# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/61 "2013-11-25T21:52:41Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > There’s no car that will track straight for 20 seconds at 65 mph, I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but when I was a kid, we had a car that would track straight for miles without putting your hands on the wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/62 "2013-11-25T21:58:02Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > 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: React? An emergency stop, followed by kicking the asshole to the curb and driving off, with an option on citing him for indecent assault - that would be a reasonable reaction. If someone’s testified under oath that she took her hands off the wheel for _20 seconds_ rather than stop and make herself decent, then that’s just stoopid. ---
**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, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/63 "2013-11-25T21:59:48Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > 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. Just to nit pick, I believe that she was 24. 🙂 ---
**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, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/64 "2013-11-25T21:59:59Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > 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. I agree that twenty seconds is an exaggeration. I doubt that most people are able to estimate a time period like that accurately. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/65 "2013-11-25T22:02:58Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > From the thread title, I assumed that the bikini top had somehow got tangled up in the gearshift or something, and I’m kind of disappointed that it was something else. I was assuming that she’d untied it herself and someone else was so distracted they wrecked _their_ car. Mainly because I’ve heard exactly that scenario given as an excuse for why public nudity should be illegal. And no, I don’t think it’s a good line of reasoning. It leads straight to putting women in burkas so they don’t “distract” some guy. ---
**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, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/66 "2013-11-25T22:17:46Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > React? An emergency stop, followed by kicking the asshole to the curb and driving off, with an option on citing him for indecent assault - that would be a reasonable reaction. If someone’s testified under oath that she took her hands off the wheel for _20 seconds_ rather than stop and make herself decent, then that’s just stoopid. At 60 mph, some cars I have driven wobble gently from side to side, requiring constant effort to keep in the lane. Some cars are better than others. Certainly no car would track straight for 20 seconds at that speed. I dont believe the testimony - it sounds implausible, there is money involved here and no hard evidence one way or the other. What probably happened is she fought to regain control, with her actions making the situation worse, especially if she slammed the brakes, too. I think the jury came to the right conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/67 "2013-11-25T22:29:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > This seems nuts. She gets acquitted after wrecking a car, killing some, and seriously injuring people because her precious tits were exposed. I agree with the decision, for reasons everyone else already ably laid out. But I gotta ask: if the foot-waving umbrella enthusiast looking to make trouble had lived and another passenger had died, how would you vote if sitting in judgment on him? ---
**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, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/68 "2013-11-25T22:43:43Z")
I could see charging _him_ with reckless endangerment. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/69 "2013-11-25T22:50:33Z")
+1 prosecute the idiot if he had lived. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/70 "2013-11-25T22:55:12Z")
Frankly, it’s a difficult call. Did she mess up by attending to her modesty rather than the road? Yes. I doubt she’d deny it. But is she liable? I really don’t know. It’s understandable for her to be shocked and react inappropriately. I feel for the collateral victim, too. The accident probably cost him a scholarship, in addition to the suffering, lost time, and any lingering health issues. Lesson: don’t drive with doofuses! ---
**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, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/71 "2013-11-25T23:40:20Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Just to nit pick, I believe that she was 24. 🙂 She’s 24 now. She was 19 when the accident occurred in 2008. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/72 "2013-11-26T00:03:40Z")
> [@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? Tits: not even once. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/73 "2013-11-26T02:42:58Z")
It was the guy’s birthday. I’d bet he’d been celebrating with beverages pretty hard at the beach. That helps explain his out of control behavior in the car. But it doesn’t excuse birthday boy from being stupid. This article gives the most details on what happened. If true, then it doesn’t sound like a _sudden unforeseen emergency_. It sure sounds like the driver had ample warning. Birthday boy did a bunch of stupid stuff in the back seat. Then goes after the driver. First the neck string gets undone, she yells at the guy, then while trying to get that fixed, the back string gets untied. I’ll be curious to see how the next level of appeals rules. > **[Driver with bikini issue cleared in fatal N.Y. crash](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/25/bikini-driver-fatal-crash/3705113/)** > > Judges say driver, who let go of wheel to grab top, faced 'unexpected circumstance.' > [@](#): > > The July 2008 crash occurred near on the New York State Thruway in Ramapo, N.Y., when Brittany Lahm, then 19, was driving north with four of her teenage friends in tow, returning from a trip to Point Pleasant, N.J., where the teens went to celebrate Brandon Berman’s 19th birthday. > [@](#): > > Berman had opened an umbrella inside the vehicle, spit chewing tobacco out of a window, and hung his body halfway out of the window just prior to incident, Roman said. > > He then untied Lahm’s bikini string around her neck, leading Lahm to yell at him. Berman untied a second bikini string around Lahm’s back after she leaned over to let the front-seat passenger re-tie the neck string. > > Her breasts now exposed, Lahm let go of the wheel for a “split second,” she said, to grab her top. That’s when she lost control of the car. ---
**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 26, 2013, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/74 "2013-11-26T03:02:37Z")
Still sounds like an unfortunate chain of events. Guy still sounds like a dick. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/75 "2013-11-26T03:18:56Z")
That guy was trying very hard for a Darwin Award. I just can’t figure out why that lady driver didn’t slow way, way down after he untied the first string. My first instinct would be to take my foot off the gas. But, I got a lot more driving experience than her. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/76 "2013-11-26T03:40:43Z")
It’s kinda creepy that she is a subscriber to his Rest in Peace page. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/77 "2013-11-26T03:40:55Z")
If he was leaning with half his body out the car window just prior to the crash, I highly doubt he had his seat belt on properly, if at all. I’m only a little bit older than this girl and when I was that age, there were a couple instances where I was driving friends and refused to move the car out of park because they were screwing around and not buckled in. In her position, I probably would have lost my cool after the umbrella thing and pulled over, thrown the umbrella out the window, and told him to either cut the crap or get out. But I don’t blame her for instinctively making a grab and taking her hands off the wheel when she felt herself exposed. He should have known better. Guess he paid the ultimate price for that. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/78 "2013-11-26T08:19:25Z")
Taking both hands off the wheel to cover your tits? I know many women, with much larger tits, who can cover both with one arm. This woman is a moron, and should have been convicted. Also, glad to hear that Brandon was the dead person, and not somebody else. I’m also getting the vibe that a lot of people here think she’s a kid, or something, just new to getting her license. Sheesh, she’s 24-what’s that? 8 years driving? ---
**Author:** ![Alba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alba)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/79 "2013-11-26T08:52:44Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > It’s kinda creepy that she is a subscriber to his Rest in Peace page. Creepy? They were friends… **Handsomeharry** , she was 19 at the time of the accident… ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759/80 "2013-11-26T15:02:52Z")
Here is the court’s decision; > **[D38786.pdf](https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad2/calendar/webcal/decisions/2013/D38786.pdf)** > > 9.34 KB [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-bikini-top-gets-untied-and-wrecks-car-acquitted/674759.md?page=5)