Woman who killed officer pays traffic fines

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum

still not the fault of the driver if he randomly walks out into traffic

"Howard County Police Chief William McMahon says they are disappointed by the decision. In a news conference Thursday afternoon he told reporters, “We are confident she was going 71 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone. As she approached Scott she did see him and move and took some evasive action perhaps to not strike him. But I will tell you this, other drivers who were on the roadway that day, including those that were behind her, saw the officer and was able to react."
http://wjz.com/local/scott.wheeler.p...ectflash=false
http://www.co.ho.md.us/Police/pd_wheeler.htm

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by jon1856

"Howard County Police Chief William McMahon says they are disappointed by the decision. In a news conference Thursday afternoon he told reporters, “We are confident she was going 71 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone. As she approached Scott she did see him and move and took some evasive action perhaps to not strike him. But I will tell you this, other drivers who were on the roadway that day, including those that were behind her, saw the officer and was able to react."
http://wjz.com/local/scott.wheeler.p...ectflash=false
http://www.co.ho.md.us/Police/pd_wheeler.htm

Oh, weird - the Police Chief disagrees? Fancy that. Seriously? That's the best we can do? "Other people didn't kill the guy, so she must have been out of control!" Come on - that's absolute nonsense, and just a severe mangling of any sort of logical thinking.

Speeding is an easy way to generate a civil case based on negligence, so it's likely she'll wind up in a court with a lower burden - so never fear. Still, this is absolutely, 100% NOT a civil rights issue like the comparisons you're making.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Oh, weird - the Police Chief disagrees? Fancy that. Seriously? That's the best we can do? "Other people didn't kill the guy, so she must have been out of control!" Come on - that's absolute nonsense, and just a severe mangling of any sort of logical thinking.

Speeding is an easy way to generate a civil case based on negligence, so it's likely she'll wind up in a court with a lower burden - so never fear. Still, this is absolutely, 100% NOT a civil rights issue like the comparisons you're making.

I never made, in this thread, any comparisons.
I did mention track records/histories.

20 miles per hour over limit.....

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by jon1856

I never made, in this thread, any comparisons.
I did mention track records/histories.

"Mentioning track records" is analogous to "comparing" because you're saying "in the past, this has happened" then openly wondering why it isn't happening now. That's, literally, a "comparison" - I'm just saying.

I don't get why you're running from that issue - just make the point and the thread will actually have some legs, don't you think?

Originally Posted by jon1856

20 miles per hour over limit.....

Sixteen. And a grand jury that chose not to indict, despite knowing this fact.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

We overuse the term "accident" with reference to vehicles (most auto crashes had at least some fault that makes "accident" kind of misleading), but some things in life are just accidents or mistakes that, while having dire consequences, do not rise to the level of unlawful behavior or negligence.

I agree with this, and I wish we thought of it more.

I understand why family and friends sometimes want to blame people, but it's probably important to remember for criminal stuff especially. (I'd even want people to remember it for civil cases, but that's probably so counter to our culture these days that it would never happen. I understand that liability is going to be different though.)

I'm sort of surprised that going 16 over doesn't seem negligent, but maybe there's a precedent or guideline of some kind or maybe there was testimony about how given the limited amount of time she had to react that her speed wasn't much of as issue in his death. This is probably sick the way I'm expressing it and I apologize, but even at 55, depending on when he walked out, he'd have been just as dead.