What Do You Do With a Drunken Driver?
July 25th, 2011 - 10:43 am
There is something deeply wrong with our justice system:
Marietta mother Raquel Nelson–who lost her 4-year-old son when a car ran into him as she was headed home from the bus stop with her three children–may face up to two and half years in prison for jaywalking.
The Huffington Post’s Radley Balko points out that Nelson may serve six times as many months in prison as the man who ran over her family and drove off.
That man, Jerry Guy, admitted he had been drinking and taking prescribed painkillers the night of the accident, and had been convicted in two earlier hit-and-runs. He served six months in jail for the crime.
Words fail.
What a sad story all around.
The mom — I’ve seen jaywalking moms with kids that made my hair stand on end — just saw one yesterday try to run across six lanes of traffic on Wilshire Boulevard with a baby buggy, no joke. I was glad when something fell out just as she got into the street and she had to halt and wait for the green light (although she stood IN the street to put the thing back, didn’t even get her ass OR the buggy back on the sidewalk).
The law — That said, it’s more like persecution than prosecution to ticket someone after their kid dies.
The city — Bad transportation design.
Me being preachy — Might have turned out different if there was a Dad in the family.
Oh, and I meant to say: six months for the drunk driver? WTF?