# Girls bikini top gets untied and wrecks car. Acquitted? **URL:** \ **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:** 3
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/41 "2013-11-25T19:27:35Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > It’s the Daily News. Total yellow journalism rag. Those were probably the _most_ titillating photos they could find of the driver. Agreed. I have no doubt that they were the hottest pictures they could find. Since women are often a bit more showy after a few drinks it’s no surprise that they included alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/42 "2013-11-25T19:35:18Z")
If I were on the jury, I probably would have voted to hold her liable. On the appeals court after the jury has already voted in her favor, I’m probably going to defer to the jury’s verdict. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/43 "2013-11-25T19:40:49Z")
> [@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? A sad story for all concerned but yes, she does have this to live for. “These tits? They’re killers” ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/44 "2013-11-25T19:48:55Z")
> [@Silver\_Fire](#): > > According to another passenger, that’s exactly what she did. He claims her hands were off the wheel for as long as 20 seconds while she tried to re-tie it. It’s in the linked article. So depends who you believe, I guess. > > I will say I’ve taken my hands off the wheel “for a split second”, as this driver claims she did, to open a soda or whatever and nothing happened. So my assumption is that the truth is closer to what her passenger stated and she overcorrected her fuck up. Based on nothing, of course. > > That guy was a total douche though, regardless. Well, I missed that tidbit (to be fair, I just skimmed the article becuase oversized pictures of women in bikinis make me nervous at work). I just saw that she said she just took her hands off for a second. Which made sense to me, since it seems like a logical instinctive reaction and the kind of thing that can cause a crash. (The difference between that and your soda is that you’re planning for it with the soda, I can certainly imagine yanking my hands back and jostling the wheel). Sounds like a jury question then. Seems unfair to require her to drive around exposed, but that’s probably the right answer. I mean, if the plaintiff was right. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/45 "2013-11-25T20:26:40Z")
> [@Silver\_Fire](#): > > According to another passenger, that’s exactly what she did. He claims her hands were off the wheel for as long as 20 seconds while she tried to re-tie it. It’s in the linked article. So depends who you believe, I guess. Interesting. I’d have to hear more, as I have a difficult time that number. 20 seconds is a long-ass time in this context. I’m sure the truth falls somewhere in between “a split second” and “twenty seconds,” but it’s hard to say. My feeling is to give the benefit of the doubt to the defendant in this case. Based on nothing but pulling it out of my ass, I’m guessing what likely happened is she was surprised, did indeed try to cover up/tie up her bikini top without really processing the danger involved (so, keeping her hands off the wheel for more than a “split second,” but probably more like only 3-4 seconds, which is still NotAGoodIdea) and then the vehicle veered out of control. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/46 "2013-11-25T20:29:15Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > According to the article, this was basically the argument of the dissenting judge - namely, that the guy sitting in back had been behaving like an asshole the whole time, so she ought not to have been surprised. If this logic holds true, there were two other people in the car. Aren’t they then MORE responsible for failing to control and anticipate this assholes actions then the driver? They presumably had both hands free and were not distracted by driving. Shouldn’t they then be responsible for controling him if we expect her to be? What percentage of responsiblility does Suey McSuerson have in his own injuries? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/47 "2013-11-25T20:36:21Z")
I have occasionally - twice that I recall-reached over and held the wheel when the driver took her hands away for more than two seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/48 "2013-11-25T20:37:09Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > If this logic holds true, there were two other people in the car. Aren’t they then MORE responsible for failing to control and anticipate this assholes actions then the driver? They presumably had both hands free and were not distracted by driving. Shouldn’t they then be responsible for controling him if we expect her to be? What percentage of responsiblility does Suey McSuerson have in his own injuries? There is an interesting issue if Suey McSuerson has some contributory negligence here for not making Mr. Ass pipe down, assuming the dissent won the day. The dissent position on appeal wasn’t so much that the driver ought to have controlled Mr. Ass, but rather, she ought not to have been shocked when he pulled his stunt. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/49 "2013-11-25T20:41:03Z")
One of the pics is from [Facebook.](https://www.facebook.com/brittany.lahm/photos) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/50 "2013-11-25T21:17:19Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > It’s the Daily News. Total yellow journalism rag. Those were probably the _most_ titillating photos they could find of the driver. If they had found photos any more, uh, _titillating_ they’d need to be _pixelated._ ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/51 "2013-11-25T21:30:43Z")
The _real_ culprit here is our Puritanical schizophrenically simultaneously hyper-sexual hyper-repressed American society, which makes such insanely high-drama existential apocalyptic crisis of a little bit of nudity. An occasional glimpse of bare naked boobies, or even if she spent the whole day topless driving to the beach, at the beach, and driving back, – just shouldn’t be that big a panic-inducing life-and-death instant crisis, as we have made it to be in our society. Seriously. The only real explanation why we are so over-the-top phobically terrorized by a little bare skin – whether it be boobs, ass, or genitalia (male or female) is because society has gone overboard in making it so. I’ve often read that nudity is MUCH LESS of a big deal in much of European society. If this exact same scenario had happened anywhere in European society, do you think the same result would have happened? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/52 "2013-11-25T21:35:00Z")
