I know this topic is a little over done but recently there was a crash in my home town that made me really angry. The whole situation, the events leading up to it, everything about this story makes me so upset! You can read the story here. That is more of a follow up story. the original is here. I'll give you a little bit of a background for those of you who don't have the time to read the stories right now, though they should be read when you get a chance.
A man got drunk to the point where his blood alcohol level is 3 times the legal limit. He then decides to drive. Christmas time and a family from Maryland who just finished celebrating with relatives are heading home. The drunk man gets on a major highway going the wrong way. He hits the family's mini van head on killing 5 members of the family including an 8 week old child. The mother and the 4 children are dead and the man who was driving the mini van and 2 other children were hospitalized but since have been released.
Fast forward to January 18, 2008 where Michael Gagnon, the drunk driver, enters a plea of NOT GUILTY for all 5 deaths. He is now being held in jail under a bond of $1.75 million. He could get up 50 years if he is found guilty.
Now that you have the background, I'll move on to more important things like, how does he think he is not guilty? Drunk drivers make their own choices. They choose to drink that much, they choose to get behind the wheel. Where does he think his responsibility ends in this series of events? He needs to be held responsible for his actions.
I know that drunk driving accidents happen all the time, but that doesn't make them any less important. I know that there are other drunk driving incidents, in fact there were 3 in a 3 week time period in my area, and I shouldn't be focusing on just this one but this one happened to just be so horrific and happen in MY city! Toledo, Ohio and the surrounding area is kind of like the show Cheers. Where everybody knows your name. It's small and you can't go anywhere without knowing someone. So to have someone like this happen here, it just blows my mind.
I suppose my main point is just the question of why does he think he's not guilty? And to pay my respects to a family who lost everything due to the poor life choices made by someone they didn't even know.
If you're interested, friends of the family set up a Myspace as a tribute to the family here
1 comment:
I don't understand how the driver can claim to be "devastated by the deaths" and still plead not guilty. If you do something horrible, it seems the least you can do is accept responsibility for it. Maybe he is following his lawyer's advice, but the facts seem totally to stack up that he was drunk, he was driving the wrong way, he ran into this family's car at --from the picture--what must have been a high speed, and he killed five people. He faces 50 years in prison, just ten years for each person's death. I guess he's pleading not guilty in hope that he can escape that sentence. Interesting that he learned nothing from his own brother's arrest for DUI, suspended license, and court-ordered rehab. There is an epidemic of drunk driving--I just heard of an SMU student who lost her older sister and a good friend in two separate accidents within three weeks, both alcohol-related. Is it possible that people who drink too much when they know they will be driving later are heedless of the lives of other people because all they care about is their own good times? They aren't just stupid, they are self-centered and maybe even narcissistic. Keep us posted on what happens to this guy. I hope he isn't back on the road anytime soon, as is often the case with first offenders.
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