Slashdot Mirror
Deputy Who Fatally Struck Cyclist While Answering Email Will Face No Charges
Frosty P writes The LA County District Attorney's Office declined to press charges against a sheriff's deputy who was apparently distracted by his mobile digital computer when he fatally struck cyclist and former Napster COO Milton Olin Jr. in Calabasas last December. The deputy was responding to routine work email when he drifted into the bike lane and struck and killed Mr. Olin. An official with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said it is launching its own probe into the deputy’s behavior.
if me or you did this, we would be locked up on vehicular manslaughter
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Until you rise the fuck up.
The deputy did put a knife in Olin's hand, so it was self-defense.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
From the article -> “He was responding to a deputy who was inquiring whether the fire investigation had been completed. Since Wood was acting within the course and scope of his duties when he began to type his response, under Vehicle Code section 23123.5, he acted lawfully.”
So by this same logic - if he was typing on his computer and rammed his car into a McDonalds and killed 10 people, this would have been lawful too???
If I'm not mistaken, if you do a first act lawfully, and you do a second act like reckless driving as a result of the first - you're still liable for the second act. If you drink a coffee lawfully and spill it on yourself and then jump lanes and hit a bicyclist - you don't think you'd get hit with vehicular manslaughter?? And your argument would be, "I was drinking coffee lawfully, so lets throw this case out of court?"
Geez...
It's hardly any better on a motorcycle (or as a pedestrian). A lot of people never rode bikes or motorbikes *seriously*. They may have taken the huffy for a spin down the block as a kid, but never as an actual commuting tool. So, they don't take seriously the position distracted drivers put them in. I'd rather have someone drunk, or speeding behind me than someone using a fucking laptop, tablet, or cell phone as a cyclist of any stripe. Pedestrians get treated with disrespect and their right of ways get violated regularly too. Maybe if the police actually did pull people over and just *educate* them on these issues instead of being a force used mostly to extract money from the people we could make some progress. Or perhaps if getting and keeping a drivers license in most states wasn't one notch easier than simply turning 16. Like in Germany where a decent % don't make it every time. But alas, I think for some they think driving poorly is some kind of inalienable right.
Once again (still) cops are above the law.
They demand respect, yet show none. Departments overlook and hide massive crimes committed by their officers.
This is just typical cop behavior.
I like bicycles so much I don't have a driver's license. But who on Earth would risk their life riding a bike, (for whatever sensible reason), when professional idiots kill bicyclists riding peacefully and safely?
You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
Maybe, from a psychological point of view, it's a return to medieval times when a knight or nobleman on horseback automatically had the right of way. If he trampled a peasant, or swept him into the ditch and broke his neck, well that was just tough - and essentially the peasant's fault for getting in the way.
When you're a cyclist or a pedestrian, do you ever get the feeling that car drivers look at you in that way?
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
...from Witnesses, (page 3 of the Police PDF Report):
You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
The problem is, this death was a result of systemic problems between the police and society at large, specifically the police thinking - correctly, it appears - that they're above the law.
The lack of prosecution in this case is NOT because the police are "above the law". The lack of prosecution in this case is because the law specifically allows the police to use electronic devices in the course of their duties while operating their vehicles. The same way the law allows the police to exceed the speed limit in certain cases, or allows them to park pretty much anywhere, or allows them to pull you over, or allows them to do any number of other things that a normal citizen can't do.
You may argue that it's a bad practice, but keep in mind that one person dying because officers are allowed to use electronic devices while driving doesn't necessarily mean that's bad practice any more than officers sometimes causing accidents because they can speed or run red lights in the course of their duties means those are overall bad practices either. We'd need to know how many people are hurt as a result of officers operating electronic devices while driving and compare that to how many people would be hurt if officers had to use the radio or pull over every time they needed to use electronic devices.
Regardless, there was no legal basis for criminal charges in this incident.
paintball