Posted on 09/13/2006 8:17:52 AM PDT by Smogger
George Russell Weller sat in a wheelchair Tuesday, wearing a loosely knotted tie, and looked up at a huge projection of his car after he had driven through an open-air market three years ago, killing 10 people and injuring more than 60.
One dead man was draped across the hood while another victim lay under the front wheels.
...
But Deputy Dist. Atty. Ann Ambrose said witnesses reported that Weller appeared intent and drove his car through the crowded weekly market along Arizona Avenue at speeds in excess of 60 mph.
Ambrose said the case is much more than an accident, noting that witnesses said Weller was surly after the incident and told bystanders that the victims should have moved out of harm's way when they saw him approaching.
"Is the killing of 10 people just an 'oops'? Oops? I stepped on the wrong pedal. Oops?" Ambrose said. "You saw me coming, you should have gotten out of the way."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
If the guy has a clean past,and wasn't drunk at the time then one must seriously consider some kind of brain disease or deterioration.Do a CAT scan and an MRI on him. Have him worked up by a neurologist and an ophthalmologist.
Having recently taken care of an elderly father,I can attest to the fact that such a man can be vital and "with it" at 60...or even 70 or 75,and then be completely out to lunch at 85.
If my hunch is correct,the state that refuses to frequently test the competence of older drivers is more to blame than is this guy.
He is as much to blame as a drunk that gets behind the wheel. He had an accident a few years earlier where he drove his car through, a neighbors fence and into their backyard.
How much experience...and I mean "up close and personal" experience...do you have in caring for the elderly? I have a lot.I took care of my Dad for the last 10 years of his life.
In his prime,he was a top executive at a major corporation.But as he got into his 80's he started slipping mentally...and slipping badly.During the last few years of his life he was more like a little kid than anything else.A CAT scan had shown an enormous deterioration of his brain which cause symptoms similar to Altzheimer's.
I still say...look at this guy's past.Have his brain functioning and eyes checked out.
Plenty, my grandmother succumbed to Alzheimer's just a few years ago. She lived with my parents who took care of her. She had stopped driving many years sooner.
BUMP
Nonsense. A drunk chose to ingest alcohol, rendering him/herself incapable of responsible decision-making. Elderly people with impaired mental function have made no such choice.
Agree 100%! I'm a big supporter of laws that would require people over a certain age (65? 70? 75?)would have to be tested periodically for signs that they might not be fit to drive.
When my Dad began to fail mentally,he was still driving.After *enormous* effort to get his license pulled (a tale that would take an hour to tell) I finally coaxed him to stop driving.My efforts were vigorously rebuffed by the DMV in his home state.They told me,among other things (and in an arrogant way),that "your father has rights".
Laws such as this will never be enacted because old folks *vote* and they vote more regularly than any other group.
"Elderly people with impaired mental function have made no such choice."
This guy sure made the choice to drive a car.
uh.. The choice to get behind the wheel while impaired, whether it be from old age or alcohol, is still a choice. Regardless, it's not completely clear it was entirely an accident as he was evading an earlier traffic accident.
You don't even have to be "impaired" to be convicted of DWI. It is about revenue (and 0.08 is about easier conviction but it is possible to still convict someone who blows 0.00).
Sure. Just like old people with Alzheimer's make a "choice" to wander off in the winter in their pajamas and get lost and freeze to death, and like kids with autism make a "choice" to repeatedly bang their heads against a wall hard enough to seriously injure themselves.
Point is, we don't KNOW if he was mentally capable of making choices. Hopefully the court proceeding will address that question diligently.
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.