# The Bishop is a drunkard. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 29, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457 "2014-12-29T18:59:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/61 "2015-01-04T17:20:11Z")
It’s been a week since the fatal accident, and I don’t see any info having been released on what the driver’s BAC was, or even if a test was done. Shouldn’t this be a matter of public record? Or are things done differently in Baltimore? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/62 "2015-01-06T13:27:18Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It’s been a week since the fatal accident, and I don’t see any info having been released on what the driver’s BAC was, or even if a test was done. > > Shouldn’t this be a matter of public record? Or are things done differently in Baltimore? I doubt the BAC report would be released unless charges were filed. It does seem the police are dragging their feet here. This is what I referred to when police sometimes just let things fritter away. But I doubt they’ll be able to make it go away. The Epi church is l[ooking into the matter.](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/05/bishop-bicyclist-church/21315503/) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/63 "2015-01-06T16:10:01Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > One of the reasons people would move to big cities was to escape the busybodies of small places. I’ve heard them described as “one mistake” towns, where you are defined by whatever mistake you may have made. “Well, you know Joan, the one who got knocked up?” When Joan is already a grandmother. Or Bob, the guy whose wife left him. > > Thanks to magic of google, we can enjoy the notoriety of small towns anywhere we go. “But you screw one goat…” ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/64 "2015-01-06T19:48:39Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > One of the reasons people would move to big cities was to escape the busybodies of small places. I’ve heard them described as “one mistake” towns, where you are defined by whatever mistake you may have made. “Well, you know Joan, the one who got knocked up?” When Joan is already a grandmother. Or Bob, the guy whose wife left him. > > Thanks to magic of google, we can enjoy the notoriety of small towns anywhere we go. Faintly despicable, this. She was caught driving drunk and stoned once. Now she’s murdered someone by driving her car up against him from behind while drunk. Somehow this is okay, but since she didn’t do it in Brooklyn but instead in a smaller town, we hear about it and suddenly it is the fault of the small town? Interesting. I’ve got a shocking piece of news for you here. [DUI incidents get noticed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Taconic_State_Parkway_crash) even when they don’t occur in Mayberry. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/65 "2015-01-08T05:20:40Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Well not deliberate murder, but hit-and-run drivers who left the scene of fatal accidents and were not drunk. Happens all the time. > > The consequences of killing someone in a traffic accident are not pleasant even for sober people, and many think the better idea is to scram ASAP. The problem with that line of thinking is that when someone dies, the police seem much more motivated to find the hit and run driver. Simply injure someone or cause their vehicle to be inoperable and you might well get away with it\*. Once someone dies it seems the police put more resources towards finding the culpable party. \*I’m not encouraging fleeing the scene of an accident, just noting that the police aren’t going to put out public alerts to find someone if they dent the rear bumper of my old clunker. > [@Monty](#): > > By the way, speaking of emotional response, what’s with the cycling group “demanding the police hold her accountable”? The police do not decide guilt; that’s for the courts. That may be so, but if the police write their report and in the report make statements that they believe that she is wholly or primarily culpable for the accident, it would often take a lot of evidence, effort, and attorney fees to make a court find her not culpable for this accident. Anyone mentioned yet that she’s [not the first hit and run bishop?](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/18/us/phoenix-jury-finds-bishop-guilty-in-fatal-hit-and-run.html) ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/66 "2015-01-08T19:21:30Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > …Now she’s murdered someone by driving her car up against him from behind while drunk… Was she drunk? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/67 "2015-01-08T19:42:47Z")
Not much in the way of updates, but at least the local PD is openly communicating. [http://m.christianpost.com/news/police-building-criminal-case-against-bishop-heather-cook-for-fatal-hit-and-run-church-says-her-fate-is-out-of-their-hands--132122/](http://m.christianpost.com/news/police-building-criminal-case-against-bishop-heather-cook-for-fatal-hit-and-run-church-says-her-fate-is-out-of-their-hands--132122/) ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/68 "2015-01-08T19:50:02Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It’s been a week since the fatal accident, and I don’t see any info having been released on what the driver’s BAC was, or even if a test was done. > > Shouldn’t this be a matter of public record? Or are things done differently in Baltimore? It can take a while. I followed a similar case that happened last year, and the initial information was that it would take up to 30 days for the BAC to be released. Ultimately the number appeared in the media 36 days after the accident. Articles said that the police had just received the information. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/69 "2015-01-08T20:59:04Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > It can take a while. I followed a similar case that happened last year, and the initial information was that it would take up to 30 days for the BAC to be released. Ultimately the number appeared in the media 36 days after the accident. Articles said that the police had just received the information. That’s gotta be bullshit. They fine and convict people on breathalyser tests that give results in 30 seconds. If they’re doing extra testing, it’s to cover their asses do to some external influences. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/70 "2015-01-10T01:00:13Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Was she drunk? Drunk and charged with manslaughter. [BAC of 0.22](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/09/us-usa-maryland-idUSKBN0KI1ZM20150109) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/71 "2015-01-10T02:43:03Z")
