# Girls bikini top gets untied and wrecks car. Acquitted?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 25, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759 "2013-11-25T16:12:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/1 "2013-11-25T16:12:59Z")
This seems nuts. She gets acquitted after wrecking a car, killing some, and seriously injuring people because her precious tits were exposed. :rolleyes:
You’re hurtling down the interstate at 60 mph. Your entire focus has to be on that steering wheel and the road. I’ve had my kids suddenly hug me. Dogs jumping on me. Sodas spilled in my lap. All kinds of distractions after 35 years of driving. You ignore that stuff until you can slow down and pull off the road.
She’s one lucky bad driver. I would have voted to send her to prison if I was on that jury. All she had to do was pull off the road and slap the living shit out of playful Brandon. :dubious: Instead she puts all those lives at risk.
> **[NYC driver whose bikini top was untied cleared in fatal Thruway crash](https://www.nydailynews.com/2013/11/25/nyc-driver-whose-bikini-top-was-untied-cleared-in-fatal-thruway-crash/)**
>
> It’s the breast defense — a young woman can’t be held responsible in a fatal crash because she faced a roadway emergency after a back-seat passenger unfastened her bikini top, exp…
> [@](#):
>
> Lahm’s car was full of teenagers heading home from a day at the beach when Brandon Berman, 19, playfully untied her bathing suit top.
>
> She took her hands off the wheel to cover up, causing the car to veer off course, hit a guardrail and flip. Berman died, and several others were injured in the Rockland County accident.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/2 "2013-11-25T16:24:20Z")
It’s a civil trial for damages due to alleged negligence.
The issue is whether the driver was negligent - fell below an acceptable standard of care - in taking her hands off the wheel, in response to a sudden event not of their making.
That depends very much on the facts. It is conceivable that a sudden event could distract a reasonable person, such that it would be unjust to hold her liable. Obviously, it would be ideal if the driver is never distracted by such stuff, but the issue is whether, if she or he is, they ought to be liable in the same way as they would be if they (say) distracted themselves by texting while driving.
It really doesn’t matter what this sudden even is - suddenly untying her top, putting an ice cube down her back, a dog jumping on her, etc.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/3 "2013-11-25T16:30:52Z")
I’m glad they included a really big super-hot picture of her wearing a bikini. I mean how else could the readers visualize the tits that killed someone?
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### Author:  [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/4 "2013-11-25T16:33:09Z")
I gotta say, why the hell would you do that to someone driving a car? What exactly did he expect to happen?
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/5 "2013-11-25T16:33:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The dissenting appellate judge, Justice Sheri Roman, opined that because Berman’s behavior was disruptive before the bikini top prank — he had opened an umbrella inside the car and stuck his feet in the driver’s face — the situation was a foreseeable hazard, akin to sun glare or an icy road.
This is just poetic justice. Even a Darwin Award candidate. Brandon is lucky he only got himself killed and not anyone else in the car. Now, he’ll probably only go to the doofus section of the afterlife, instead of whatever circle of Hell is reserved for criminally negligent homicide.
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### Author:  [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/6 "2013-11-25T16:39:26Z")
The standard is a “reasonable” person, not perfect. Becoming distracted when some shit-for-brains takes off your clothes is a reasonable mistake for someone to make.
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/7 "2013-11-25T16:43:13Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#):
>
> I gotta say, why the hell would you do that to someone driving a car? What exactly did he expect to happen?
Teenagers tend to “think” they’re immortal, and that nothing really bad can happen to them. Considering the consequences is an aspect of maturity.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/8 "2013-11-25T16:47:39Z")
I wondered why the other people in the car didn’t tell Brandon to STFU and sit down after the umbrella and feet incidents.
That alone would have me slowing way down and getting to pull over ready to chew his stupid ass out. That kind of crap deserves a ejection to the side of the road and a walk home.
The driver knew she had a disruptive passenger. I can’t see why she let herself get that startled after he untied her top. Yes its very annoying. Brandon needed a ass kicking that day. But so shocking that she takes her hands off the wheel? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@jonesj2205](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonesj2205)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/9 "2013-11-25T16:59:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> I wondered why the other people in the car didn’t tell Brandon to STFU and sit down after the umbrella and feet incidents.
