Let me start by saying I DO NOT condone drunk driving but I need to share this with you fine people.
December 2005. He is at my house and we were drinking a bit. At 11:00 I tell him to ease up as I was heading to bed shortly. Midnight, still drinking. 1am, still drinking. 2am, time to go, as Kim wouldn’t want to find him drunk on the couch in the morning.
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Now a person can sell all the crack to your kids then rape and molest them, and still not serve that kind of time. I can break in to your house steal you blind, slap your wife, have my way with your cat….and not get that kind of time. I just don’t understand the rational of our judicial system.
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Am I way off base, or is something just not right here.
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P.S. I wonder how much time the captain of the Exxon Valdez received.
I don't chime in on this board very often, but I'll make an exception now...
On Mothers' day, 2003, my Dad was hit by a drunk driver that nearly ended his life and did end his truck driving career. Because of severe and inoperable injuries to his back and neck, he is probably retired for the rest of his life. Thankfully, he is able to get treatment through the VA. The insurance settlement he received was a sham - by time all the doctors' bills are paid and the attorney takes his share, he'll be lucky to clear a year's pay from driving. Why? Because in OK, if the drunk driver pleads guilty to the ticket, it can't be admitted or considered in a civil case.
The drunk driver got off with a suspended sentence for his SECOND drunk driving offense and my Dad got shafted.
I don't really care if your friend was on a moped, a motorcycle, in a car, or walking on his hands - he should have been in jail the first time. That's where he belongs. If you're out drunk driving with him, then that's where you belong too.
There are innocent people out there being killed, maimed, and having their livelihoods taken away by people who can't fire the two synapses it takes to know that driving drunk is a bad idea and you want people to feel sorry for your friend? I don't think so.
You want us to think you're innocent because you told him to stop drinking? No. You were more concerned about your wife/gf finding him drunk on the couch. Someone asked how you'd feel about that if you found him dead on the road the next day, and I agree with the question. But more importantly, if you knew that he was going to go out and be a danger, then how can you clear your conscience of not doing more to stop him?
Ironically, my Dad used to be a drinker when I was in high school. I watched him crash a couple cars because he was drunk. I pulled him out of a burning wreck once. Then one day someone told me that if I knew he was drunk, it was my responsibility to stop him. I realized immediately they were right - I was the only one who could if he wouldn't. Then one day he wanted to take an airplane up in that condition. I told him if he tried, I'd get the cops out there to arrest him and get the FAA to pull his ticket. We had a few more encounters like this, but he finally got the message.
My point? You could have prevented him from going out without resorting to physical violence or kidnapping. All you had to do was let your friend know that you loved him enough that you'd have him thrown in jail rather than let him endanger himself and others.
As for rapists, drug dealers, child molesters, and the like - they deserve a single bullet in the brain. However, their crime does not justify either your friend's crime of drunk driving or your inaction in stopping your friend. Like I tell my kids: "it doesn't matter what anyone else does - you follow the rules - or else."
No sympathy from me - you're way off base. There may still be something not right if other crimes are under-punished, but you're still way off base.
Joe Hazelwood received six months suspended in favor of 1,000 hours of community service and a $52,000 fine. He was also terminated and I'd be surprised if he ever captained a ship again, since everyone who owns a ship knows his name.
Click here for more details. Here's another much more
detailed account and frankly, Joe Hazelwood's actions seem much LESS culpable than your friend's.
My suggestion (don't really do this): Show up at the court and address the court as a concerned citizen. Let them know the full details as you've described them here, and tell that judge that his sentence is too harsh!
So to end on a positive note - I am sincerely happy that your friend did not kill himself or anyone else (yes, a moped can be a lethal weapon).