My religious friends often mention that god works in mysterious ways. Maybe the cyclist needed killin and the bishop was used for the hit. ? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/72 "2015-01-10T04:15:56Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > It can take a while. I followed a similar case that happened last year, and the initial information was that it would take up to 30 days for the BAC to be released. There’s info online from the Maryland State Police forensic lab unit that says that as of late 2013 their BAC turnaround time was around three weeks (Baltimore P.D. may use a different lab). From [a site with info on Maryland DUI enforcement](http://www.dmv.org/md-maryland/automotive-law/dui.php): _“Administrative Per Se: If you fail the roadside sobriety test or blow a 0.08% or more in the field, the chances are pretty high that you will be arrested at that point. Depending on the officer’s tendencies or discretion, you may have to fork over your driver license before you are read your rights and cuffed. Yes, you will be handcuffed. Face it, you will be under arrest and headed to jail.”_ Doesn’t seem like any of that happened in this case. You can of course refuse testing (and pay the consequences later), at least in an ordinary DUI case. One would think refusal in this particular instance would have been newsworthy. Charged with driving drunk and texting. Quite the combination. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/73 "2015-01-10T14:41:05Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > That’s gotta be bullshit. They fine and convict people on breathalyser tests that give results in 30 seconds. If they’re doing extra testing, it’s to cover their asses do to some external influences. But there’s an unbroken chain in what you describe. In this case, she left the scene so they had to investigate & determine she had consumed alcohol beforehand. Otherwise, a first year law student would be able to get her off with reasonable doubt with a story like this, “She was driving sober, hit him, panicked, went home, had two doubles, realized the enormity of what happened & immediately returned. Further, because she returned so quickly after consuming the alcohol, it wasn’t in her bloodstream yet, so the DUI charge should be dismissed also.” Yeah, I think it’s BS, but all they need to do is convince one juror of this story & she walks. I’ve read stories of stranger happening. My outrage is in the bullshitedness of the laws. Tom Palermo is no less dead than if he had been accidentally shot while she was robbing a store, yet her penalty will be far, far less. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/74 "2015-01-10T16:19:18Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Episcopal clergy can be defrocked (technically “deposed”), that is, fully removed from the priesthood, either by resignation or conviction in an ecclesiastical trial. It is not so under Episcopal canon law that “once a priest, always a priest.” I was involved in one such trial a few years ago, for an Episcopal priest who’d treated his parish’s checking account as his own personal piggy bank. He did not appear for the trial. A trial panel of three (one priest and two laypeople) recommended to the bishop that he be deposed, and the bishop accepted that recommendation. The priest could have appealed the deposition to an appellate panel under canon law, but chose not to. Can a bishop be “busted down” to priest? I mean, can she be defrocked as a bishop, but allowed to go back to being a priest? If that is the case, would she ever be able to work back up to being a bishop? (not that it would happen, but would the possibility exist, or would she be barred from becoming a bishop again?) Can she keep her orders and be a “non-stipendiary” priest, which is to say, she can’t take a job as a rector, or some other job that requires a person to be a priest, but she can still give sermons, and conduct a Eucharist, so she could fill in for a priest who was ill, or something? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/75 "2015-01-10T16:39:50Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > But there’s an unbroken chain in what you describe. In this case, she left the scene so they had to investigate & determine she had consumed alcohol beforehand. Otherwise, a first year law student would be able to get her off with reasonable doubt with a story like this, “She was driving sober, hit him, panicked, went home, had two doubles, realized the enormity of what happened & immediately returned. Further, because she returned so quickly after consuming the alcohol, it wasn’t in her bloodstream yet, so the DUI charge should be dismissed also.” Yeah, I think it’s BS, but all they need to do is convince one juror of this story & she walks. I’ve read stories of stranger happening. > My outrage is in the bullshitedness of the laws. Tom Palermo is no less dead than if he had been accidentally shot while she was robbing a store, yet her penalty will be far, far less. This could well be, but the claim was that it took 30+ days to get the results of the blood-alcohol test. Surely it might take 30+ days to do a thorough investigation, but not to just get test results. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/76 "2015-01-10T17:01:42Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > This could well be, but the claim was that it took 30+ days to get the results of the blood-alcohol test. Surely it might take 30+ days to do a thorough investigation, but not to just get test results. Are they doing a blood test? A Breathalyzer might take minutes, but a blood sample test would have to go to a lab, I would guess. In MD, I believe you have the option of which type of test you are going to submit to (if submitting to a test; automatic loss of license if you refuse). Maybe it’s 30 days to release the results to the public. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/77 "2015-01-10T18:07:17Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Bishop takes pawn? Have you not seen the odd and erratic way that bicycles move? Clearly it was bishop takes horsey-guy. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/78 "2015-01-10T18:51:41Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Can a bishop be “busted down” to priest? I mean, can she be defrocked as a bishop, but allowed to go back to being a priest? If that is the case, would she ever be able to work back up to being a bishop? (not that it would happen, but would the possibility exist, or would she be barred from becoming a bishop again?) > > Can she keep her orders and be a “non-stipendiary” priest, which is to say, she can’t take a job as a rector, or some other job that requires a person to be a priest, but she can still give sermons, and conduct a Eucharist, so she could fill in for a priest who was ill, or something? Yes, I think all of that would be possible, depending on the findings and recommendations of the ecclesiastical court if she were convicted, and the subsequent decision of the bishop diocesan (her boss). We believe in forgiveness, of course, as Jesus taught, but I think it exceedlngly unlikely she would ever become a bishop again if removed as such now. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/79 "2015-01-10T19:25:11Z")
Yeah. Ask that cyclists family how forgiving they’re feeling this week. Second serious offence, this one results in manslaughter. Off to jail she should go. Stripped of all office and treated like a normal civilian. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/80 "2015-01-10T21:49:58Z")
Here’s the NYT on the case: [The Bishop, the Cyclist and a Death on the Road - The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/us/baltimore-bishop-charged-in-hit-and-run-case.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457.md?page=5)