Seems like maybe Hubbard fell asleep. How else do you account for going across the median. I’d like to know details of his work schedule - where was he going and coming from. Was there a jury or was there just one judge who decided probation was warranted.
“Hubbard’s attorney, John Kirk, on Friday pointed to a respiratory condition, called cough syncope. While he was driving, Kirk said, Hubbard began to cough. It caused him to stray, initially, from the lane, he said. But the cough became more violent, causing him to pass out, Kirk said.”
I have had this happen to me. I was coughing, I woke up on the floor. My wife told me I had passed out. I denied it. She then said to me, then how do you explain that big scrape on your forehead?
It’s a coughing jag that doesn’t allow you to take in enough air and you pass out.
It has happened or almost happened several times since. I have learned to be aware of the type of cough that may lead to this and immediately sit down. If driving I immediately pull over. If nothing happens, you continue on with your day.
If you start seeing stars and get that tingling feeling it’s already too late, you’re temporarily paralyzed.
If this were the first time this happened to him, there is no way he would have known what to expect.
It seems that in order to have thrown the book at him, they would have needed to prove “negligence. That he did it on purpose, was under the influence of drugs or alcohol (impaired), didn’t know how to operate the vehicle he was driving, playing with the radio or texting, etc.
I agree that the sentence was lenient, but it does seem like it was an “accident”. A year or two in jail/prison would have been sufficient. Better for him as well. He could have rationalized that he had paid a price for his actions.
This way it’s as if he got away with it. A fact hard to live with for a decent person.
The 4 or 5 hours of sleep as a contributing factor is WEAK.
President Trump does this EVERY DAY!