[wideawake]

Higbee, a trooper since April 2001, declined to comment on the summonses, but his attorney, D. William Subin, issued a prepared statement on the trooper's behalf. "Trooper Higbee is saddened by the tragic loss of these two women and has wanted to extend his deepest condolences to the family," Subin said. "However, because of the legal proceedings, he has been advised not to do so."

How manly of him.

"I'd consider possibly apologizing for murdering your kids, but my lawyer says I shouldn't so . . . um . . . "

[Dog]

Have you seen this?

[muawiyah]

Maybe he could show us he's really sorry ~ then he wouldn't need to say anything ~ ever.

[SJSAMPLE]

An apology can be used against you in court. However, it's not unusual for someone to apologize on behalf of another party. Like it or not, the first step is to protect yourself: 1. Shut up. 2. Lawyer up.

[livius]

Having been t-boned and almost killed by a dumb chick who drove through a stop sign while she was arguing with her boyfriend on her cell phone, I have no sympathy for this guy. Why is he even still on the road?

[BJClinton]

I'd consider possibly apologizing for murdering your kids

Are you saying he intended to kill them?

[rednesss]

You know, I'm not defending this guy, but I was un-aware up until about 2-3 months ago that Laura Bush was involved in a fatal car accident when she was like 17 where she blew through a stop sign and killed a fellow high school student. She was not charged. This was in like 1962. Somewhere between then and now we as a society have taken on a philosophy that no mistakes are allowed and if you mess up your a$$ is going to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200 every time unless you have Kobe's money.

Accidents do happen and it really could be you who might be talking on your cellphone and bam. The unfortunate thing is that the DA is treating this cop like they used to treat people all the time, but nowadays you and I average Joe Citizen better have $50,000 tucked away somewhere or else you're going to the big house for 5-7.

[dr_lew]

I think this was a complicated accident. I also think "failure to stop" may be legalese, meaning that he was automatically at fault for the collision. I don't think it necessarily means he went flying through the intersection:

Rte 631, aka Tuckahoe Rd., is the main road through the middle of the picture. Stagecoach Rd. is the road intersecting it obliquely at the center. ( BTW, this is a few hundred yards from the Garden State Parkway exit at Marmora, N.J. used to enter Ocean City at 34th St. )

Here is a picture of the State Police car at the scene:

So how could this have happened?

To me it looks like he must have proceeded obliquely across Rt. 631 to turn into the driveway on the other side - it looks like a high school over there. The girls must have entered from the right of the picture, going southwest, and sideswiped him on the passenger side, as the photo indicates, then deflected across the road where they hit the third car, possibly waiting at the Stagecoach Rd. stop sign.

Of course, I can't draw any conclusions, but I'm very wary of the legalisms involved, which don't always take account of the realities, such as - how fast were the girls going?