Cyclist killed by drunk (Page 2)

I'm gonna rant on this.  She has no job and no kids for a reason.  She is an irresponsible screw up doing nothing to fix the problem.  Its very hard for mothers to lose their kids in NYS you have to be a screw up supreme.  If she is over the limit, which I believe she will be found guilty of, she should have not been on the road, thus not partly responsible for the death of Heather. 

If she is not over the limit she was not acting responsible ensuring that there were no hazards or people in the way.  She has a brake in the car she was driving and should have been using it sooner when butthead showed up. 

She deserves only the compassion to amount of her driving off after running over her.  None.  Leave a dying human being on the side of the road like squirrel is deprived indifferent to life.   Both need a couple arrows to the knee and to rot in prison. 

Sorry z2012 I don't have much patiences for this sort of thing.  We spend to much time trying to putting people on probation and trying to turn their lives around when the hammer should be dropped right off the bat.  I commend you trying to have compassion for her but I guess I just a little cold to this one.  You points are good.

that should happen whether it comes back that she was over the limit or not. Either she was responbile in the position she was in or she wasn't...the DWI is not the qualifier. Her actions were part of the accidents environment, but that itself doesn't make her guilty. There is no question with him.

Either way, this is just sad, sad, sad. Feel horrible for her family. Honestly the more i hear about this stuff, it makes me want to stop riding, and i just started back last year and love it. I dont want my family to ever have to deal with me being a statistic over something i can avoid.

I agree, but being impaired with alcohol makes the case less clear that she could have prevented it.  If she was over the limit it is obvious she wasn't able to have good judgement of the situation.  As for the human compassion thing, I am a huge supporter of the death penalty and have little patience either.  In this case, it is simply trying to make sure justice is truly served, and not "incrimination merely on past actions" or whatever tinted glasses we look through because we are cyclists.  

If we were driving down the road, and a crazy guy on a motorcycle takes out a cyclist and puts them in the street where we have nowhere to go other than hit them, I would think we would want justice to prevail also... I'm definitely not saying she's not at fault, but I do want the truth.  Just because you are a screwup doesn't necessarily make you guilty when an accident happens.

http://www.mpnnow.com/topstories/x866120346/Megan-Merkel-charged-with-vehicular-manslaughter-in-court

Girl freind is charged too.  

Wow, the whole story seems troublesome.  It's not stated for sure, but it seems as though there were other drunk people in the car with her (including the owner of the car). 

If the owner of the car was also drunk, does she hold some liability for asking her drunk friend (who was apparantly unlicenced) to drive her car for her?

Just really sad.