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.
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.
Just to nit pick, I believe that she was 24. 
I agree that twenty seconds is an exaggeration. I doubt that most people are able to estimate a time period like that accurately.
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.
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.
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?
I could see charging him with reckless endangerment.
+1 prosecute the idiot if he had lived.
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!
She’s 24 now. She was 19 when the accident occurred in 2008.
Tits: not even once.
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.
Still sounds like an unfortunate chain of events. Guy still sounds like a dick.
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.
It’s kinda creepy that she is a subscriber to his Rest in Peace page.
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.
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?
Creepy? They were friends…
Handsomeharry, she was 19 at the time of the accident…
Here is the court’s decision;