Drunken asshole kills daughter--but covers his own ass.

The BBQ Pit
1

First off the link to the story of the drunken asshole and his now dead daughter.

So here we have someone who is such a shitty parent that he has to have a court ordered “parenting plan” to tell him not to drink then drive with his kids. This ought to be our first clue that we’re not dealing with a responsible, sensible person here. Then we have snow, a pickup truck, an inner tube, some kids and a brick wall. Not what I would consider a good combination overall–even if I were drunk as Cooter Brown I would not think towing a nine year old behind a pickup truck on an attached inner tube would be a good idea, and I think I’m safe in assuming that most people would have to agree with me here.

But let’s just say that I’m all intoxicated with the wonderfulness of the snowfall (and nothing else, just for the sake of argument) and I have a passle of kids who are pestering me to tow them behind the pickup truck, and judging by the activities on my own street there seem to be more than a few idiot parents who acquiesce to this sort of importuning. Morons. Ahem. Okay, we’re just at the level of “bad judgement” so far.

Things go horribly wrong, and my young daughter is smashed against a brick wall as I’m whipping around the parking lot having a great time. At this point I’d think the smart thing to do would be to call 911 so there would be a good chance to save my daughter’s life–can I get an AMEN from the chorus here? Thank you.

Not Drunken Asshole! Nope, what he thinks is a good idea is to drive from the school where the accident occurred, here in the pickup truck (one wonders if he took the time to untie the inner tube, or just cut the rope?) to a hospital about five miles away, here through snow choked streets (on which traffic was probably moving VERY slowly) while she was dying.

He never called 911 (others in the neighborhood had called before the accident, because towing kids behind a pickup truck is, umm, ILLEGAL) but he did call his lawyer as soon as he got to the hospital. Hospital staff and some teens who were taking part in the inner tube festivities both note that Drunken Asshole had alcohol on his breath, and I for one can’t think of any OTHER reason to call a lawyer instead of a paramedic after an accident, can you?

So a cute little girl is dead, but we can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Drunken Asshole Dad is well represented legally and will have his rights looked out for appropriately, yay! In fact, since the girl was transported over to a hospital in Oregon before the Washington cops found out what had happened, there’s a legal impediment to taking a blood sample to establish whether or not DAD was drinking at the time when he slammed his little girl into a brick wall and then drove her to the hospital.

Ain’t it all just grand? Wouldn’t it be REALLY grand to pound motherfucker DAD’s head with a 1.75L bottle of tequila until it was as soft and squishy as his daughter’s?

For added fun, read the statement from the family…

Damn, sometimes I hate people, I really, REALLY do…

2

…note that she’s a dead PHOTOGENIC WHITE GIRL, and thus, more valuable than had she been ugly, black or male.

3

That’s out of left field.

4

I’m mainly with the OP. Yes, there was stupidity and the CYA (while drunk) activities of the dad are pretty deplorable.

There is, however, one other aspect to this story that the article overlooked.

A father accidentally killed his daughter while playing in the snow. That’s got to be pretty rough on a guy, eh? I don’t imagine he’s gloating over it, or even feels ambivilant about it. No, I imagine he probably feels pretty piss-poor about it.

Maybe not, but I imagine he does. Which doesn’t excuse him, but I think elevates him from the monster status the OP seems to give him.

Also, I’m not sure I’m picking up what the OP wants from the family statement.

5

The statement was signed by a lawyer–my guess is the same one who got called from the hospital.

I don’t think the fucker’s a monster, I think he’s a cowardly shitweasel who should’ve stood up and taken his lumps like a man AFTER doing the best he could under the circumstances to save his daughter’s life. You know, calling the professionals who were a quarter of a mile away–that sort of thing. What complete idiot does NOT know that you don’t move an accident victim unnecessarily because you’ll probably make things worse? Nope, he’s a chickenshit little fuckwit who’s more concerned with his own well being than that of his child, and for that he deserves to roast slowly in whatever special hell there is for those who don’t watch out for and protect their children from danger–especially when that danger is himself.