>
> That alone would have me slowing way down and getting to pull over ready to chew his stupid ass out. That kind of crap deserves a ejection to the side of the road and a walk home.
>
> The driver knew she had a disruptive passenger. I can’t see why she let herself get that startled after he untied her top. Yes its very annoying. Brandon needed a ass kicking that day. But so shocking that she takes her hands off the wheel? :dubious:
Agreed as far as it should have been shut down sooner, although that’s hard to do with your friends when you’re a teenager.
But seriously you can’t understand how a teenage girl could react that way for a second and then put her hands back on the wheel?
Cause that seems like a pretty normal reaction to me.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/10 "2013-11-25T17:03:00Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#):
>
> I gotta say, why the hell would you do that to someone driving a car? What exactly did he expect to happen?
…maybe I’ve been watching re-runs on A&E but if backseat pervert lived, was he charged with a sex crime? This has to be some sort of sexual assault in NYS.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/11 "2013-11-25T17:04:24Z")
I realize the girl was embarrassed. I guess at that age she couldn’t ignore it until she slowed down and pulled over.
My worst driving distraction was the soda my young daughter spilled in my lap. Right on my nuts. Geez that was cold. I was in my late twenties then. At least 12 years driving experience. Had I been 16 or 17? Maybe I would have wrecked.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/12 "2013-11-25T17:13:20Z")
This behavior does sound like a scene from _Fast Time At Ridgemont High_, _Revenge of the Nerds_ or _Porkys_. Bunch of crazy teens acting stupid.
_A Nerd saw me naked!_
It’s a shame it ended so tragically.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/13 "2013-11-25T17:23:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> I wondered why the other people in the car didn’t tell Brandon to STFU and sit down after the umbrella and feet incidents.
There’s a reason that in some states newly-licensed teens can’t drive other teenagers around without an adult in the car. The kids together encourage bad behavior.
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/14 "2013-11-25T17:37:51Z")
Well, kudos to Brandon for taking himself out of the genetic pool. Brittany dodged a bullet but she’s got to live with the fact that she failed to stay in control of the car. Everyone else in the car has learned a valuable lesson as well. Sounds to me like the car is the real victim here.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/15 "2013-11-25T17:39:47Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#):
>
> I’m glad they included a really big super-hot picture of her wearing a bikini. I mean how else could the readers visualize the tits that killed someone?
Like.
Maybe I’m stereotyping, but the picture of Brandon makes him look _exactly_ like the kind of doofus who’d do the things that he did.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/16 "2013-11-25T17:40:25Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#):
>
> I gotta say, why the hell would you do that to someone driving a car? What exactly did he expect to happen?
Pretty much. I can’t exactly hold the girl at fault for anything here. Not the best reaction, but an understandable one, and my instinct, upon hearing a summary of this story, is to assign most of the culpability to Brandon. Unfortunately, he had to pay the ultimate price for his shenanigans.
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### Author:  [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/17 "2013-11-25T17:43:02Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> I realize the girl was embarrassed. I guess at that age she couldn’t ignore it until she slowed down and pulled over.
It sounded to me like her reaction was _instinctive_. And fairly brief. I mean, I assume that, at the time of the accident, she was still topless. I guess, I’m assuming that she didn’t consider the situation and conclude that the shame of being topless was too great and took her hands off to put her top back on.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/18 "2013-11-25T17:43:57Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> Well, kudos to Brandon for taking himself out of the genetic pool. Brittany dodged a bullet but she’s got to live with the fact that she failed to stay in control of the car. Everyone else in the car has learned a valuable lesson as well. Sounds to me like the car is the real victim here.
My guess is that he had to unbuckle his seat belt (if he had it buckled at all) to lean forward and reach her bikini. That may be why he was the only one killed.
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/19 "2013-11-25T17:44:07Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> Like.
> Maybe I’m stereotyping, but the picture of Brandon makes him look _exactly_ like the kind of doofus who’d do the things that he did.
What’s really interesting about the pictures is that both of the girl’s pictures have her drinking.
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### Author:  [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/20 "2013-11-25T17:51:40Z")
I think a better title for this thread might be: “Douchebag acts like a moron and gets self killed. Welp!”
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