Edna, what's that sign say?
Sad. Manslaughter?
"Pedal Rage". Just when you think you heard it all.
What, no sick people in jail?
He wasn't too ill to stomp on it not so long ago.
My sympathy goes out to the families of those mowed down that fateful day...
"What? I'm old! I get confused!"
Hmpf. Kill ten - get probation. What a crock...
Expect a miraculous cure.
During the trial, jurors were shown photographs of several of the victims, including one who was sprawled on the street amid scattered strawberries. Another appeared to be embedded in the crumpled hood of Weller's car. Those killed ranged in age from 7 months to 78 years.
Although Weller did not testify during the trial, jurors did hear his taped interview with police immediately after the crash in which he said he tried everything he could think of to stop his car.
"I tried to take the control knob and jam it into park. Everything. Anything that I thought would stop the action of the car," he told a California Highway patrol investigator and a Santa Monica police detective.
He said he had no idea how many people he hit.
"But I'm deeply sorry for any pain that everyone went through. It was my fault," he said.
The crash left behind a devastating scene of carnage on what, until moments before, had been an idyllic Southern California summer day. It also ignited a national debate over whether elderly people should be allowed to continue to drive.
Weller was 86 when he sent his 1992 Buick Le Sabre roaring into the crowded farmers market on July 16, 2003. The vehicle traveled some 300 yards, reaching speeds of 60 mph or more, as it crashed into food stalls and mowed down scores of people. It finally came to a stop, after hitting a ditch, with one victim's body tangled underneath and another's draped across the hood.
The main issue raised at trial was whether Weller had control of the car during the 20 seconds it careened through the market.
Prosecutors said that was more than enough time to realize and correct his mistake, suggesting he steered into people and away from parked cars to avoid hurting himself.They called one witness who claimed Weller said: "You saw me coming, why didn't you get out of my way?"
Defense attorneys called expert witnesses who testified that Weller had likely been in a trancelike state of shock and was unable to determine he was pumping the accelerator and not the brake.
The tragedy had begun uneventfully enough with Weller, a retired food broker, leaving his Santa Monica home to mail a letter to his great-niece.
"How do you figure that a simple thing like that would be a precursor to all of the agony that I brought people?" he asked during his interview with police.
Witnesses testified that after Weller left the post office his car rear-ended a Mercedes-Benz just outside the farmer's market, then roared through the market's entrance.
The judge said it would serve no purpose to send the old coot to prison.
How about PUNISHMENT!!!!!
Stupid judge.
It's a tragic situation in every sense. I'm sure there was no malice in the old man's actions. He mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal. It happens to a lot of people. Okay, well maybe it doesn't happen to a lot of 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80-year-old drivers, but it happens to a lot of 86-year-old drivers.
I don't like the idea of letting him off, but he's 89 now, and it would cost a fortune for the state to pay his hospital bills as he dies. I'd say house arrest in a nursing home (at his expense) and division of his assets among his victims would be the most pragmatic solution. It would have been better for everybody if he'd died before he got behind the wheel.
Old man Kennedy.
Killer gets probation. God bless California.
If that old coot had any sense of decency, he'd off himself tonight by running his car in an enclosed garage after drinking a few cups of antifreeze.
I wish him nothing but the worst for the rest of his hopefully short amount of days.
Some people have simply gotten too old to be driving. If you're mistaking the accelerator for the brake and mowing people over, or coming very close to it, maybe you shouldn't be driving anymore!
Driving safely requires a minimum level of skill, vision and reflexes. If you don't have that minimum level any more, please don't put me or my family at risk of life and limb just so you can maintain your independence.
I would like to have seen some sort of punishment or restitution. This guy drove two blocks!
Peoples Republic of Santa Monica strikes again. Why don't they buy the guy another car and give him driving lessons while they're at it.
Edna, what's that sign say?
Accidents happen. Sometimes really, really bad ones. But that's why we have the word in our language. They happen for lots of reasons, usually stupid ones, but they do happen. This terrible accident seems to have happened because the driver was confused and not able to think clearly enough to stop or redirect his car. That he was 89 years old has to have been a contributing factor. Punishing that man by sending him to prison is not only stupid, but pointless, and probably demanded only by people who need to revenge everything, no matter what the circumstances. We've been seeing a lot of that in the news lately. Instead of automatic incarceration, it might be wise to consider additional testing for elderly drivers.
"One bump, two bumps, three bumps, four bumps... Edna, keeping counting -- and hand me your cell phone. I need to call Shocks 'R Us."
The headline had me thinking that perhaps Buffet had come a cropper.