Posted on 07/31/2011 8:07:13 AM PDT by KeyLargo
Coroner: Driver on U.S. 30 whose son helped steer car died of natural causes
By Times Staff | Posted: Saturday, July 30, 2011 7:45 pm
CROWN POINT | A 32-year-old Chicago Heights woman whose young son steered her car across the opposing lanes of U.S. 30 into a wooded area Friday afternoon in Schererville died of natural causes, the Lake County coroner's office said Saturday.
Samantha Volk died about 1:25 p.m. Friday at Franciscan St. Margaret Health in Dyer after reportedly activating her car's emergency flashers and pulling over to the shoulder of the left lane on eastbound U.S. 30 almost an hour earlier.
The 2000 silver Ford Focus she was driving continued over the grassy median in a northeast direction, crossed both westbound lanes in the 7200 block and stopped about 500 feet north of U.S. 30 near Harvest Drive, Schererville Detective Cmdr. Peggi Calderaro said.
The woman's 4-year-old son, who witnesses said was sitting on her lap, reportedly helped steer the car off the road. Her son was treated at St. Margaret hospital and released to his maternal grandmother, Calderaro said.
No other vehicles were involved in the incident, police said.
Sad, but good that her son was able to steer the car off of the highway.
Maybe more on this will come out later.
Was wondering whether I would have been capable at 4 years old.....then I remembered our 1950 Plymouth didn’t have power steering....
Smart little guy, too bad about his mother. RIP.
Bless this little boys brave heart. Now when my one yr old grand daughter wants to play act with steering her great grand dads golf cart, I will let her.
“I’m sure if mom lived, she would be ticked for not having him in a car seat (in today’s crazy world of laws and govt restrictions). “
Yes, especially in Schererville, Indiana. The city there administration is all about their police generating revenue.
http://www.speedtrap.org/city/3686/Schererville
Where Does The Money From A Speeding Ticket Go?
Posted on March 10th, 2009 in James Baxter, Traffic Tickets | Comments (12)
By James Baxter, NMA President
In this land where reality and fiction are indistinguishable there is a dead legal principle that says judges and courts should not personally benefit from the results of their rulings. Obviously, there is a conflict of interest anytime a judge’s well being would be affected by his or her decision. On occasion, a judge is found guilty of taking bribes for deciding in favor of his benefactors.
But, when the conflict of interest is systemic, universal, and worth billions of dollars it is also invisible!
I’m talking about the adjudication of traffic tickets. Traffic tickets are the mother’s milk of the court system. Thousands of judges rule on traffic cases knowing full well that guilty verdicts pay their salary, fund their retirement systems, and build their courthouses.
But nobody seems to see a conflict of interest in this system? The noble judges are apparently above the temptations the rest of humanity experiences?
Here’s how a typical speeding ticket (in this case a ticket from Indiana that we paid though our Traffic Justice Program) is divvied up:
State Courts: $49.00
County Courts: $18.90
City Courts: $2.10
Law Enforcement Fee: $4.00
Jury Fee: $2.00
Highway Work Zone: $0.50 (??)
Auto Record Keeping Fee: $7.00
Document Storage Fee: $2.00
Infractional Judgments: $99.50 The fine!
Public Defense Administration Fee: $3.00
Judicial Insurance Adjustment: $1.00
Judicial Salaries Fee: $18.00: Do you think murderers and rapists pay this fee too?
DNA Sample Processing Fee: $2.00 Very common service for traffic tickets.
Court Administration Fee: $5.00
Total Cost Of Ticket: $214.00
This should help explain why average traffic ticket recipients start out with two strikes against them when they enter traffic court. The court system just can’t afford to offer real justice. If it did it would drown in its own workload and go broke in the process.
http://blog.motorists.org/where-does-the-money-from-a-speeding-ticket-go/
Youthful dangerous medical issues do happen, and often can only be detected ahead of time with extraordinary medical diagnosis that seldom happens, because there is no reason for it to happen.
The heart can have several such defects that show almost no symptoms, and yet, either through normal functioning, which is pretty strong in its own right, or exercise, suddenly they can lethally appear.
Likewise, blood vessels in the brain can be flawed in all sorts of ways, and suddenly burst, or swell, or just stop the blood flow.
These can cause “dead before you hit the ground” fatalities.
My heart goes out to that boy.
Oh, so true. When I was 25 years old and attending Officers' Basic Training at Ft. Lee, VA, my father had the unpleasant duty of calling me to tell me that a lifelong friend of mine of the same age had just died of a cerebral hemorrage. Someting like that probably happened to this poor woman. We shold all pray fo rher soul and the welfare of her son.
Ironically, I knew of two cases that were polar opposites, both on the same high school football team.
One was lifting weights when he had a stroke and died, as a senior.
The other had infantile polio. Outwardly healthy and strong, one arm was just a little shorter than the other. But his doctors were strangely all in agreement, that he would be dead before the age of 25. Freed up of any adult responsibility because of it, he could do what he wanted, with his life compressed to just 25 years.
Strong and muscular, he played football, led an active life, and all the time made sure that everyone knew he was a goner. Of good character, he even dated, but was adamant that he would not have sex, out of the fear that he could cause a pregnancy, which would break his heart.
No reason to go to college, so he spent his time keeping in touch with friends, and became a godfather for some of their children, offering “to keep an eye on them from heaven.” The doctors were right, to within a few weeks after his 25th birthday.
That is one spooky story. Prayers for the survivors.
I feel for both boys in these stories. It is a shame that what looks to be a good mother that died of natural causes leaves a good son behind that this second news story shows a unfit father and the rest of the family that was saved by a good son.
Hopefully the drunk moron’s children will be taken in by responsible relatives.
Louisiana Troopers: Dad Sleeps While 8-Year-Old Drives
Published July 30, 2011 | FoxNews.com
An intoxicated man was arrested early Saturday morning when Louisiana state police determined he took a snooze while his 8-year-old son took the wheel, authorities said.
The man allegedly told police he was letting his son drive while the family travelled between Mississippi and Texas. The boy was doing the speed limit, 70 mph, and pulled over when the police cruiser turned its lights on, authorities said. The boy apparently sat on the edge of the driver’s seat in order to reach the gas.
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