Another reason not ot drive drunk
 

Police: Drunken man drives home after passenger decapitated

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — A drunken driver hit a telephone pole support wire that decapitated his passenger, then drove 12 miles home and slept in his bloody clothes, leaving the headless body in his truck, police said.

A neighbor walking with his young daughter Sunday morning discovered Daniel Brohm's headless corpse in the truck in John Kemper Hutcherson's driveway and called authorities, said Cpl. Dana Pierce, county police spokesman.

Officers found Hutcherson asleep inside his home, his clothes bloody and visibly drunk, and later found Brohm's severed head at the crash site.

"It's hard for one to imagine that you would drive miles from a crash site to your home, turning in various directions, and yet not know what has happened to a passenger sitting next to you," Pierce said.

Hutcherson, 21, was charged with vehicular homicide, driving under the influence and failure to stop at an accident with death or injury. He was jailed on a $100,000 bond; it was unclear Monday whether he had an attorney.

Police said Hutcherson and Brohm — friends since high school — were drinking at a bar Saturday night and left after Brohm said he felt sick.

Brohm, 23, apparently was leaning out of the window when Hutcherson hit the support wire about a mile and a half from the bar, but police did not know why

Oh, God, that's horrible :( He must've been really drunk to not realize what happened. That's so sad

OMG....that is sick!!!! How much alcohol did he drink to be drunk enough not to notice?

What a tragedy.:(

Oh my!!!! That is so sad!

That is horrible. I hope the driver get long prison sentence. I have no sympathy for drunk drivers.

Ah my home town. Yah its has been all over the news and that is all anyone is talking about here.

I think everyone has heard about that by now. I graduated with the driver, the victim graduated a year before us. And where did the driver park his car? My neighborhood.

My question is: how can you be THAT drunk to not know what happened to your friend in the passenger seat? :confused:

What a hot mess!
 

Can't nobody be that damned drunk!!!!!

That is just as bad as the chick who left the man on her hood dying in her garage for a week! :rolleyes:

I have no sympathy for drunk drivers, I say lock them up and toss the key. I never had sympathy for them and it multiplied ten fold when my bio sister was hit and damn near killed by a drunk driver on St. Patty's day in 1998

It was probably more a situation where the person didn't know what to do.

He's really drunk, something terrible happens and he assumes that he is going to be held responsible because he was drunk, even if alcohol wasn't the cause of the accident.

How many people are prepared for that situation?

Lets say you had only a couple drinks and the incident happened to you, you are well beneath the legal limit but you would still catch the vehicular homicide charge because there was alcohol in your body.

I think a lot of people would panic and be utterly confused as to what to do.

Re: What a hot mess!
 

I immediately thought about that case when I read this article. Very sad. :(

James am I reading this right that you're cutting the guy some slack because of the "situation"? A situation does not get people killed.

This wasn't an issue of him having a couple of drinks though. He knowingly got behind the wheel of a car and drove drunk. Even if it was I would hope Tipsy Tommy would still do the right thing. Get the cell phone out and dial 9-1-1. It's not a big secret that drinking and driving is a bad thing.

My prayers are with the parents who have to bury their son.

Sad and tragic!

How drunk did he have to be not to realize what he did to his friend?

I am sure a long prison sentence will make him think about what he did.


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I don't know what I am cutting him slack for? He drove home with a dead body. An unsaevable situation whether he called the police the moment the other guy was decapitated. You can't put a tourniquet around a neck . . .

What I am saying is that I have seen people freeze up at dinner parties just because they couldn't think of a witty thing to say.

I have seen people freeze during public speaking occasions. How much more will some people freeze up after their friend gets his head chopped up? Its a non-normal situation.

James, I think that I am missing your point.

The passenger was decapitated because there was a car accident. There was a car accident because the driver was drunk.

The driver didn't encounter a decapitated body when he happened to be drunk. He caused it to happen which is much different from freezing up in an awkward social situation.

I have no sympathy for drunk drivers.........

I hope for that situation alone merits the death penality. From someone who lost a loved one in a drunk driving accident i have no pity for this guy......Life in prison is not worth it....that is living vs. the friend who is dead and who laid dead and headless in his car while he slept.

"It's hard for one to imagine that you would drive miles from a crash site to your home, turning in various directions, and yet not know what has happened to a passenger sitting next to you," Pierce said

to get so plastered not to know your friend has been decapitated .....makes me sick!

I am talking more about the driving home part.

As in why do people frequently respond in irrational ways when in really abnormal situations.

Looking at it fom the outside we generally know what the right thing is to do. But immersed in a bad situation and in panic many people don't function very well.

A lot of the time, when faced with such a traumatic situation, people tend to block things out and behave irrationally. Being intoxicated would probably only add to the likelihood of that occuring.

