On February 18 2006, a group of thirteen teenagers walking to a party in the country town of Cardross were struck by a car. Five of them were killed, another died of her injuries later in hospital and a further two were seriously injured. The driver of the car, Thomas Towle, ran off from the scene of the accident, leaving behind his own two injured children. The nine year old girl told police her father had allowed the four year old boy to sit on his lap and steer the car while he drove “really fast” - police estimate he was doing speeds of up to 150km/hour (93 miles/hour). Thomas Towle was a user of heroin and amphetamines, and had been drinking bourbon and coke on the day of the accident. His record includes eight previous incidences of driving while disqualified and two of drink driving, as well as convictions for burglary, destroying property, theft and driving an unregistered car.
This week he was found not guilty on six charges of culpable driving, but guilty of six lesser charges of dangerous driving causing death and four counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury. He had been facing up to 20 years imprisonment on each of the culpable driving charges but the lesser charges carry maximum 5 year sentences.
Now his father Graham has added to the grief and anguish of the families of the dead and injured teens. First he called for his son to be released from prison within days
and now he has followed that up with interviews blaming the victims. Article here. He claims the teens were disrespectful to the law because they come from single parent families, and that the fault lies with the victims, their families, the vehicle’s suspension, the road conditions and God’s vengeance - apparently for underage drinking, even though at least two of the teens reportedly had no alcohol in their systems according to toxicology reports.
Is it any wonder that Thomas Towle has grown up to be such an utterly worthless human being with a father like his? The man killed six kids that were doing nothing worse than walking to a party, devastated a community and fractured dozens of lives and yet his father defends his actions and blames everyone else for the tragedy. He accuses the teens of being of bad character for alleged underage drinking and coming from single parent families (WTF?) while his own son has served three jail sentences and has a record a mile long for offences far worse than anything those kids could have done.
If no other good comes from this, I hope at least Thomas Towle’s children are raised away from the influences of their father and grandfather, and are given the chance to become decent people. I hope Thomas Towle receives the maximum possible sentence, and serves every minute of it. If the God that Graham Towle believes in really does exist, I hope He doles out an appropriate punishment to both father and son when their time comes.