Old Dude Kills 9 People in Buick Massacre

[MatrixmaN]

Or something like that:

My Co-Workers were talking about how in the news it said this old guy about 86yrs old plowed his car into a market and killed like 9 people and injuring more. Of course the 1/2 empty pessimistic guy (me) comes in saying that yeah, it is his fault, and yes, if you kill 9 and injure about 45 people regardless of your age or the situation you should rot in jail till you croak.

They said I saw things from a very "Black and White" Standpoint/Perspective.....yeah I sure do. It's either yes or no, not maybe. "Maybe" it was an accident, Maybe, he just forgot where the brake was and his foot slipped after 86 years of driving….Maybe he was even in the process of having a heart attack…..it doesn’t frickin matter. He Killed 8+ people…..that’s what matters. Those people will never live to see 86, that 4yr old little girl will never live that old, why? Because some old guy was having a seizure in his Buick and ended her life….that’s how I see it. Not how he did it or why, but the fact that he did it and it’s done.

The old dude should spend the rest of his life in jail whether his actions were involuntary or not. Those people don’t have a chance to live the rest of their lives the way they want to, nor should he.

I know a lot of you will disagree with me but I believe in a yes/no, eye4eye perspective. You kill somebody, accident or not, unless in vital self defense you should suffer the same fate as the victim. Maybe I’m overly pessimistic and 1 sided, but there are too many loopholes and ways to work around the system to let a middleman in the picture. You go on a rampage, kill 15 people, claim temporary insanity, get 5-15 years in jail, 5 years probation and live the rest of yer life….slight exaggeration but you can see my point whether you agree or not.

This is open for debate because I want to hear other perspectives…..**goes away fuming**



Here’s some linkage a co-worker just gave to me:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...9p-91926c.html

[OuTpaTienT]

I was just wondering why nobody is talking about this. It is a pretty nasty issue. One of those killed was 3 year old girl. Simply heart-wrenching.

My initial reaction is to agree with you. But the other side of this is he seems like a very decent person that made a horrible mistake. I mean he spends his entire working life as a productive citizen of our society, then even after retirement he gives back to community by tutoring young people at a local school. He's got no accidents and no tickets on his record. This makes it a really tough call.

But I think in the end, even good people that make mistakes, have to pay for those mistakes.

[Mike]

I don't know if it should go as far as where he needs to go to jail for the rest of his life..
I think that they should definetely be re-tested.. I am not talking driving knowledge, eye tests, I am talking behind the wheel testing again.

I saw this lady at the DMV (When I went to get my Cali license re-newed) she tried to copy off of my test.. She realized that the chances of us having the same test was slim to none. Then she goes over to the booklets and starts reading it (with her test in front of her).

She decided to just leave because she apparently couldn't handle the test, I saw her go to her car (handicapped space) it took her 5 minutes before she even got into her car. I feel great having a this lady drive a Cadillac.

[OuTpaTienT]

Just an update, the number of people killed stands at 9 and could possible be 10. One is so critically injured they are not sure if he's going to make it. Number of injured stands at 50.

This guy definitely needs to pay for his mistake, one way or another.

[Knothead]

Okay, here's some other perspectives:

Eyewitnesses descibed the car driver (the "old guy") as having his arms locked, head down. Sounds like a heart attack to me. Heart attacks happen even to younger people behind the wheel. Not to sound callous, but terrible things happen on the roads all the time.

The driver has never done any bad things in his life, in fact, he sounds like a very nice man. One who had a visitation of atrocious and pitiless fate visited upon him, as well as those 40 + people he hit. I cannot imagine what he must be feeling right now.

I understand your anger and rage. When my cousin first called and told me to turn on the news yesterday, I was ready to kill the guy myself...then the details started coming out ...

[MatrixmaN]

Like I said tho,

Even tho he was good his whole life......it's the end product that counts.....being good your whole life doesnt give you immunity from causing such a horrible mistake.....

[Knothead]

Okay, I just read the link, and this is just weird:

The guy never tried to stop and he didn't swerve or go around people. He just looked straight ahead. He had both hands on the wheel and he looked calm." One man, who barely escaped being hit, said Weller later told him "'you should have gotten out of my way.'"

HUH?!?

[MatrixmaN]

yeah, that threw me off too.

Quite a few paragraphs there seem fishy.

[Mike]

Well stuff like heart attacks sometimes can not be prevented.
In Philadelphia last Summer a block away from the house I was staying at, a somewhat older man had a stroke and passed out at the wheel. (It was like 7 a.m. and my uncle is a nurse who just got in from work) all I heard was loud scraping and BOOM as the man crashed through the porch.
Called my uncle to come over and the man just apparently had a stroke... (Driving a Ford Explorer)

He felt so bad but was very thankful that no kids were out and about that morning. (It was really scary as hell, I couldn't imagine what happened in the story that happened yesterday)

Accidents happen.

[MatrixmaN]

Accidents do happen, but accidents shouldnt provide immunity.