I have to rant here for a minute, because I find this extremely disturbing.
On Wednesday evening, a man driving his car hit another man trying to cross the street. “The impact severed the pedestrian’s lower right leg, which remained in the street. His head and arms went through the windshield, while the rest of his body flipped up onto the roof of the car.” (1)
The driver then continued on his merry way, approaching the Sunshine Skyway Bridge toll plaza several miles down the road. It was the toll taker who called 911 upon realizing just what in the hell he was seeing - a bloody mess of a body falling into the car as it came to a stop. Is this the disturbing part? Well…okay, it *is* disturbing, but this is not the part I’m upset about. Let’s move on to the next article…
“When asked what happened later, he told police the man dropped from the sky.
‘Obviously, he was confused,’ Jockers said, ‘incredibly confused.’
Police investigators say *it is unlikely that Parker will face criminal charges*.” (2)
Excuse me? What the hell do you mean “it is unlikely [he] will face criminal charges”?! So…as long as I’m 93 years old and I don’t *mean* to do it, that makes it okay to not only kill someone with my car but to then continue driving for more than 3 miles before somebody else calls the cops on my ass? Vehicular Homicide in the state of Florida is a second-degree felony last I checked (which was 5 minutes ago - I looked it up), punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Vehicular Homicide/Leaving the Scene is a first-degree felony (that’s worse, if you don’t know “degrees”) and is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Technically, he took most of the scene of the crime with him to the toll plaza, so we won’t count the “leaving the scene” against him. Even if we knock it down to manslaughter - the unintentional taking of a life - we’re still talking about jail time. There are (unfortunately) several recent cases of cars vs. pedestrians, too often the pedestrians being children, and in not one of those cases was the driver “unlikely to face criminal charges”. I’m willing to bet none of them *intended* to run over those kids with their car, but you bet your ass they’re going to jail. What’s the difference?
This guy was confused. He’s old. He probably has dementia. Well then, that certainly makes this excusable. It’s not like he should be responsible for himself. It’s not like his family - who had to know of his condition yet allowed him to drive - should be responsible. After all, according to the police the man “loved to drive his car”. (2) I guess if you really *love* to drive your car then you should be allowed to not only continue doing so until you literally drop dead of old age behind the wheel, but feel free to take out as many pedestrians as you like while on your nightly jaunts around the cities of Tampa Bay. Makes you think twice before heading out for a walk down here in sunny Florida.
(1) excerpt from the St. Pete Times
(2) excerpt from the St. Pete Times