That being said, the dude should definitely go up the river for manslaughter.

James and ktsnake: Thanks for clarifying. I understand what James means now.

I agree that he really should go to jail.

Irrationality. Think of dating. How men can respond oddly to emotionally stressful situations, like you leaving them Cream ;)

I've been thinking alot about this, and while I am usually in favor of the death penalty in certain cases, for some reason, I'm against it for this one. Not because I knew the driver, but because of what I know. Those two were the best of friends, and if you really want to punish the driver, put him in jail for a loooooong time. Then he would have to think about what he did every single day for the rest of his life.

Just my $0.02.

I don't know of any state that considers manslaughter (which is probably the max you could get him for) a capital crime. This was definitely not a premeditated murder. The worst he could probably get is life w/out parole. I'm betting that he gets parole though.

Also, it depends on the circumstances of the accident. If alcohol wasn't a major contributing factor then maybe he shouldn't get jail time at all, just therapy.

Also, if his friend was leaning out of the car . . . that has to be a mitigating circumstance.

I doubt a judge or a jury is going to look at it that way. He just as easily could have killed anyone else but his friend, and I don't think either event should be punished more or less than the other. He broke the law and killed another human being in the process (his friend, coincidentally). He should (in theory) receive the same sentence as if he had killed a person in another car. If anything he should be locked up for the maximum sentence to protect society.

Here I go bringing up old threads! Ok, how in the WORLD did he know that his friend was leaning out the window but not that he was decapitated. If I were driving and I had the presence of mind to notice that my friend was vomiting out the window, I'm sure I would also notice that he lost his head...at which point I would wreck the car. It's all very strange.

Does anyone have an update?

Not technically premeditated, but in my eyes, if you get drunk and get behind the wheel, that may as well be premeditated because you know that you shouldn't be driving.

I too have no sympathy for people - my 2 year old cousin was decapitated in a car wreck where a car full of drunk women were coming home from a party. The driver got what - 50 hours community service and no jail time! She should be visiting Becky's grave every day for the rest of her life and knowing that she put her there.:mad:

Re: What a hot mess!
 

I would have to agree with you. If he was sooo drunk, then why was he able to find his home just fine? Yet, he was sooo drunk he didn't realize that there was a DEAD BODY WITH NO HEAD beside him? C'mon now.

Re: Re: What a hot mess!
 

That is very possible and the unfortunate thing about drunk driving. People have waking black outs that allow the to truly go on auto pilot and let them find their way home. It may not keep them from running lights or into other cars, etc. If being drunk would simply impair you so that you were actually incapable of driving we would not have these stories. Instead, people can get super drunk and function enough to make a story like this happen.

I hope that you find it in your heart to become a better person. To wish death upon someone for this is just extreme.

It's an unfortunate situation and considering the fact that I was nearly killed by a drunk driver myself, I can relate to the hatred of drunk drivers. But to wish death on this young man is going too far. Unless he intended for this to happen (which I seriously doubt) he shouldn't be subject to also give his own life. But there should be consequences.

I'd like to point out one major thing that I've read from a few posters though. The words "knowingly" and "drunk." Honestly, I've done some stupid stuff while drunk in my day (never drinking and driving) and I can honestly say that I don't think I ever "knowingly" knew what I was getting into. Being drunk is to be in a mind-altered state, thus the serious penalties for drinking and driving. It's due to the fact that police and the gov't realize that this is an altered state in which people may have little to no idea of what they are "knowingly" doing. When you drink you don't think and depending on how drunk you get, there's a very good argument that you aren't in control of yourself and what you are doing. It's like how certain (or most if not all contracts) can be void if the person that entered the contract was under the influence at the time they entered into the contract.

As for the death sentence comment, I'd just like to say that if these two knew eachother as long as they did I'm pretty sure the young man is living his own horrible nightmare right now, but I do believe there should be consequences for him.

A few months ago, three close friends were killed by a drunk driver. The driver was also killed in the accident and after some details I realized he was the same age as myself and my friends. I was pissed to find out that the kid had a .27 BAC at the time his blood sample was taken (about 45 minutes after the accident). I was angry and at first I thought his death was justified. Then I was told that it was most likely he had passed out prior to the accident (possibly causing it) and if he hadn't passed out there was no chance he knew what he was doing because he was so intoxicated. I visited the crash site with some friends and my anger turned to sadness when I began to realize this young man also had friends and a family and young child. To think that at the time he got into his car he more than likely had not so much as a clue as to what he was doing or what could happen, well that just made me feel even worse.

I attended the man's funeral and in death I forgive him for what he did in life. But death isn't something we should wish upon people.

He has been released from prison. The family of the victim wanted it that way. They didn't want him to be punished.