The outcome of the lawsuit is probably best case. (That there even was a lawsuit is regrettable.) I am not defending Norgard’s actions, nor did I intend to vilify his target, I just find the death of a young man, and one whose (possibly misguided) parents loved him regrettable. I find the entire episode regrettable.
Mr. Norgard was not “blind drunk”, his blood alcohol level was 0.188. Until fairly recently the standard for “drunk driving” was 0.150. Nowadays 0.08, about half of what Mr. Norgard had. One beer results in a blood alcohol level of around 0.05. A blood alcohol level of 0.188 is about what would result from four beers in two hours.
Actually, .188 is pretty darned drunk. Folks can be worse, but that’ll do it. But I didn’t mention BAC.
From the article:
“In addition, evidence was produced that suggested Norgard had a reputation in the community for having a temper.”
If you have a “reputation in the community” for having a temper, and you actually engage in assault, you likely have committed assault before.
It’s regrettable that you’re a drunken, mean, POS who assaults others.
It’s not regrettable if you’re killed. Your death is a small improvement to net world human happiness.
Norgard’s death was regrettable, but his death wasn’t the price for his stupidity (e.g., driving with an alcohol content of 0.118, turning and stopping his car in front of the truck, getting out of his car, yelling at the truck driver)
Norgard’s death was the price for his actions that reasonably constituted an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the couple in the truck.
RE: A blood alcohol level of 0.188 is about what would result from four beers in two hours.
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The BAC calculator linked below shows that a 180 pound man having 8 drinks in 2 and 20 minutes results in a .19 BAC and Norgard was close to that at .188 (and generally, metabolization reduces a person’s BAC by about .015% per hour)
For a 180 pound man 4 beers in 2 hours results in .08 (presuming 12 ounces each at 5% alcohol)
https://www.alcohol.org/bac-calculator/