Lora Hunt
Zaffke had stopped her Honda Shadow motorcycle at a traffic signal when Hunt hit her from behind with her Chevy Impala automobile. Zaffke died. Hunt spilled her fingernail polish.
Posted on 05/06/2010 9:51:29 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Had Lora Hunt been eating a sandwich or dialing her cell phone instead of polishing her nails when she struck and killed a motorcyclist, she would not now stand convicted of reckless homicide, her lawyer contends.
But prosecutor Mike Mermel said there's a big difference between polishing nails and other forms of distracted driving.
"It is not the same as biting a sandwich … it's a voluntary disablement," he said. "She might as well have been in the back seat making a sandwich."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Farding kills! Friends don’t let friends fard!
That was a hard fard, pard.
Just what we need: the fard card.
Bad verdict.
All accidents should thus be negligent homicide if they kill someone.
More and more people are recognizing that stupidity should be a crime.
"I didn't mean it" should not be an acceptable excuse for crimes ranging from multiple manslaughter to electing a foreign agent president.
Incidentally, does everybody buy the "computer glitch" explanation for the hit on the financial universe today?
Will it occur to anyone else to say, "wait a minute... why aren't the really smart people wondering the obvious, and if they are, why are they keeping it a secret?"
Of course, but only when the "accident" is predictable by a 6-yr-old of average intelligence, but is caused by a presumed adult.
“Incidentally, does everybody buy the “computer glitch” explanation for the hit on the financial universe today?”
I sure as heck don’t.
Reckless indifference to human life was long considered to be manslaughter under old common law. And it should be. For the same reason, anyone who owns a vicious animal that kills should be guilty of manslaughter.
All accidents should thus be negligent homicide if they kill someone.
Of course, but only when the “accident” is predictable by a 6-yr-old of average intelligence, but is caused by a presumed adult.
****************************
Whether a 6 year old can see it coming has nothing to do with it.
What is germane, is, people are fatally negligent all the time, and we don’t put them in the slammer. This is just somewhat more egregious than most.
Didn’t see the person in the crosswalk, was tuning my radio, distracted by the kids, ... happens all the time.
In re: the computer glitch:
If one trader with one typo can cause that sort of damage, we have a very vulnerable system!
It is COMPLETELY unbelievable in my opinion.
Lora Hunt
Zaffke had stopped her Honda Shadow motorcycle at a traffic signal when Hunt hit her from behind with her Chevy Impala automobile. Zaffke died. Hunt spilled her fingernail polish.
Lora Hunt, of Morris, cried Wednesday as she testified that she had stopped painting her fingernails while driving before crashing into a motorcyclist near Lake Zurich.
Hunt said that as she approached the intersection of Route 12 and Old McHenry Road, “I decided that was not the time to do another stroke.”
She didn’t address why she didn’t see Zaffke, who was wearing a fluorescent safety jacket, or the motorcycle. Zaffke had stopped for a yellow light on Old McHenry Road and was rear-ended by Hunt, who was traveling at about 50 miles an hour when she struck the motorcycle.
“I want to say I’m sorry to her family here, because this isn’t pretty,” Hunt said. “I ran straight to her body, got down on my knees and looked into her eyes. I said, ‘Oh my God,’ I kept calling God to be there. I didn’t touch her because I’d seen death before. She was already gone. There wasn’t anything I could do.”
Hunt, a registered nurse, said she had been gardening with her grandchildren at her daughter’s home in southern Wisconsin and was going to meet another daughter for dinner.
“I remembered I had polish in my purse and thought, ‘How much time would it take to touch up a couple nails?’” Hunt testified, saying she did consider whether she could do it and “stay on the road.”
“I knew harm maybe could come to me. I never dreamed of harm to anyone else,” Hunt said. “I knew it was a stupid thing after. Everybody knows it was a stupid thing after. I certainly didn’t think it was stupid before (the accident).”
Being a biker, I side with Zaffke, not that sweaty fat cow.
I heard in Calif. a death by drunk driver may be 2nd degee murder, not manslaughter.
I saw a woman drive about 5 miles on a freeway putting makeup on. No hands and using her elbows to steer. You could tell she had done this many times. She drove perfectly, unlike cell phone drivers who usually slow down to 35 and use three lanes.
I say, make this part of the road test for getting you license.
And she was going 50 when she hit the bike. Yellow means "speed up to beat the light," right?
The vanity of some amaze me. On buses, trains, public places, I’ve seen them put on makeup, file nails, do all sorts of primping that should be done BEFORE they leave the house. Who wants to watch that!
No manners. Simply disgusting.
I sat beside a lady in another car at a stop light recently who was driving, talking on her cell phone, smoking and applying makeup. As a full time freelance photographer I usually have a camera on the seat right beside me to capture just such occasions, but alas I broke my own rule and didn’t have access to the camera. Rule Number One is NEVER put the camera out of reach or put it away not fully ready to shoot. That flying saucer or Sasquatch won’t wait for you retrieve and/or load a camera.
Of course you have to be absolutely certain the picture you hope to get is worth the hassle that might come from photographing someone without their permission. After 30 years of shooting I have become VERY sensitive to that consideration!
A blood alcohol level of .085, the limit in Ohio and many other places, renders the driver far less impaired than having a serious telephone conversation, eating, or applying makeup. So where are the Madd Muthas to make serious crimes out of those bad choices?
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