The real tragedy
Back in the day when lawyer jokes were a new thing, one of them went like this:
"If a bus with 40 lawyers on board going over a cliff is a tragedy, what would be a real tragedy?"
"Three empty seats."
After you finish groaning, consider what the real tragedy is in the deaths of Indianapolis Colts linebaker Edwin Jackson and Jeffrey Monroe. Monroe was the Uber driver transporting Jackson when they were allegedly run over by Manuel Oreggo-Savala. Oreggo-Savala is a citizen of Guatemala who has been deported twice previously from the United States.
The Moron-In-Chief is trying to make this political by blaming Democrats for being soft on immigration law. Their deaths are a tragedy. But the real tragedy is not that they died because someone was in our nation illegally. The real tragedy is that on average, nearly 29 people die daily as the result of a DUI in this country.
That stat comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It is based on the 10,497 people who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2016.
There is no data available to demonstrate that those who are here illegally are involved in a disproportionate number of DUI deaths. Andrew Thomas Gallo and Manuel Oreggo-Savala have some things in common. While Gallo was born in El Monte, California and is therefore a U.S. citizen, they were both involved in DUI crashes that took the life of a noted athlete.
It had been California Angels (I refuse to refer to them as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, since Anaheim isn't even in Los Angeles County) pitcher Nick Adenhart's first start of the 2009 season on April 9th. He went six scoreless innings. Around midnight, he and two others were killed in a crash with Gallo's minivan. Gallo is currently serving a sentence of 51 years to life in prison.
Gallo's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was nearly three times the legal limit. Oreggo-Savala is charged with driving with a BAC above .15
Gallo had a previous DUI conviction and was driving on a suspended license on the night he killed three people and seriously injured another. Oreggo-Savala was convicted of DUI in 2005.
The problem is we don't deal harshly enough with those convicted of DUI in terms of preventing them from becoming repeat offenders.
Meet Danny Lee Bettcher of Minneapolis. In December of 2014 he was released from prison after serving five years after being convicted of drunk driving for the 27th time.
And yet, this past September, he was arrested for the 28th time for DUI, and he had a valid drivers license at the time. That's because there is no law in Minnesota to take away a person's drivers license for the rest of their life, no matter how many DUIs they have had.
In June of 2017, Derek Haskayne of Placentia, CA was handed a sentence of four years in state prison by a judge in Santa Ana, CA. It was his 9th conviction for DUI in a six year period
* * *
We need to make a clear distinction here. Alcoholism is a disease. A very difficult disease to deal with. Alcoholics aren't cured. They are able to achieve sobriety but it is a lifelong struggle for them to maintain it. Well and good and I don't fault those who "fall off the wagon"
But they need to be made to not get behind the wheel while impaired. Anyone who has ever taken a drink and didn't arrange alternate transportation home felt they were not impaired. It is inconvenient to leave your car at the bar. You only had a couple of beers. One hard drink. Some wine over a long period.
I'm guilty of having thought that way and driven when I was almost certainly over the legal BAC limit. Then again, other than a class of champagne at my wedding, it's been more than 30 years since I've had an alcoholic beverage.
As I wrote in a blog in September of 2012, there was a time when I was the one who got behind the wheel when I shouldn't have. I was young and felt myself invincible. Let me cut and paste an excerpt from that blog.
Heck, while I'm sharing, I'll share the story of why I don't drink alcohol at all anymore. Next year will be 30 years since I was out late one night, tossing back more than a few and finally somehow driving myself home. I don't remember driving home, but I woke up the next day in my bed with my undamaged car in the driveway. That afternoon, while doing the Air Force security police thing, we were following a drunk driver off-base and couldn't stop him (there's a law called the Posse Comitatus Act that prohibits military personnel from enforcing law in the civilian jurisdiction except in a time of martial law). We ended up peeling him from the wall of the building he ran his car into and impacted his face against after he flew through the windshield. I stopped drinking (with two notable exceptions, dad's 50th birthday and my 2nd wedding) right then and there.
The people saying that the deaths of Mr. Jackson and Mr. Monroe were preventable are right. Not because Mr. Oreggo-Savala could have been kept out of the country. They were preventable because we could find a way to keep people who are convicted of DUI from getting back behind the wheel.
