of the crash.

The initial account provided by police indicated that he was walking when the crash occurred. The question of the bicycle was introduced after TMZ published doorbell camera footage that appeared to show Oubre wheeling a BMX bike into his apartment and announcing that he had just been hit by a car.

Neither Oubre nor the Sixers responded to requests for comment about the TMZ footage. Crime victims are not legally required to provide more information, and police sources said the player and his representatives did not appear interested in moving forward with an investigation as of late last week.

With or without Oubre’s buy-in, Leon considers his investigation part of his firm’s ongoing advocacy work, no different than his efforts to crack down on traffic law violators or protect the city’s bike lanes.

If nothing else, he said he hopes to remind drivers to think twice before fleeing the scene of a crash.

“We believe that somebody who does a hit-and-run should not get away with it,” he said. “We want to know that there’s eyes on them and that this didn’t go unnoticed in this community.”