The accident, which also injured 69 people, was the result of unsafe speed and other violations on the part of Russell Weller, Police Chief James T. Butts told reporters outside police headquarters late Wednesday afternoon.
Posted on 12/17/2003 5:24:47 PM PST by hole_n_one
The accident, which also injured 69 people, was the result of unsafe speed and other violations on the part of Russell Weller, Police Chief James T. Butts told reporters outside police headquarters late Wednesday afternoon.
I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that in some states if a person's culpability shows that he purposely acted in a reckless manner he can also be charged with manslaughter. I just feel that because of his advanced age he will use the defense of dementia and or senility.
And the basis for your conclusion is?
I stand by my contention that Weller intended to perpetrate the carnage he wrought.
Read this thread and the thread linked at reply 17 for your answer.
This reminds me of an accident near here on the Interstate I-55. An elderly man had somehow gotten going in the wrong direction of the freeway. He hit a car and killed three persons. He survived. But, at his hearing he said it was their fault because they were driving too fast. Get these old codgers off the road.
didn't he kill a child as well?......none of the "dreadful toll" that he supposedly has taken can match losing a loved one, out for a day at the Farmer's market....
I don't care if he ever goes to jail, but he must pay a huge amount of money and he must never, ever get behind a steering wheel again.....
perhaps he can make some public announcement messages to be played on tv:...."I killed 10 people and injured 60 more because I was not qualified to be driving.".......
both are physical limitations, and people KNOW as they grow older, that their driving skills are diminished...
driving with diminished ability due to old age ( or sickness ) is the same as driving with diminished ability due to alcohol....
one person has the growing awareness that his skills are poor, and the other gets that awarness in a few hours of drinking.....
Among the victims was a 7 month old baby boy and a 3 year old girl.
And you suppose it was part of his diabolical plot to do so?
You'll be old one day, if you are so unlucky. I hope it is with less complications.
I never suggested or implied that.
Keep putting up strawmen and I'll keep knocking them down.
Baloney. You're picking on an elderly man who shouldn't have been driving. As a friend of mine asked, "When you are three sheets to the wind, would you ever say you are incapable of driving?".
Hang this gentlemen if you like, Puritan. I'll not watch, thank you very much.
They aren't jailed because it's not a crime to have diminsihed driving skills due to advanced age. I agree that with you that this guy shouldn't have been driving. But you just can't start jailing elderly people because their driving skills are diminshed.
both are physical limitations, and people KNOW as they grow older, that their driving skills are diminished...
Your wrong, most elderly people do not think that their driving skills have diminished.
driving with diminished ability due to old age ( or sickness ) is the same as driving with diminished ability due to alcohol....
It might be just as dangerous but it's not a crime, and it's not intentional when the elderly person believes that there is nothing wrong with them. It's just not criminal behavior to suffer from diminshed abilities due to old age.
one person has the growing awareness that his skills are poor, and the other gets that awarness in a few hours of drinking.....
Very few old people realize that their driving skills have become diminshed. If they suffer from dementia or senility they would not be able to remember something you told them 5 minutes in the past. Anyone who operates a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol is responsible for their actions under the law. If they lose their awarness after a few hours of drinking it is not a defense for their actions.
I doubt they will get a conviction based on the fact that someone heard him say "they should of gotten out of my way" or that he was smiling and shaking hands with people. These actions could be used as an indication that this person may be senile or suffer from dementia.
Your wrong. He should have been charged with murder and fleeing the scene of an accident. He should fry. The mob should have ripped the remorseless old man limb from limb as was their original intention. If he had been and 18 year old kid or a minority he would have been rotting in jail waiting for the decision that ultimately charged him with murder.
The remorseless old man killed TWO INFANTS and was smailing and laughing about it a few hours later, [b]driver's license in hand[/b] when he was released from the police station. Your really think he would be walking around free if he was a young kid who had had only been driving a few months?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.