Accidental death while playing in the snow? Perhaps if he’d called 911 it wouldn’t have BEEN a death–maybe just a hospitalization. We had shitloads of them this last week, kids sledding unsupervised ending up under SUVs in the road, running into trees, that kind of thing. I’m not pitting those parents, because that’s firmly under the heading of “accident.” The only accident here was the slamming into the brick wall part–everything after that is criminal negligence, cowardice and self serving shitheadedness in my book and the asshole deserves every bit of what’s coming to him and more.

I’m sure he “feels bad,” but from his actions what he mostly “feels bad” about is the trouble he’s going to be in.

Oh, and MaxTheVool? You can fuck off and die, too. She was a KID, who didn’t deserve to DIE, and her whiteness or cuteness or anything else had nothing to do with it. You’re damn near as sick as her dad, from where I’m sitting.

6

Not having a blood sample sucks, but if the facts as reported in the link are correct, I think there’s enough other evidence to charge some type of homocide…vehicular, negligent…whatever they call it in Washington. Throw in felony child endangerment, maybe some trespassing/vandalism charge since it appears to have been on school property, failure to report an accident, and improper equipment on a motor vehicle.

Oh, and call up the DHS Baby Snatcher. I’m sure he’s already familiar with the family, and may wish to revisit that “parenting plan” thing.

7

I’m definitely not defending the guy, but is it possible that he wasn’t trying to cover anything up by taking her to the hospital himself? Maybe his brain just stopped working and he felt like he could get her to the hospital faster, since he was already on the scene?

8

A year ago we had an incident in my area where a grandfather and father were hunting with their two son/grandsons. One of the older men (I forget which one) accidentally shot one of the boys.

They then delayed before bringing the boy to the emergency room because they had been shooting deer illegally and wanted to get rid of the evidence before the cops showed up to investigate the shooting. The boy, left untreated beyond some minimal first aid, died after an hour or so.

9

WTF? Is that some inside joke, or are you really that stupid?

10

Monstro, that’s something I’d expect the defense to argue either at trial or in plea negotiations. The prosecution will counter that he smelled of alcohol, was subject to a parenting plan that forbids drinking and driving with the kids, and called a lawyer before calling the cops.

It’s a difficult case any way you slice it. A child is dead, and her father is the reason she’s dead. He’s got to live with that for the rest of his life. He’s also committed an act of uberfuckwittery. I’m not seeing a reasonable explanation for the child being on an innertube towed by a truck. He’s a grown man, and he should have known better. I think it’s appropriate that he be given several years room and board at state expense while he ponders his actions.

11

He called the lawyer from the hospital using his CELL PHONE, which he had with him at the time of the accident as well. I’d think that anyone over the age of oh–about six or so–knows that you call 911 when someone’s been hurt in order to find out what the best course of action is. He had the means to do so right in his pocket. Also, he had a bunch of kids with him, story says half a dozen or so–one of whom was 18 years old. Even if DAD lost his marbles I’d expect at least one of those kids to say “wait, shouldn’t we call 911?” Not to mention he was in his own neighborhood, and according to an earlier version of the KGW link story the closest emergency responders are a quarter of a mile away from the school where it happened–I think he might have been aware that help was pretty damned close, and certainly a better alternative than taking a hurt child in a pickup truck unstabilized and untriaged. Neighbors had already called 911 about him rodding the kids around the schoolyard anyway–they showed up right after the accident, apparently, but didn’t know anything had happened. Nope, I’m betting on self serving chickenshit asshole all the way here…

12

Someone’s got some issues.

13

That was my thought, that he just panicked and all he could think of was “get her to the hospital NOW NOW NOW!!” And just grabbed her and rushed there in a panic. It was only after he got the the hospital and his brain re-engaged that he realized he’d done something incredibly stupid, and would be in deep, deep trouble. Finally remembered the cell phone in his pocket and started making calls.

