A summary...
She was driving drunk 25+ mph over the limit on the wrong side of the road. She killed a guy and she went to the hospital. While she was there - she tried to get an IV to dilute her blood alcohol concentration with an IV.
She got 15 years for pleading guilty to vehicular homicide, but will not serve any of the time after her sentence was suspended.
Yeah, vehicular homicide is basically legal in the US, so long as you don't flee the scene.
"But - your honor. I just ran into him and he died. A car is my god-given right - like every American."
"Good point! Case dismissed! Prosecutors - meet me in chambers. You've got a lot of explaining to do."
And even if you do, if you're a relatively high-ranking politician in a white supremacist flyover hellscape state, you can get off with a $1,000 fine and an impeachment conviction that amounts to a slap on the wrist and maybe means you just have to go work the consulting circuit:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61890557
Every time I see a scene in a US made film that involves characters in a moving vehicle, I'm immediately expecting the violent car crash trope to happen. That's how normalized the violence of cars is in the USA.
Every time I see a character standing in a street, I expect them to get hit by a car, and I'm usually right. It's like unspoken language in US media.
I know, but there's a lot of expectation to seeing a character with their back to the street talking to the camera before getting hit. I think it's telling as a trope in filmmaking
What gets me is how many precautions you have to take to make sure you don't die. Wear a seatbelt, ensure your car is properly maintained, look out for obstacles, account for weather and visibility conditions, pay attention to drivers next to you, ahead of you, and at every intersection. And that's all assuming you're in proper condition to drive, yourself.
And even accounting for all of that, anything can happen.
we must invade the car dealerships
oh wait actually thats cool
I read an analysis once that found that if you want to kill someone in America and get away with it, the best way is to hit someone with a car in NYC.
If there was a Law & Order: Car Victims Unit - there would be a huge amount of bipartisan hatred for it.
Reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, where people drove around speeding and nobody cares as long as you pay the
protection moneyinsurance premiumsLiberals babble about 1984, but Fahrenheit 451 was a bit closer to our present reality when it came to predicting the future.
Look at how pissed people get when "scolds" show up and tell them that something they're consuming is bad and hurts people, actually.
Brave New World in the mix too. Emphasis on the feelies to placate the masses
The born-to-type caste system being seen as a good thing fits right with
ideology too.
The "Noble Savage" character was a bunch of old reactionary
but the worldbuilding still accidentally holds up.That's how it's typically interpreted because that's what makes the most sense, but from Ray Bradbury himself he was mad everyone was watching TV instead of reading
Yeah, and while the tv walls aren't really a thing, we do love our screen time.
IDK it's obviously a tragedy, but also 15 years in obviously just a punitive sentence - keeping this person in a cage for 15 years isn't going to achieve shit. I think the judge made the right choice, or at least more right than a 15 year sentence.
Agree with you about the sentence being long, but the goal of sentencing (imo) should be to prevent this from happening again. She should have to forfeit her license and have her car sold.
I 100% agree. Honestly I'm not even against imprisonment if there is reason to believe she is truly reckless and is liable to do the exact same thing again without a license, but 15 years for manslaughter is a joke.
It's a fair enough position. The problem is that because of American infrastructure there is a good chance that that is a sentence of homelessness. I know many people who have continued driving with a suspended license bc there is no feasible alternative to get to work and thus be able to pay rent.
My twisted little plan to turn people into bike and transit boosters.
Unfortunately, as you've said, most people would just continue to drive without a license instead.
