I was a little shocked to see Vince Neil (formerly of Motley Crue) who was charged with vehicular manslaughter due to DUI (.17 BAC), and served a mere 20 days for it, drinking booze on that reality show “Surreal Life” last night.
Am I out of line for thinking if you kill someone because you were drunk, that your booze-drinking days should be a thing of the past if for no other reason than out of respect for the person you killed?
If I were his victim’s family watching him get drunk on national TV, I would be pretty damn pissed off.
was he really getting drunk? or was he just drinking wine?
I don’t really agree that he should never drink again… I think he should be more responsable… He should probably still be in jail by the way…
But since he is not… If he is drinking responsibly, and not driving… I have no problem with that…
especially after hearing that story about his 4 year old daughter who died of cancer… I would drink a lot too if that happened to me.
Disclaimer: I know nothing of mr Neil’s DUI charges, and I sincerely regret that someone got killed because of an accident in which mr Neil was driving intoxicated.
Disclaimer II: I am assuming that mr Neil was tried and sentenced according to the local jurisdiction, apallingly low as his 20 day sentence might seem.
Having gotten that out of the way: I think that a person who caused an accident whilst drunk should certainly never drink again when he or she still has to operate a motor vehicle.
But what good would it do is mr Neil quit drinking altogether? I don’t know, maybe I’m insensitive, but what’s wrong with him sitting in his back yard knocking back a few beers?
I dunno, Merge and Coldfire - I guess I feel if I ever killed anyone due to my own intoxication, I would be too freaked out and remorseful to ever touch booze again.
I suppose I’m just looking at it from my opinion; If I cause the death of someone, by drinking, I would never touch the stuff again. Also, I would try to set an example on national television, in case the victims families were watching.
I suppose I don’t understand how he can sit back and knock back a few beers-I mean, wouldn’t you think about the person you killed if it were you?
I will say though, I’m not in his situation, so I’m just judging from an outsiders perspective.
Well, I’m also an outsider, never having killed anyone because I was driving drunk. Or in any other fashion, for the record.
But rationally, I’d say I wouldn’t stop drinking per se when I killed someone whilst DUI. mr Neil may very well have a drinking problem that needs to be addressed: I don’t know. But it’s entirely possible for a non-alcoholic to get utterly shitfaced one night, and to drive home because one thinks one can. The results of such behaviour can be horrific, as can be seen. But in essence, it’s not alcohol that kills the innocent bystander here: it’s the poor judgment of the drinker/driver. Assuming mr Neil is not an alcoholic, there is no reason for him to stop drinking altogether. There’s only reason for him to never touch a drop of the stuff if he has to drive later on.
Assuming he is not an alcoholic, there is nothing wrong with him knocking back a few at home- when his victims or their families cannot see him doing so. If I had been paralyzed or lost someone through his drunken carelessness, I would want to see him with a drink while I was channel-surfing.
Yes, this is the thing that bothers me the most - if he must drink, at least do it in private. Since he’s a public figure, surely he must realize that his drinking on national tv just might upset all his victims and their families.
In 1984 Neil was holding an all-night bender with some friends at his house. Early in the morning he jumped in his Ferrari to get more booze, taking with him the drummer for the band Hanoi Rocks, who went by the stage name Razzle. Less than a mile down the road, Neil hit a pickup truck head-on, killing Razzle and hospitalizing the two older people in the other vehicle.
**
He is damn lucky this happened in the 1980s. Because of incidents just like this and the influence of MADD, drunk driving laws are MUCH tougher almost everywhere in the U.S. now. He would probably get 5-10 years in prison, minimum, if he did the same thing now.
I agree with what some others have said. Neil’s real problem was drinking and driving, not just drinking. Both he and the rest of Motley Crue went through a well-publicized “drying out” period in the late 80s, long after this incident. (Some people just don’t learn easy.) He has apparently been under control ever since.
Hold on a minute… seriously… I don’t know the answer to this… I did not watch the whole show, but I did see part of it, and he was just drinking some wine with dinner.
Was he getting drunk later in the show?
I don’t think the victims family would care if he is drinking now or not… If they saw him getting in a car after drinking a bottle of wine, then yes they woudl be upset…
but like Coldfire said, it was not the drinks that hit someone… it was the poor judgment of Vince.