So you’re saying if I were to unexpectedly untie the bikini top of a European woman in public, her instinct wouldn’t be to cover herself? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/53 "2013-11-25T21:37:49Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > The _real_ culprit here is our Puritanical schizophrenically simultaneously hyper-sexual hyper-repressed American society, which makes such insanely high-drama existential apocalyptic crisis of a little bit of nudity. > > An occasional glimpse of bare naked boobies, or even if she spent the whole day topless driving to the beach, at the beach, and driving back, – just shouldn’t be that big a panic-inducing life-and-death instant crisis, as we have made it to be in our society. > > Seriously. The only real explanation why we are so over-the-top phobically terrorized by a little bare skin – whether it be boobs, ass, or genitalia (male or female) is because society has gone overboard in making it so. > > I’ve often read that nudity is MUCH LESS of a big deal in much of European society. If this exact same scenario had happened anywhere in European society, do you think the same result would have happened? She claimed that she was startled into dropping the wheel, not sexually shamed into dropping the wheel. If it was found to have been a considered attempt to cover-up nudity, like the plaintiff’s lawyer claimed, she would probably have been found liable. My read is that Mr. Ass untying her bikini is not really different than Mr. Ass dropping an ice cube down her back. Assuming you believe her of course. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/54 "2013-11-25T21:38:35Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > 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. I agree. There’s no way of telling how a particular individual is going to react to a situation they themselves have not created. Everyone reacts to things differently. It only takes a split second for an accident to occur at those speeds. If an idiot passenger was to put a spider on my shoulder while I was driving, I may well drive over a cliff before I could compose myself. That said, I just went back to look over the article: > [@](#): > > Pelletier’s injuries cut short a promising football career at Yale University, and he sued Lahm for damages. He testified at the 2011 trial that \*\*Lahm had leaned forward for up to 20 seconds \*\*as she tried to retie her bikini top. She was going about 65 mph. > > Snip\>\>\>\> > > — _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 20 seconds??? Seriously?? Was that just this guy’s perception or is this accurate?? Plus, he had already opened an umberlla and put his feet in her face?? I would have pulled over and told him to call a cab as I drove away without him. I mean, I’m sorry he’s dead but DAMN what an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/55 "2013-11-25T21:39:29Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > So you’re saying if I were to unexpectedly untie the bikini top of a European woman in public, her instinct wouldn’t be to cover herself? Clearly, you need to conduct an experiment. Fly to Europe and go from beach town to beach town, untying bikinis as you go. Let us know the results of the experiment. I’ll throw money into the pot to bail you out. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/56 "2013-11-25T21:44:07Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I agree. > > There’s no way of telling how a particular individual is going to react to a situation they themselves have not created. Everyone reacts to things differently. It only takes a split second for an accident to occur at those speeds. > > If an idiot passenger was to put a spider on my shoulder while I was driving, I may well drive over a cliff before I could compose myself. > > That said, I just went back to look over the article: > > 20 seconds??? Seriously?? Was that just this guy’s perception or is this accurate?? > > Plus, he had already opened an umberlla and put his feet in her face?? I would have pulled over and told him to call a cab as I drove away without him. I mean, I’m sorry he’s dead but DAMN what an idiot. Again, the **plaintiff** testified it was 20 seconds. The guy suing her. For lots of money. He’s got just as much incentive to lie as she does. There’s nothing in the article about testimony from the other person in the car, so who knows what the truth is? Personally, I don’t buy 20 seconds either. There’s no car that will track straight for 20 seconds at 65 mph, and very few highways in the NY area that are actually ruler straight for a third of a mile either. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/57 "2013-11-25T21:44:57Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I agree. > > There’s no way of telling how a particular individual is going to react to a situation they themselves have not created. Everyone reacts to things differently. It only takes a split second for an accident to occur at those speeds. > > If an idiot passenger was to put a spider on my shoulder while I was driving, I may well drive over a cliff before I could compose myself. > > That said, I just went back to look over the article: > > 20 seconds??? Seriously?? Was that just this guy’s perception or is this accurate?? > > Plus, he had already opened an umberlla and put his feet in her face?? I would have pulled over and told him to call a cab as I drove away without him. I mean, I’m sorry he’s dead but DAMN what an idiot. She claimed she was startled into dropping the wheel for a very short time, swerved, and crashed. He claimed that she dropped the wheel for 20 seonds while she tried to cover herself up. While the article doesn’t specify, seems that the jury believed her, as they found her not liable. ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/58 "2013-11-25T21:45:04Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > 20 seconds??? Seriously?? Was that just this guy’s perception or is this accurate?? Is that what he said? Yes. Is he saying what he actually perceived? We don’t know. Did what he perceive actually happen? We don’t know. My guess is that neither her “split second” nor his “20 seconds” would be chronologically accurate. The question is whether she was attempting to dress herself while driving (his story) or reacted to an unexpected stimulus in a common way (her story). ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/59 "2013-11-25T21:50:23Z")
In an age when perfectly mature adults text, talk, eat, drink, shop amazon, and connect on facebook all behind the wheel, a teenage girl could be forgiven for becoming startled when someone took off her clothes. I mean she did not intentionally do anything stupid; she was startled and embarrassed and reacted with poor judgement in the heat of the moment. 😛 (The prurient side of me wants to know what he’d have done had she kept her hands on the wheel; was she supposed to take that too and not react?) As for that asshole who took off her top, he deserved what he got. Sad, but that’s how karma works. Driving Tip #199 for teenagers: PLEASE do not take off the driver’s clothes without her consent. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/60 "2013-11-25T21:52:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Clearly, you need to conduct an experiment. Fly to Europe and go from beach town to beach town, untying bikinis as you go. Let us know the results of the experiment. I’ll throw money into the pot to bail you out. I’m in! Pictures, or it didn’t happen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759.md?page=4)