Interesting US Court Case

[Matthew_McNally]

details here

He was nowhere near the scene of a tragic drunken driving accident that left two men dead and one woman seriously injured, but Kenneth Powell faced charges of manslaughter, vehicular homicide and aggravated assault in the deadly crash.

Its an interesting read!

[UltraViolet]

Cripes - awful. Cannot imagine being a jury member on that either. But why do the police ring a friend to take him home??? Don't they have Taxis in the states???

[Matthew_McNally]

can't believe they would give a drunk a set of car keys

:o

do they give muggers their knives back on the way out, pat them on the head and say 'No stabbing anybody now - OK?'

[UltraViolet]

Lol - we are talking about a country where you can legally own a semi-automatic gun, and yet to put tobacco livery on an F1 car is banned..... (not talking the actual logo here - talking the lookalike colours with nothing else!!)

[bigsul]

The police screwed up big I think, but why did Powell give his mate his keys back ? Would you ?

Do the UK police impound the car, I think they do.

bs :P

[Matthew_McNally]

I would not have given him the keys back.

But, he does not deserve to face those charges.

If you apply that principle how guilty if the bar tender who served him the drinks?

[bigsul]

I never said he was guilty, I just thought that giving him his keys back was a pretty dumb thing to do ! The guy is obviously stupid, but you can't send people to jail for stupidity.

The justice system and the family of the deceased want a scapegoat, by the sounds of it. I would not want to be in his shoes. They will not let him rest.

bs :P

p.s. I was blaming the police really !

[Matthew_McNally]

Originally posted by bigsul

...the family of the deceased want a scapegoat, by the sounds of it.

for scapegoat read 'someone to sue' .

A disturbing American invention which has unfortunately made it's way over here

[UltraViolet]

TBH - the person responsible is the one who got in that car and dove while drunk. Others were perhaps stupid - but he was the one responsible.

For all we know, perhaps the drunk driver made threats to the other chap? Perhaps the other chap was fooled into believing the mate was sober - whatever the reasons were - I doubt we'll ever know. But the barman, the police, the friend - none of those people are responsible for that man getting back in his car and causing this tragic accident.

I agree that the friend should not have given the keys back. I also think that the police releasing him and calling a friend to play taxi is bizarre, misguided and wrong. But I still think that the person responsible was the man who cannot be held accountable.

The friend however - if he removed evidence, should be charged with that.

The police - hope an enquiry leads to this sort of mistake not happening again.

Very sad too.

[bigsul]

About the 'someone to sue' point:

True.

You hit the nail on the head there. The guy is going to wind up in jail or owing millions of dollars that he can't pay.

bs :P

[Matthew_McNally]

Originally posted by UltraViolet

TBH - the person responsible is the one who got in that car and dove while drunk. Others were perhaps stupid - but he was the one responsible.

absolutely.

makes you wonder at the motivation to try and make his friend responsible?

It would certainly set a precedent.

Which would end up being the case in this country in a few years.

:(

[Matthew_McNally]

Originally posted by bigsul

About the 'someone to sue' point:

True.

You hit the nail on the head there. The guy is going to wind up in jail or owing millions of dollars that he can't pay.

bs :P

I would imagine he couldn't pay.

Doubt he personally has the sort of money that such a claim would result in (hundreds of thousands of dolars, if not in the millions).

Which insurance would he claim on?

Not his car insurance - he was not in any accident.

Life insurance - he is still alive.

What's left - household insurance?

[bigsul]

An interesting, but very sad story all round.

I do however think there is one major point not to be missed in this case.

Don't drink and drive.

bs

:P

And don't answer the phone in the middle of the night if it is from the Police !

[bigsul]

What's left - household insurance?

Do you think Direct Line would pay up in that case ?

bs:P

[Claire G]

Blimey!!!!!!!!!

That's unbelievable :(