Motorhome driver sentenced in fatal accident
Driver pleads guilty to reckless homicide. He got off pretty light.
Forum Discussion
I sometimes don't agree with penalties that are given out, but I have learned in 13 years of law enforcement that there are always mitigating factors. We don't know the full details, we don't know the result of the investigation.
The prosecutor that worked out the plea knows the details. The judge that accepted the plea and doled out punishment knows the details. I agree that probation is a VERY lenient sentence in my mind, but I don't know the details.
A lengthy jail sentence wouldn't bring this young officer back to his family. An older driver with an otherwise clean driving and criminal record (I'm making an assumption here) probably feels incredible guilt for his decision and has to deal with his decision and mistake for the rest of his life.
Stupidity and negligence intersect at a fine line. I have to wonder what the driver was doing at the time the crash occurred. Was he fiddling around with his GPS?
I remember a couple of older drivers on here giving me grief a couple months back on a thread about a distracted driver because they would prefer to fiddle with the GPS than simply listen to it or let their co-pilot fiddle with it.
Was he eating food and not giving his full time and attention to the road? Is it possible he simply just failed to appreciate how much slower traffic was moving and simply didn't slow in time?
We don't know. I feel the sentence is light, but I don't know the details. It is a terrible tragedy and I feel bad for the driver and the family of my fallen brother officer. Sometimes a simple mistake claims a life. Hopefully none of the members here are ever in a situation like this.
Drive safe, make smart decisions and arrive alive at your destination.
The prosecutor that worked out the plea knows the details. The judge that accepted the plea and doled out punishment knows the details. I agree that probation is a VERY lenient sentence in my mind, but I don't know the details.
A lengthy jail sentence wouldn't bring this young officer back to his family. An older driver with an otherwise clean driving and criminal record (I'm making an assumption here) probably feels incredible guilt for his decision and has to deal with his decision and mistake for the rest of his life.
Stupidity and negligence intersect at a fine line. I have to wonder what the driver was doing at the time the crash occurred. Was he fiddling around with his GPS?
I remember a couple of older drivers on here giving me grief a couple months back on a thread about a distracted driver because they would prefer to fiddle with the GPS than simply listen to it or let their co-pilot fiddle with it.
Was he eating food and not giving his full time and attention to the road? Is it possible he simply just failed to appreciate how much slower traffic was moving and simply didn't slow in time?
We don't know. I feel the sentence is light, but I don't know the details. It is a terrible tragedy and I feel bad for the driver and the family of my fallen brother officer. Sometimes a simple mistake claims a life. Hopefully none of the members here are ever in a situation like this.
Drive safe, make smart decisions and arrive alive at your destination.
