Posted on 04/19/2009 8:15:09 PM PDT by Melissa 24
Police filed intoxication manslaughter charges Sunday against a driver who lost control of his car while using a cell phone, plunging the vehicle into a rain-filled ditch and killing five children inside.
Chanton Jenkins, 32, was in police custody facing four counts of intoxication manslaughter, one charge for each of the children found dead so far, said Houston police spokesman Kese Smith. Police said a relative told them Jenkins was the father of three of the victims.
Jenkins failed a field sobriety test following Saturday's crash, which occurred after heavy rain turned the ditch into a torrent. The results of a blood alcohol test were pending, Smith said.
It was unclear if Jenkins had an attorney.
The search was continuing for the missing victim, a 3-year-old girl. A dive team searched a bayou for the child Sunday afternoon, Smith said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
At least the perp wasn’t an illegal alien
I disagree. He should be allowed to fall into water without the ability to return to the surface.
What does him not being an illegal alien have to do with anyrthing?
I concur.
People who drive stoned or intoxicated make my blood boil. Why is it that so many times the drunk driver survives?
That does seem to be the case, doesn't it. I say deal with impaired drivers like Tone Soprano did with his Nephew when there was an accident where the Nephew was driving stoned. he killed him and then called 911 on his Cell.
S**t floats?
Few people would dream of operating a chain saw or other machinery while drinking, actions that generally imperil only the drinker.
Yet they’ll head off down the road with a snootful and potentially endanger dozens of innocent people.
That said, I find drunk driving prosecutions somewhat odd, as they are the only crime I can think of where it is likely a considerable majority of the participants (attorneys on both side, judge, jury) have been guilty themselves of the crime charged at some point, but were lucky enough not to get caught.
That episode was on today... but Tony’s motive was more sinister...had Christopher lived he would have been charged with driving while impaired by cocaine or heroine..whatever he may have been on at the time...and would have been ripe to become a snitch in order to cop a plea...
Tony killed him for his own selfish reasons although I think he would have died anyway.
Just curious. In your lifetime have you never driven while over the legal limit?
I suspect a considerable majority of freepers have, myself included. (Although wouldn’t dream of doing it now.) Young skulls full of mush do lots of stupid things.
If your suggested policy had been concientiously implemented over the last 40 years, the present US population would be considerably lower. :)
Arkansas, another tragedy involving three children when the car went into a lake on about 3:30 am this Sunday morning..... Bad storms, rain in the area at the time. The mom hasn’t been charged as of this time:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6381585.html
Also the blood test result is pending.
Had I just crashed like that in the water, was trying to save my kids etc..I would have failed a field test myself totally sober.
I can not imagine the horrors going on.
Will not pass judgement on this man regarding this horrific event until the toxicology results are conclusive. The phone call appears to be from his common law wife.. mother of most of the children.
I did notice however that he does have a lengthy criminal record. Perhaps he was turning his life around. Perhaps still a jerk... holding off until I find out different.
That's the thing, you can drive drunk hundreds of times and probably get away with it.
It's that "one" time....you're lucky if you just get caught vs a tragedy.
I agree 100%.
My point was merely with regard to the odd fact that people have a tendency to utterly condemn the drunk driver involved in a tragedy such as this while ignoring the FACT that their not being involved in such a tragedy themselves was merely a result of chance.
IOW, most Americans, and most freepers, have done just about the same thing. Most of them, as you say, were lucky. It does not seem morally right to condemn another person for not having the same luck when they engage in the same behavior as oneself.
BTW, I do not exclude myself (in the past) from this observation. I have myself made the decision that I will never again drive if I have had any alcohol at all, but I certainly have a history of being “lucky.”
BTW, I highly recommend the “zero-tolerance” approach to drinking and driving. It eliminates the “have I had too much to drive” mental argument, which unfortunately is highly affected by the fact that alchol reduces one’s ability to make good decisions.
If one is planning to drink, don’t drive to the location. Then you HAVE to make other arrangements to get home.
I did however give up drinking completely and can honestly say I have never felt better, I don't miss it at all.
A highly reasonable post.
Some seem remarkably eager to condemn the “perp.”
As you say, I doubt I could walk a straight line after losing my kids in the water.
For that matter, I’d be doing good to stay on my feet.
I’ve tried some of the “field sobriety test” stuff, and I have trouble with them stone cold sober.
Ted Kennedy survived.
Haven’t given up drinking, completely.
I will never again, however, put myself in a position of deciding, while under some degree of influence, whether I’ve “had too much.”
AMEN!
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