Pedestrian convicted of vehicular homicide in own child's death

This woman put her children at risk right along with the general public. What if the driver swerved and killed someone in another car.

Impaired or not I wonder how many of us could've stopped in time. I don't want my kids jumping into traffic and I certainly don't want to run over other people's kids.

I drove a taxi and parking lots are the worst, especially hospital parking lots. I would be waiting for my fare and I would see both drivers/pedestrians being careless all the time. I've seen kids running all around while clueless mom is strapping the baby into the car seat. If I was close enough I'd yell and would usually get a dirty look. I just couldn't be the parking lot superman. It got on my nerves so bad I'd read a book when parked instead of people watching.

Originally posted by NuroSlam

Yes, ignore the fact he was drinking, on pain pills and blind in one eye.

Ignore?? I did not say that he was innocent. As a matter of fact, I did not even mention the man in the vehicle.

Originally posted by NuroSlam

How am I suppose to ignore the fact that the drive was unable to control his vehicle on two previous occasions that day, once on the same street just prior to the accident?

You already have ignored a very important detail about this. It is clearly stated within each of the links you posted.

In April 2010, Raquel Nelson and her three children..............

Court records show that Guy was previously convicted of two-hit-and-runs on the same day, Feb. 17, 1997.

Originally posted by getreadyalready

But what is the point of criminal charges? She did something stupid, she lost her 4 year old son for it.

Stupidity often plays a role in many crimes. Just because someone does something stupid, does not mean that they are not intelligent. If temporary stupidity was a valid excuse for committing any crime, then chances are, the prisons would be a little less crowded. Alas, stupidity is just not a good enough excuse to be used as a valid defense.

I did not say that her conviction was just. I was simply pointing out that she was not an innocent victim in this event, which is how she was portrayed within this OP.

Originally posted by semperfortis


I see tragedies like this all the time and I just can not see the criminal justice system helping in anyway. While it is a truism that the law has to be followed, I think the courts should look at the results of their actions and consider the psychological impacts on those involved. She lost her child. Should that not be her punishment, should that not be enough? I just don't see how charging her will help society in anyway.

Yes she is culpable, but in my opinion, she has paid a high enough price already.

Semper

You said it all in that paragraph.

This is a prime example of one of the glaring problems with our court system.

reply to post by BrokenCircles


I think anyone with kids can say that it isn't always stupidity that makes accidents happen. She may have looked at her options and decided crossing the street at that location was less risky than trying to coordinate 3 kids down a long sidewalk in the dark, in a less than safe neighborhood, wait for a light to change, get across the street, and navigate the same walk back down the other side of the street. In fact, she might have made that calculation, and been correct 99.99% of the time.

What if she had chosen the other approach, and the kid still broke free and ran into the road? Or if someone jumped out of the bushes and kidnapped one or all of the kids? Would we be criticizing her for not taking the direct route across the street to her home?

reply to post by getreadyalready

The only reason that I even used the word 'stupidity,' was because it was part of the excuse that you were giving. "What if's" accomplish nothing. What is done is done.

To me, the details are not entirely clear about exactly how and/or why she was crossing this busy high-speed divided highway with her children after dark. Due to that, it is hard to say for sure, but from the vague details provided, it does not seem that there was much thought used in determining the safest and most efficient route to take.

Originally posted by BrokenCircles

I did not say that her conviction was just. I was simply pointing out that she was not an innocent victim in this event, which is how she was portrayed within this OP.

I'm sorry if you got the impression that I see the woman as a victim, I suppose I should have worded things a tad differently, its not her, it's her two other children that are now victimised by the state imprisoning their mother for up to 3 years. No doubt they will end up wards of the state, shuffled off to foster homes and split up. This woman will suffer for the rest of her life for this, and the state isn't happy with that, they have some "need" to extract more punishment.

The woman crossed the highway because her bus stop is right across the street from her apartment and there were no crosswalks in either direction for over a half mile. She had been shopping for groceries, had to transfer to a second bus to come home, with her three children. She crossed the highway with several other passengers that had gotten off the bus.
Source
I have compassion and sympathy for this woman. It's bad enough she lost her little one, which would have to be THE MOST devastating thing to happen to anyone (who cares), but now facing prison, she loosed her other little ones.
Imagine having to mourn the death of your baby from a jail cell that you don't belong in.
Peace and One Love

Reply to post by NuroSlam

The pedestrian only has the right of way in crosswalks.

This is fact.


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