the story speaks for itself. which is good, because i haven't the words.
Y'know I thought there has to be mroe to it and looked up the name of the "perpetrator". I mean, often read an advocacy post and there is something more that is not being reported.
Even the driest factual reporting I could find on this makes me want to scream, though.
http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/pedestrian-convicted-of-vehicular-1014879.html
Wow. The driver, who had been drinking, taking painkillers, and was blind in one eye, also had prior hit and run convictions.
Wow. Just wow.
This is sickening. Sign the petition, linked at the bottom of the story, on the off-chance it might do some good.
This is absurd, and depressing. I still have no understanding as to how you can be convicted of vehicular homicide when you are NOT operating a vehicle. Did I miss something?
She was jaywalking, apparently. The bus dropped her off directly opposite her home, and instead of walking down the road to an intersection, then back, she crossed right there, like everyone else.
That put her in violation of Georgia § 40-6-92 "Crossing roadway elsewhere than at crosswalk". It's a part of Title 40, Motor Vehicles and Traffic, even though it applies to pedestrians.
Now § 40-6-393 "Homicide by vehicle", subsection (c), defines homicide by vehicle in the second degree as any violation of any rule in Title 40 (with a few exceptions that don't apply here) that unintentionally causes a death.
The jury believed that her jaywalking led to the death of her child. And that meets the requirements of the law against homicide by vehicle. A more sensible law might have exempted pedestrian behavior, but Georgia's doesn't.
Even more amazing than the guilty verdict is that charges were brought at all. What a-hole prosecutor goes after a case like that? How does that person sleep at night?
Just like the flipflop fumbling high schooler who remains free to travel the open road, this is another cold, harsh example for why that justice lady holding the balance scale, wears a snot rag over her eyes.
I looked at the bus stop area in google street view + satellite & can't imagine anyone, especially a tired mom with a bunch of kids and groceries in tow, trying to convince the kids to walk in the opposite direction of the house (by quite a ways) in order to get home. Drivers are supposed to always be scanning the roads for sudden surprises - deer, balls, etc.
Drivers are also supposed to NOT have 2-3 beers and pop some painkillers before getting behind the wheel.
I was caught jaywalking downtown once years agon during one of the city's revenue-generating crackdowns and was charged with failing to heed a traffic signal which included a hefty fine and 3 points off of my driver's license, so, yes, you can apparently be charged with vehicular violations even though you are not actually in a vehicle.
…What happens if you don't have a drivers license?
I would assume they wouldn't take points off of something that doesn't exist, but, in theory, could still charge someone with violating vehicular code (fine/jail time).
I find nothing about this story at all acceptable. Location of bus stop, design of street, jaywalking, accident, prosecution of any party involved. Absolutely every single decision leading up to this conclusion of events could have been made better and yet somehow I think even psychic powers of prediction wouldn't have changed any decisions.
This just makes me want to curl into a little ball and hide from the world - it's a nightmare but I'm wide awake.
Ga. mom is spared prison in son's jaywalking death
Raquel Nelson, 30, was convicted by a jury earlier this month of vehicular homicide and other charges for not using a crosswalk and could have gotten three years behind bars - far more than the six months the hit-and-run driver served.
Instead, without explanation, Judge Kathryn Tanksley gave the suburban Atlanta mother a year's probation, ordered 40 hours of community service, and took the unusual step of offering her a new trial. Nelson's lawyer said late Tuesday that she will take the judge up on the offer.
A crowd of supporters broke out in applause.
That's better. But now prosecutors should decline to prosecute in her new trial, so the whole case goes away.
And how about painting a crosswalk for each mid-block bus stop? (Not that we're much better here.)
