A Florida driver faces charges for killing a 9 year old boy riding a bicycle, then speeding off to escape. Witnesses tried to stop him with the kid’s bicycle still trapped under his vehicle
https://www.ksl.com/article/51368914/cedar-hills-man-80-charged-with-manslaughter-in-death-of-9-year-old-bicyclistOpen linkView original on lemmy.world294
Comments40
So much fucking wrong with this story!
80-year-old behind the wheel.
Driving a truck too fucking big to see kids.
Hits a child then tries to get away.
Charged only with manslaughter.
Parents of the dead child forgive him, saying they don't want severe consequences for the guy who killed their son and attempted to get away with murder.
Fuck this whole thing. All of it.
The guy was charged with leaving the scene. Would have liked the phrase "hit and run" somewere in the artical as that's what happened.
Also can he be charged with lieing to an officer? He definitely is covering his tracks but badly.
Florida just wants to kill all their children.
But not fertilised eggs, that would be very very bad.
Maybe as a trade, we could leave it at manslaughter if the same charge is applied to the designers of big-grill pickup trucks and SUVs.
An old guy in a truck ran over a dude at my work who was laying down and doing something at the gas station. Told the dude to sue the insurance for millions.
Article mentions other charges, presumable you mean, "charged with nothing harsher than manslaughter." What charge do you think is appropriate for an unintentional homicide while doing non-criminal activities?
Friend, read the article.
Not only is manslaughter inappropriate for a hit-and-run, but him dragging the body without intention to stop suggests he may have killed this boy as he was trying to run away.
If an upgraded charge can't be done in this case, then we need to make a new charge for future hit-and-run drivers.
Having a friend who's life was derailed for years after being dragged under a van for a block, I'm guessing he didn't even notice. Just straight-up oblivious. The driver who right hooked my buddy and dragged him, as far as anyone could tell, was completely unaware of what had happened. And an Ecoline is both smaller than and has better visibility that one of these modern bloater trucks.
As terrible as that must have been, the driver could very well argue ignorance (they should still be in deep shit for it, though).
But in this case, the driver was being hailed by multiple witnesses who were trying to stop him from leaving the scene, and he fled faster!
He might claim negligence for the initial hit, but not for the rest of it.
Right but my point is that in that raised climate controlled soundproofed cab he might legitimately not heard shit. Not that it should be an excuse, but an American judge would probably disagree with me on that. Old fart's got his culpable deniability.
That's what licencing is for.
You assume that licence drivers understand the limitations and risks of the vehicle they are in.
You assume that they would drive slowly and/or with a window down if they can't see/hear well enough to avoid hitting things in a residential area.
Not this
lol no I don't assume any of that and it's kinda weird how often people on lemmy are telling me what I assume
So, fleeing from the scene, failing to render aid, etc etc etc, but it doesn't turn an unintentional act into premeditated homicide. You can agree to that, right?
That's why I said there should be a new, elevated charge available in these cases.
FWIW, there are circumstances where a charge is automatically elevated, even if not premeditated, so we know that laws can have flexibility.
For example:
I'm not saying drivers who do hit-and-runs should get 1st degree murder, but they should get something more than that.
If this happened in Canada, the driver could get life in prison. But Florida looks at hit-and-run as a third-degree felony, which is equal to something like forgery or theft over $750. 🫤
Driving a lifted truck in the flattest state should be a crime and basically half the state would be guilty
I do think "fleeing a crime scene" and "destroying evidence" would be mentionable. The real problem though is 80 yr olds shouldn't be driving cars or trucks.
Its so depressing that we force 80 year olds to drive cars instead of giving people alternative transportation.
@Fedizen @jerkface most 80 yr olds opposed development of alternative transportation decades ago. So, they are now dealing with the consequences of their choice.
Dalton Gibbs. Headlines are so dehumanized these days.
RIP.
If they dont say his name, he's just another number the car industry can sweep under the rug, or so their line of thought seems to be.
Sweep under the car, so it seems.
Wtf?
Defo not my country
Right they have to restrain me from not killing that man. Fucking dumbass parents. I would burn the whole system down if this happened to my child. Fucking 80 year olds shouldn't be behind the wheel. Unless they pass a driving test every 6 months.
Forgiveness benefits oneself more than it benefits the subject. This is a very hard lesson that most people never learn. Refusing to forgive feels like a duty, or a burden. Like when we refuse to heal after a tragedy, it feels like our duty to be wounded forever. Forgiveness is how you move through that, allowing your own life to move forward.
This is not very Jerkface of you
Without malice or irony: that's your problem.
Greaf hits people differently.
Not sure I would either, but I can at least understand that some people don't want the emotional load of anger.
Still, why aren't they at least trying to make sure this guy stays off the road?!
Honest question: I thought that Florida had that law where any death that occurs as part of a crime being committed is considered first degree murder. Is that not the case or is there a loophole that excludes drivers?
Old man should never be behind the fucking wheel.
And the really dumb parents are just as culpable by forgiving... wtf, that's actually homicide.
You can disagree with the parents all you want but acting like that makes them culpable is psychotic
There's so many posts in this community that shouldn't be here.
This community should be about how overall use of cars, as they're used normally, just by design hurts the world.
There's a recent story where trump wants to build new roads through forests. Cars don't need to be there. THAT is a fuck cars story.
Showing car dominant society being linked to an increase in cancer. THAT is a fuck cars story.
Showing links between walkable communities, and increase in personal happyness. THAT is a fuck cars story.
But these stories that overwhelm this community seems to be "guy drives car, runs over people, fuck cars"
And to me, thats more of a fuck humans story. I'm very much a fuck cars guy. But this story? The vehicle is not the villain here.
I want to know which Chevy truck this is and what viewing angles it has. If it's one of the newer ones where the grill goes above 5 feet, yeah fuck the car and the human driving it.
Regardless of what he was driving, fuck this guy
Agreed.