Intoxicated driver gets 37 years for killing Bayonne man and his daughter

Jersey Journal ^ | May 23, 2019

[SMGFan]

Waves of anger, grief and remorse flooded the courtroom Thursday when Scott Hahn was sentenced to 37 years in prison for killing a Bayonne man and his 5-year-old daughter in a drug-fueled crash in 2016.

“Every time I cry it’s never ending, the emptiness is never ending,” said Pamela O’Donnell whose husband Tim O’Donnell, 48, a County Prep teacher and coach, and daughter Bridget were killed in the Feb. 22, 2016 crash on the Hudson County Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike.

Three years after the crash, O’Donnell’s remaining child, Ali, 10, still cries herself to sleep at night. O’Donnell said that after the crash, Ali asked “'Why didn’t you try the Disney true love kiss like a princess?' My reply was ‘I did, but it didn’t work.’ That day her childhood died.”

Dabbing her eyes with a tissue, O’Donnell asked Hudson County Superior Court Judge to sentence Hahn to the 65-year maximum, saying “Give my daughter something to believe in because she doesn’t believe in anything anymore.”

[SMGFan]

A license to drive is not a right , and yet no one can have the privilege taken away FOREVER!

I guess his right to drive still has not been taken permanently.

Sentenced to 37 years in jail because he was not killed in an accident.

Why won't liberals support punishing drunken or wreckless drivers as they do gun owners ?

[Red Badger]

In Florida he would get 50.....................

[dp0622]

That Disney true love kiss rarely works.

[Drew68]

At the sentencing, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Leo Hernandez noted that Hahn “crashed into the back of that vehicle driving 10 times the speed limit... Imagine the destruction that did.”

What kind of vehicle, out of curiosity, was Hahn driving?

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

1998 Mercedes.

https://www.nj.com/hudson/2016/09/nj_man_indicted_in_crash_that_killed_jersey_city_t.html

[penguinhunter]

Because liberals don’t own guns, but they do own cars.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Too bad for the perp that he isn't a hispanic illegal alien. If he'd been an illegal alien he'd have gotten probation plus a voucher for free public housing.
 

[Plexi]

What kind of vehicle, out of curiosity, was Hahn driving?

Based on that statement, it must have been something like a LearJet.

[null and void]

If he were an ‘illegal’ (criminal, a person who commits a crime is called a criminal -sorry, pet peeve) alien, he would have disappeared while out on own recognizance bail.

[Innovative]

A man high on drugs kills two people.

This is a sentence that he deserved and it is also a warning to others.

People who are drunk or on drugs should not be driving.

[Impala64ssa]

The fools who participated in the march for our lives rallies were 100’s of thousands of times more likely to be killed n a wreck getting to and from the rallies than they were facing the business end of a gun, let alone getting shot.

[seawolf101]

[csvset]

According to this story, The deceased was slowing to approach the toll plaza. One article, (not the one linked), said the DUI guy was doing 50-70. Speculating that it’s a 5 mph for the toll approach, I see the 10 x factor. All speculation on my part.

Car in fatal Turnpike crash was rear-ended before toll plaza, State Police say

[Mark was here]

People are known to make irrational decisions, when their mind is in an irrational state. I know he should have made a rational decision to make sure he could not drive before he became irrational. The results of his rational decision to not be faced with the choice of driving, resulted in two deaths.

Exactly how much punishment he deserves is beyond my pay grade. So I won’t argue with what was given.

[BTerclinger]

I had a family member killed by a repeat drunk driver in a similar event (high speed vs stopped at a light, highly intoxicated)

Schmuck only got three years.

“Summary justice” was on my mind for decades till the scumbag died on his own.

[Gay State Conservative]

A guy who was "well known to the police" killed my 18 year old niece and her boyfriend while driving stinking drunk.He got 2 years...and the prosecutor told my sister that he probably wouldn't have done any time at had he not shown some display of unexpected conscience by deciding,at the last minute,to plead guilty.

It was 5 days before Christmas.

[Gay State Conservative]

A very similar incident (except it was a school bus full of kids) in Connecticut years ago caused the state to tear down toll booths on several major highways (including I-95).

But now that toll booths are not needed any more the state's bring back tolls.

[Mark was here]

I am sorry for your loss and I can understand your need for justice.

[BTerclinger]

Thank you.