"If a bus with 40 lawyers on board going over a cliff is a tragedy, what would be a real tragedy?"
"Three empty seats."
After you finish groaning, consider what the real tragedy is in the deaths of Indianapolis Colts linebaker Edwin Jackson and Jeffrey Monroe. Monroe was the Uber driver transporting Jackson when they were allegedly run over by Manuel Oreggo-Savala. Oreggo-Savala is a citizen of Guatemala who has been deported twice previously from the United States.
The Moron-In-Chief is trying to make this political by blaming Democrats for being soft on immigration law. Their deaths are a tragedy. But the real tragedy is not that they died because someone was in our nation illegally. The real tragedy is that on average, nearly 29 people die daily as the result of a DUI in this country.
That stat comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It is based on the 10,497 people who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2016.
There is no data available to demonstrate that those who are here illegally are involved in a disproportionate number of DUI deaths. Andrew Thomas Gallo and Manuel Oreggo-Savala have some things in common. While Gallo was born in El Monte, California and is therefore a U.S. citizen, they were both involved in DUI crashes that took the life of a noted athlete.
It had been California Angels (I refuse to refer to them as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, since Anaheim isn't even in Los Angeles County) pitcher Nick Adenhart's first start of the 2009 season on April 9th. He went six scoreless innings. Around midnight, he and two others were killed in a crash with Gallo's minivan. Gallo is currently serving a sentence of 51 years to life in prison.
Gallo's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was nearly three times the legal limit. Oreggo-Savala is charged with driving with a BAC above .15
Gallo had a previous DUI conviction and was driving on a suspended license on the night he killed three people and seriously injured another. Oreggo-Savala was convicted of DUI in 2005.
The problem is we don't deal harshly enough with those convicted of DUI in terms of preventing them from becoming repeat offenders.
Meet Danny Lee Bettcher of Minneapolis. In December of 2014 he was released from prison after serving five years after being convicted of drunk driving for the 27th time.
And yet, this past September, he was arrested for the 28th time for DUI, and he had a valid drivers license at the time. That's because there is no law in Minnesota to take away a person's drivers license for the rest of their life, no matter how many DUIs they have had.
In June of 2017, Derek Haskayne of Placentia, CA was handed a sentence of four years in state prison by a judge in Santa Ana, CA. It was his 9th conviction for DUI in a six year period
* * *
We need to make a clear distinction here. Alcoholism is a disease. A very difficult disease to deal with. Alcoholics aren't cured. They are able to achieve sobriety but it is a lifelong struggle for them to maintain it. Well and good and I don't fault those who "fall off the wagon"
But they need to be made to not get behind the wheel while impaired. Anyone who has ever taken a drink and didn't arrange alternate transportation home felt they were not impaired. It is inconvenient to leave your car at the bar. You only had a couple of beers. One hard drink. Some wine over a long period.
I'm guilty of having thought that way and driven when I was almost certainly over the legal BAC limit. Then again, other than a class of champagne at my wedding, it's been more than 30 years since I've had an alcoholic beverage.
As I wrote in a blog in September of 2012, there was a time when I was the one who got behind the wheel when I shouldn't have. I was young and felt myself invincible. Let me cut and paste an excerpt from that blog.
Heck, while I'm sharing, I'll share the story of why I don't drink alcohol at all anymore. Next year will be 30 years since I was out late one night, tossing back more than a few and finally somehow driving myself home. I don't remember driving home, but I woke up the next day in my bed with my undamaged car in the driveway. That afternoon, while doing the Air Force security police thing, we were following a drunk driver off-base and couldn't stop him (there's a law called the Posse Comitatus Act that prohibits military personnel from enforcing law in the civilian jurisdiction except in a time of martial law). We ended up peeling him from the wall of the building he ran his car into and impacted his face against after he flew through the windshield. I stopped drinking (with two notable exceptions, dad's 50th birthday and my 2nd wedding) right then and there.
The people saying that the deaths of Mr. Jackson and Mr. Monroe were preventable are right. Not because Mr. Oreggo-Savala could have been kept out of the country. They were preventable because we could find a way to keep people who are convicted of DUI from getting back behind the wheel.
posted by me at 6:50 AM
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