Posted on 06/06/2012 9:01:28 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Edited on 06/06/2012 9:32:18 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
HAVERHILL, Mass. (AP) -- A Massachusetts teenager has been found guilty of motor vehicle homicide and negligent operation for causing a fatal car crash while texting on his cellphone.
It was the first time someone had been tried in Massachusetts for the crimes while sending or receiving a text message.
(Excerpt) Read more at 1.whdh.com ...
There is never any excuse for texting or reading texts while driving.
Yes. Feb of 2011, a 21 yr old drives his car into a river. Manages to escape; car later fished out of the river (in Danvers MA). Not exactly warm water that time of year.
Why?
Texting.
He got a $100 fine. That’ll show him!
Who knows what agony this poor man suffered before he died? And the perp gets one year in jail and some community service?
Outrageous!!
Was his name ‘Kennedy’?.............
Yes...though for the next 15 years he’ll have to beg rides from others or take public transit. Still...wonder if his community service will involve speaking to teens at their schools and telling them why they shouldn’t text.
Maybe they’ll take a couple minutes away from texting to listen to him.
So, he still crossed the yellow line and killed someone. Better to have fessed up to what he was doing. You know he'll get out on good behavior long before his two years is up. That sentence was a waste of the court's time and an insult to the victim and his family.
Not exactly, but a similar incident—drove off a narrow bridge in Mass.!
http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1709529452/Police-say-texting-man-drove-car-into-Waters-River
>>A driver who police said was texting behind the wheel managed to escape serious injury late Monday night after his car plunged off the Water Street bridge and into the Waters River.
Police plan to summons Gerald Maher, 21, of 195 Maple St., Danvers, to court for negligent operation of a motor vehicle and texting while driving, police Capt. Pat Ambrose said. The charge of texting behind the wheel carries a civil fine.
Maher, who was alone in the car, was heading toward Peabody, police said, when the car crossed the road and broke through a guardrail on the opposite side of the street. The car traveled down a steep embankment and was swallowed by the river.
The two-lane bridge in Danversport carries Route 35 traffic to and from Peabody. It’s being rebuilt by the state.
Patrolmen Keith Chalmers, Dana Martin and Justin Ellenton; Sgt. Jamie Lovell; and fire and harbormaster personnel responded to the scene at 11:45 p.m., but those who first arrived could find no sign of the car, police Chief Neil Ouellette said.
Martin, who was first on scene, heard a man yelling for help, Ouellette said.
The current apparently pushed Maher through the bridge opening and toward Eastern Propane at 131 Water St., where police located him, Ouellette said. Ouellette could not say how Maher got out of the car.
“There was a mention of texting” when Maher first spoke with officers, Ouellette said.
http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1709529452/Police-say-texting-man-drove-car-into-Waters-River
When a car crosses the lane divider and collides head on with another car, there is a prima facie presumption of negligence. Negligence resulting in the death of another is the definition of manslaughter. Negligent homicide involves acting with "depraved indifference" to human life. The act of texting and driving show depraved indifference to human life, imho.
I hope the judge throws the book at this arrogant twit teen at sentencing. This kid claimed time after time after time that he wasn’t distracted by texting on his cell phone but by thinking about his homework.
A lady in a pick up truck rear ended me at 60 mph while texting. Multiple fusion surgeries and constant pain. At least I lived.
:: There is never any excuse for texting or reading texts while driving. ::
How about practicing the recorder as you drive along the Tri-State tollway at 75 mph in your State issued Police Car?
Sentencing has taken place: 2.5 years technically but 1 yr to be spent in jail. Community service. And 15 yr loss of
license, so he’ll be able to drive again at 33.
Dude got a year in the slammer, 40 hours of community service, and loss of license for 15 years. Kind of a small price to pay for taking someone's life, but then again, he's got that Scarlet A on his soul for the rest of his life. I hope he uses that to his best advantage and makes amends for what he did.
http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1968184324/Teen-denies-texting-at-time-of-crash
And the other victim Luz Roman will deal with her injuries the rest of her life, she says.
I have had cell phones for 14 years and I have never sent a text message. come to think of it, I don’t know how . . . and I don’t care.
Driver inexperience behind the wheel + texting while driving = Recipe for disaster.
Isnt Waters a silly name for a river?
No way, the recorder requires two hands. Stick to the bugle and you’ll be alright.
I posted that because that is what I actually saw coming home from work.
Illinois State Trooper going 75 mph. Sheet music on the steering wheel, 2 hands on the recorder.
Rules for thee but not for me!
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