Any hope for the son of this self-absorbed jerk?

The BBQ Pit
#1

Reference another thread in Great Debates: Should your car keep an eye on you?

When Razorette and I were raising our sons, we taught them that actions have consequences, and if they do bad things they must deal with the bad consequences. We assumed other parents taught their kids the same thing. Turns out … nope, they don’t. Richard Slade apparently thinks the prosecution violated his son’s privacy when they used the Electronic Data Recorder (EDR) on a kid’s Corvette to prove that he was doing 139 mph when the 'Vette and a Mercedes, driven by Slade’s kid, smashed into the side of another vehicle, killing two innocent people. Slade, it seems, is all pissed off that the prosecution decided, on the strength of the EDR data, to charge the kids with murder instead of whatever watered-down traffic charge they were going to use.

Here’s the deal: The kids claimed they were only doing about 50 when they crashed. They were doing almost 140! More almost three times the stated speed! The prosecutors were able to prove the excessive speed!

Here’s what makes Richard Slade a complete jerk:
“The minute the prosecutors had the speed from the ‘black box,’ they upped the charges to murder,” says Richard Slade, whose son Blake was driving the Mercedes. “They had what they needed to force a plea down our throats.”

Yeah, the kid copped to manslaughter, gets three years hard time. Well, I guess he won’t be playing lacrosse for Duke any time soon, eh?

Where do rich people get the idea that they shouldn’t be sent to prison for killing other people? The kid was drag racing with a Mercedes, for God’s sake! He plowed into a Jeep, killing two people. One of 'em was a nurse! Nurses are people who contribute greatly to society! Drag-racing rich kids? Not so much!

Get a reality check, Richard Slade. You failed to teach your kid about responsibility and consequences. Maybe somebody forgot to teach you, I dunno, but as far as I’m concerned, your kid belongs in prison! But there is one thing he can still learn – how to grab his ankles and take it like a man. The rest of us do it every day.

Jeez, this guy just pisses me off!

#2

Yeah, and there’s a shortage of nurses. We got a bumper cromp on these brats, though.

#3

Personal Responsibility seems to be a lost concept. I blame the lawyers.

#4

I think Sunrazor had it right, actually; blame the parents.
Those (of us) who were raised by parents who taught personal responsibility are not misled by lawyers or anyone else.

#5

This is a huge issue with me. I cannot STAND it when people can’t take responsibility for their own. Fucking. Actions. Seriously, it drives me insane. And when they try to blame shit on something out of their control. The big one is “I had a bad life, I can’t help it.” A friend of my boyfriends tried that line on me once. I didn’t buy it - I had a shitty life, from being molested and later raped, to having a very poor, acoholic father (who was not, btw, the one doing the molesting and raping), to getting pregnant and having a miscarriage (without going to the hospital, thank GOD I didn’t need a D&C) at 14 years old, to doing drugs heavily for most of my high school years - and I still turned out alright through it all. If I can do it, anyone can. If I can take personal responsibility for stupid shit I do, or bad shit that I do, anyone can, and it really pisses me off when people try otherwise.

That kid should have been fucking sent to prison for life. Or worse. I can’t stand people who drive irresponsibly and kill people. I can’t. Every time I think about it my blood boils. HELLO! You’re not driving just a car - YOU’RE DRIVING A WEAPON ON WHEELS!

~Tasha

#6

Although, even if he killed a marketing executive and a lawyer for a tobacco company, he should still be charged with murder.

#7

WTF? Sounds like it was the lawyers from the prosecutor’s office that insisted on maximum responsibility by charging the kid with murder, and the parent who was not overly concerned with his child’s actions. But don’t let a little thing like logic stand in your way.

This post brought to you by “The Lawyers” – responsible for global warming, world hunger and Middle East unrest. :rolleyes:

#8

If you name your kid “Blake Slade,” you are a cocky asshole.

#9

Glad to see y’all are finally stepping forward and admitting what we’ve known all the time! :smiley:

#10

“They’ve reintroduced the death penality for marketing executives.”
“Really? For what offense?”
“Offense?”

#11

No, no, no. Didn’t you read the OP??? It’s the RICH PEOPLE who are to blame.

#12

I’m sure we’ll be seeing it on ‘yellow-ribbon’ tailpipe magnets shortly. :smiley:

#13

Well, I guess I won’t be marketing any executives any time soon, then.

Oh, and the name “Blake Slade” belongs in a soap opera.

#14

I always feel a little sorry for kids of parents like that. The kids don’t have a chance in hell of becomming happy, productive adults. For them, life will always be frustrating because they simply don’t understand the concept of consequences for their actions. It will always seem like the world is “trying to get them” or that people are just being mean to them when they’re made to own up to their actions.

My aunt made this horrible mistake with her children. Whenever they got into trouble, she would go into “momma tiger” mode, bailing them out and blaming the authorities (the school, the cops, whatever) for “persecuting” them. She would come up with these elaborate conspiracy theories about why they had been accused and devote hours to finding loopholes abd ways to beat the charges.

Her kids were lazy and defiant, completely unemployable, but when they got fired from their jobs for theft or just being a bad employee, she’d bad-mouth the boss and come up with some reason why the boss “had it in for them”. Even when her son crashed a truck into a building at his workplace because he was drunk on the job she insisted that it was the boss’ fault-- her son was “tired” after not having been given a break and there was a million reasons why the BAC test was tainted.

She died two years ago and there was no one who was interested in bailing out the kids when they got in trouble. As you can imagine, their lives are now complete trainwrecks. The son is now facing felony charges and the daughter lives off the charity of relatives and friends, having been fired from every job she ever held. Of course, none of that is their fault. Everyone’s just out to get them.

#15

Thing is though that the “Justice” system should have forced him to take responsibility for his actions through a harsh sentence especially in light of his attempt to pevert the course of justice by lying about the speed. It’s apparent failure to do so annoys me far more than his gross stupidity and his father’s ignorance of basic human values.

A justice system has to inspire confidence in the population that justice is served for it to have any legitimacy. I find it hard to see how in this case anything happened other than the concept of justice getting pissed and shit on.

Despite being a firm believer in the rule of law I’d have to say I’d be unable to sound any note of condemnation if one of the Nurses family members were to step in and exact justice themselves. Clearly in this case the state was unable to do so.

#16

Am I the only one who that **silenus **was making a joke? No one takes responsibility any more - that must be someone elses fault…

#17

Stripper name!

#18

Thank you. I thought my Irony Meter™ was turned on, but I guess not.

#19

in response to:

Cocky Asshole is a terrible stripper name, Kalhoun. What were you thinking?

#20

Umm, not all of us do that. At least not everyday. :dubious: