Posted on 06/21/2014 7:23:03 AM PDT by BenLurkin
A woman who parked her car on a highway to rescue ducklings has been found guilty of causing the deaths of a motorcyclist and his daughter who slammed into her vehicle.
Emma Czornobaj was convicted by a jury on Friday on two counts of criminal negligence causing death, a charge that carries a maximum life sentence, and two counts of dangerous driving causing death, which comes with a maximum of 14 years in jail.
The 25-year-old was charged in the deaths of Andre Roy, 50, and his daughter Jessie, 16.
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Czornobaj, a self-professed animal lover, told the court that she did not see the ducklings' mother anywhere and planned to capture them and take them home.
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Her lawyer Marc Labelle said his client was stunned by the jury's decision. He said he may appeal.
'So now we are at the sentencing stage in this case. The question we have to ask is that considering the nature of the facts, it is rare that we have criminal negligence where there are no bad elements,' Labelle said.
'This was not a race. This was not a person who took a chance and drove drunk. This is not about someone who was speeding and took a risky maneuver.'
During the trial, witness Martine Tessier testified that she noticed parked car didn't have its hazards on and that the driver's door was open.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I was wondering how long.....
The photo shows where the car ended up after being hit, and the "shoulder" is obviously not wide enough to serve as a safe place to stop without blocking a traffic lane.
Here in America her first crime would have been interfering with migrating waterfowl.
No. Lights not on. Dark car. At night. Stopped partially in a traffic lane. Basically invisible. But some here think it was the motorcyclist’s fault. For not being psychic? Not having infrared vision? Just wow.
No. Lights not on. Dark car. At night. Stopped partially in a traffic lane. Basically invisible. But some here think it was the motorcyclists fault. For not being psychic? Not having infrared vision? Just wow.
I agree. She did something stupid, not criminal.
The guy on the motorcycle wasn’t real smart either...he ran into a parked car.
Yeah he ran into a parked car in a traffic lane at night with no lights on.
Guess he didn’t have his Radar on or night vision googles.
Sheesh.
That woman did not have the car lights on at all?
Well that changes things somewhat.
I thought she stopped but since it was at night she had the car’s running lights on.
So why would she stop and not leave her lights on?
I can only say that if that is the case then maybe she should not have had a driving license to begin with.
Her car was parked, with no hazard lights on, according to the story. I don’t know if she had on any interior lights or headlights - but even so, either of those would be barely noticeable from behind.
It’s also likely that the position of her car and whatever the slope or curve of the road behind her was a factor. That’s why you only stop in a traffic lane - particularly a fast lane - for emergencies and at a minimum turn on your hazard lights. And if you really know what you’re doing, you put down some well placed flares (which you keep in your emergency pack) to warn any oncoming cars.
Likewise, experienced drivers know that in fast moving traffic, if you see some baby ducks or other small animals in the road, you just stay in your lane and run them down. Negligent, nervous and or inexperienced drivers swerve to avoid hitting them, putting both themselves and others at risk. Criminally negligent drivers do what this lady did.
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