Posted on 11/20/2006 11:40:52 AM PST by Wiggins
LOS ANGELES — An elderly man who killed 10 people and injured more than 70 others when he drove through an outdoor farmers market was sentenced Monday to probation by a judge who said he believed the crime deserved imprisonment but the defendant was too ill.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I've got a bit of a scratchy throat. What can I get away with for that?
It happened to me when I was 25...although only for a second or so. I was on an aircraft tow tractor and hit a hydraulic mule. For a split second, I couldn't understand why standing on the break was making me go fast.
Did a similar thing while flying, too. I got disoriented, and, for a split second, couldn't connect my pulling back on the stick with the G’s quickly trying to black me out.
I don’t drive tow tractors or fly any more.
He could have at least been sentenced to house arrest!
I would favor house arrest for the rest of his life. Not perfect, but better than probation. Did the judge bother to take away his driver's license?
It would prevent him from running down another 10 people.
Won't let bygones-be-bygones?
My dad, a former warbird pilot, drives to lunch and dinner every day. He will be 90 next April.
When contacted to drive to dinner, I brought along friends. A poll afterwards revealed that we were all comfortable with his driving, and that we felt very secure.
Seventeen hundred miles away—here in Florida—testing of drivers is hit and miss. One driver in front of me when I was last tested (ten years ago?) couldn't pass the vision test. He was escorted away to a back room—perhaps so the rest of us in line couldn't see that he would be passed anyway.
New Hampshire is considering a boating speed limit of 45MPH because speeds are being seen at up to 165MPH. My neighbor has one of the affected boats, and he has sight in one eye only.
Something needs to be done—even in the "Live Free or Die" state.
This scumbag should die in prison. Why shouldn't he suffer, when he made the families of the TEN PEOPLE he killed suffer. Imagine the wives, husbands, children, grandchildren, parents of those this piece of excrement slaughtered, and tell me he does not deserve to finish his life in prison.
If he had killed my wife or child, I would insure that he would suffer a painful death at my hands as soon as he was released.
His attorney would appeal and he'd be dead before anything happened. But who'd be punished? The taxpayers of LA who'd have to bear his medical costs if he did do time. This is just one of those hopeless lose-lose situations.
Seniors should be given a behind-the-wheel road test at least once a year to prevent exactly this type of scene that happens entirely too often, alas, with far less damage in most cases.
Actually, there are very realistic driving simulators that would work well for this. I was watching a show the other night about U.S. soldiers recovering at a brain injury unit in California. They used the driving simulator to retrain and test basic skills and reactions of the injured. Something like that would be perfect.
Oh that's right. 10 dead, 70 injured. No use crying over spilt milk, huh?
that would be wonderful!!!! As I get older I can sense my own reflexes not being what they once were, and drive accordingly. There will come a day when I will have to turn over my license, but beats hell out of what this man has lived thru, much less his victims.
My sympathy. I think the posters here who advocate leniency for Weller (which he got) are not locals.
My sympathy to all the victims.
I was waiting to see if he got any takers. I mean, we wouldn't want to START something . . .
Then again, I wouldn't be surprised.
State prison. Florence
This type (though not as serious) of ACCIDENT has happened to people of all ages. It was a case of the elderly man thinking he was stomping as hard on the brake as he could, but what felt like the brake was the gas pedal. There have been recent situations where there was a specific vehicle that was notorious for the brake feeling the same as the gas pedal. One person pulled into her garage, stepped on the brake only it wasn't the brake, but the gas pedal and just kept stomping the accelerator until the car plowed clear through the back wall of the garage and out the other side. She wasn't the only one that happened to; the manufacturer denied any responsibility, but it was too much of a widespread problem for it to be a coincidence.
I pity the old man. He probably should have already taken himself off the road due to decreased agility, but not many people are willing to do that. I would guess that most of us will not see the reality of our impaired driving ability by the time we get to that age either. Most elderly who are taken off the road are involved in less tragic accidents than this one, thank the Lord. A friend who was in her 80's drove like a maniac, yakking her head off and looking away from the road constantly, until she let her license expire and had to go back and take a test. She failed the on-road test and had to quit driving; but it was a miracle she didn't kill some people before she was stopped from driving. I rode with her - just once - and she barrelled down the road at a clip, alternating between almost veering over the middle line into oncoming traffic to barely missing clipping a whole road crew working on the right shoulder of the highway. She was a dear old lady, but her family hadn't bucked her too much about things.
I doubt the old man got up that morning, got behind the wheel and thought, "Let me see how many people I can kill today." Christ is his judge.
"Don't include me as one that believes prison is appropriate."
Sorry...
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