I never said it did. I’m posting updates as the story develops.
I’ve said twice now the prosecutor will decide what charges and penalties will be sought. I’m not advocating any specific charge. Just the maximum that the prosecutor can reasonably ask for and get.
My exact words. It may apply. I only suggested that because it is the highest possible penalty.
People here say it won’t and can’t be applied for manslaughter. Fine. I don’t have any argument. I haven’t presented any arguments that it will be applied. I don’t even care. I just want this drunk nailed with the strongest penalty possible under our laws. Whatever that may be in this specific case.
I’m going to agree, 100%, that the treatment of mentally ill in re criminal actions is horrific in this country. I fail to see how this case is relevant to the thread.
Duckfoot Pennsylvania September 1786. Farmer Franklin Otis celebrated selling 10 bushels of grain to some local distillers by sampling their product, clambering onto his trap and exciting his horse to gallop through the marketplace at 5.05 pm. Two were killed and 5 injured: he was tried two days later by circuit judge Sampson and turned off at sundown the next day.
Of course I just made that up: but it’s that sort of thread.
That makes much more sense. I was struggling to convince myself how a DUI driver wouldn’t even recognize a parade. It sounds much more like a vengeful person looking to just take out as many people as she wanted.
ETA: On purpose, and if so perhaps the death penalty may be invoked after all.
That would be a disturbing development. I hope this wasn’t a deliberate act. The cops will release more information from the investigation in the next day or two.
To move this discussion in a different direction I think we are beginning to see the more and more of cities moving parades off of city streets and into more controllable areas like large parking lots. Its so much less hassle for business owners, requires less security, and things can be kept under better control.
Kansas City did it this year with the American Royal parade. It was moved to Kaufman stadium. Yes, there were fewer people attending but it seemed to be in much better control.
In the article Muffin linked to, a witness describes hearing tires squeal prior to the collision, and in the secondary article linked to in the first article someone says the road curves and then turns into the main thoroughfare. So it sounds like she may have come upon the scene unexpectedly at high speed then tried to brake but it was too late.
She was fired a half hour before the collision and a co-worker said she was sober when she left, so I suppose she might have had enough time to guzzle down enough booze from being distraught over having been fired to become plastered enough to plough into the crowd like that, but she doesn’t look anywhere near that drunk in either the photo of the cops leading her away or the booking photo.
And speaking of photos, the profile pic from her Facebook page in the story I linked to is pretty sad. She looks like someone trying to smile though tears…or at least some kind of profound sadness. I have a feeling this is one deeply troubled young woman, and unfortunately for everyone involved, her troubles, as bad as they may have been, are really just starting.
Just found her Facebook page and she looks miserable in nearly every photo. As horrible as what she did is, I can’t help but feel sorry for her (assuming that what she did was an accident and not on purpose, that is).
Hall of Fame runs E-W and Main St. in Stillwater runs N-S. The stadium is a couple of blocks west of the intersection.
The article linked said Main has a gradual curve (it’s north of Hall of Fame.) It is a very gradual ‘S’ curve, with clear open sight lines. This curve did not contribute to this tragedy.
My SO got her Masters at OSU and we go there quite often to visit a good friend. It’s about 100 miles from where we live.
For the family’s sake I hope this wasn’t deliberate. Losing a loved one to an accident is bad enough. Outright murder is something even worse.
I didn’t say this driver should get the death penalty. I said it might be an option on the table. Just like it is in Capital Murder cases. It’s never used lightly. The prosecutor has to make the decision based on the facts of the case, prior history, and so on. Then a jury has to hear the case and decide if they accept that charge or a lesser count without the DP.
Anyway, everybody has made it abundantly and loudly clear that the death penalty is not even an option in this case. I’m quite surprised. MADD has battled for thirty years to toughen the DUI laws.
What’s done is done. The most that we can hope for is a long prison sentence for the DUI.