Posted on 07/26/2011 4:27:43 AM PDT by Libloather
Mom faces prison for jaywalking during drunk hit-and-run that killed son; driver served 6 months
BY Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, July 25th 2011, 3:29 PM
The devastated mother of a 4-year-old boy who was killed in a drunken hit-and-run accident is facing more jail time than her son's killer because she was jaywalking during the accident.
Raquel Nelson, 30, could get up to three years behind bars after being convicted on July 12 of second-degree vehicular homicide, reckless conduct, and failure to use a crosswalk during the incident in April 2010.
Nelson and her three children had gotten off a bus in Marietta, Ga., after a shopping trip. They were hurrying across a four-lane highway when drunken ex-con Jerry Guy plowed into the family with his van, killing 4-year-old A.J.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
If she was a pedestrian, how could she be charged with vehicular manslaughter?
This road would give most drivers the grues, let alone pedestrians. It's the main artery through Marietta, it's five widelanes, lots of commercial development so visually very confusing to drivers, very busy in the evenings, speed limit 45 iirc but many drivers go faster.
Trying to save a half mile walk by getting off the bus in the middle of a long block and jaywalking was a very bad call.
The nearest crosswalk was 3/10 of a mile away- about 2-1/2 blocks. The solution of course, would be to build a bridge at every bus stop on that highway so that people would be able to immediately cross over to their homes without walking very far. It might cost 2 or 3 billion dollars, but it’s good for the economy.
Would the kid have been hit if he hadn’t been in the middle of the road, despite the condition of the driver?
Sad. Regardless of the outcome of the sentencing, she has, and will continue to pay, a far higher price with the death of her child. Wonder why they decided to charge her.
The driver was never charged with a DUI as far as I can tell. There appears to be no legal evidence that he was impaired. He was sentenced to 5 years and released after serving 6 months. He was only charged with leaving the scene of the accident.
Basically, the kid ran out in front of his car. There was nothing he could have done to avoid the kid.
Story after story repeats that he was drunk, but the police apparently had no usable evidence to charge him with a dui.
Nelson and her three children had gotten off a bus in Marietta, Ga.,
The story stated that this happened in Marietta, Georgia. Not sure what Bloomberg has to do with this story.
I agree with you about Bloomie but this incident happened in GA not NYC.
yupppp
Marietta.....I blew it once again...just reading the headlines....
....but still a wonderful excuse to trash Bloomberg
Yes it was! :-)
Thanks.
Early and should’ve paid better attention to more than just the paper doing the reporting.
I absolve Bloomberg of this...
...and nothing else. He’s still a wothless little slimeball.
I don't know the street involved, but as one who walks and cycles (in the city) more than most, pedestrian-unfriendly street design is a pet peeve. Roads easily become barriers to anyone not in a car. How frequent the crossings need to be depends on the texture of the neighborhood and the nature of the cross traffic, but I doubt if this woman was hopping off the bus in the middle of an industrial park. If there is a shopping center, grocery, park, school, or apartment complex at that location, there should be a way to get across the street.
I don't think it's radical to insist that roads in urban areas should have sidewalks and frequent crossings at pedestrian friendly intervals. Commuters need to remember that their expressways are bisecting neighborhoods where other people live, and might actually want to cross the street regularly. If pedestrian traffic is relatively light, fine; put up a traffic light with a button for pedestrians to press.
And if that marginally inconveniences the almighty commuters in their @!@&^(*!## cars, that's tough. People who actually live in the area take precedence over people zipping through. If the commute is too long, live closer to the job.
...and nothing else. He’s still a worthless little slimeball.
Absolutely! :-)
The story stated that he admitted to having used alcohal and drugs that day. Because he commited a hit and run they woudl have not or little evidence of his impairment so they could not charge him with it.
Yes, but other versions state that he said he had “a little” alcohol and that he had been prescribed pain medication.
So it seems that they were unable to say he was impaired at the time.
The media continues to merrily report that he was drunk and high on pain meds, though.
We really don’t know.
The usual suspects on the local blogs are blaming the county for its street design, but frequent crosswalks impede traffic flow, and on a major highway you can't do that. Venting annoyance at commuters contributes nothing to a discussion of traffic engineering, and of course most local residents would be more inconvenienced than commuters by bad traffic jams.
And the Atlanta metro is lousy biking territory first and foremost because of the hideous topography. Not much in the way of bike lanes because there's little demand, you have to be in first class shape to negotiate the ridge-and-valley grades, and you arrive drenched in sweat and ready for a nap.
Yes we do not know. But we do know he commited a fatal hit and run. Six months and 5 years probation pretty small when it is his 3rd offense.
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