Of course he was stupid and careless and deserves to be punished, but bashing him for what was probably a totally panicked reaction in just wanting to get his injured child to the ER in what he probably thought was the fastest way, isn’t warranted, IMO. Anyway, even if he had called the ambulance, someone probably would have criticized him for “sitting around waiting for the ambulance” instead of scooping the kid up himself and rushing her to hospital.

14

I guess you missed the part about the court ordered “parenting plan.” This is not someone who’s a stranger to not taking care of his kids to the point where the state feels the need to step in and tell him how to do it.

And yup, maybe “someone” would have criticized him for sitting around waiting for the ambulance, but you can bet your sweet ass it wouldn’t be me, or the local news, or anyone else up here and you would never have heard about it.

Maybe you also missed the part about noticeable ALCOHOL ON HIS BREATH mentioned by BOTH the kids and the staff at the hospital (who presumably know a drunk person when they smell one,) and the part where, in spite of having been told by the state that he isn’t allowed to DRINK and then DRIVE with his kids, he not only drinks and drives stupidly, whipping his kid around a parking lot while she’s firmly attached to the pickup truck by a rope, but he then continues to DRIVE while having been DRINKING over five miles to the hospital. Maybe where you live it’s perfectly OKAY and REASONABLE for drunk people to drive critically injured kids to the hospital after having caused their injuries during a drunken stunt, but up here we tend to put 'em in jail.

Oh yes, and after he gets to the hospital, does he call his wife to let her know what happened? Did he call the cops to say “I’m sorry, I’m an asshole who had an accident and I panicked and left the scene?” Nope, he called his LAWYER because he doesn’t want to be made to pay the consequences of his actions. He called the lawyer because he knew full well that he was drunk, and driving, and the cause of a fatal accident, and a felon for leaving the scene of said accident. If “panic” was his motivation for leaving the scene, he’d have 'fessed up to it and probably not been charged with much more than he’s already going to get up until he drove away from the school parking lot–but no, he was fucking drunk and wanted to make sure nobody could prove it.

Occam’s Razor says my hypothesis is infinitely more likely to be correct than yours.

Yeah, “panic” my rosy red ass… :rolleyes: <—SO not enough of these…

15

From the article:

So, the accident happened in Washington state, where he would have needed to provide a blood sample. He drove his daughter across the state line to a hospital in Oregon, where they can’t force a blood sample from him. This wasn’t panic. This was a drunk who knows the DUI laws in both states and who decided to save his ass by first contacting authorities in the more lenient state.

16

Not according to the linked article, which says:

Because Gecho didn’t call 9-1-1, deputies weren’t alerted of the accident until Madison had been transferred from Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital in Washington to Legacy Emanuel in Portland.

Looks like he took her to an instate hospital, unclear whether he had input in the transfer itself. Doubt the hospital would allow him to drive her to another place, after smelling alcohol.

17

If it helps any, Legacy Salmon Creek is a small hospital which is barely more than a bunch of clinics–no comprehensive trauma department. It’s likely they would have transferred her to Emanuel after stabilizing her, as it is a much larger facility. I’m just curious as to what the father told them regarding how the accident happened and how she got to the hospital in the first place that prevented them from alerting the cops to the situation right off the bat.

Had she been picked up by paramedics in the first place, they most likely would have taken her to an Oregon hospital anyway, either Emanuel or OHSU, as most of the Vancouver hospitals are also smaller facilities–Vancouver is essentially a suburb of Portland in spite of being in another state.

18

You know, I was really kind of feeling for the guy until you got to this part. His kid was dying and his first thought was to cover his own ass? Reprehensible shithead.

19

Wow was my comment misinterpreted. I was referring to the well known phenomenon recently in which missing children get TONS of press and become national issues when they’re white, particularly girls; whereas missing black children never quite become cause celebres.
I was trying to be cynical about the press and pop culture, not in any way dismissive about the tragedy of what happened in this situation – nor was I trying to imply anything about what the OP was saying, or anything of that sort.
Apparently, from the reactions to my post, I utterly failed to communicate what I was trying to communicate, and I apologize.

20

Apology accepted–sorry to jump all over your ass, but this is a nasty situation and I’m a bit upset over it…