Bizarre
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The police are going to charge a guy driving a stolen truck with charges related to the crash of two tv station news helicopters that crashed into each other covering the police chase? Are they out of their minds? Auto theft, sure, resisting arrest, sure, but how in the world is he responsible for the stupidity of one or both of the pilots? "The police chief said the suspect will likely face criminal charges for the deaths in the helicopter crash. "I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris said." http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/27/helicopter.crash/?iref=mpstoryview[^]
"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon
John Cardinal wrote:
how in the world is he responsible for the stupidity of one or both of the pilots?
Not sure about the legality of making the guy responsible for other people's actions. I think they want to try and get him on something bigger than auto theft. It will depend on what the jury thinks, and how attorneys argue the case...
"Any sort of work in VB6 is bound to provide several WTF moments." - Christian Graus
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The police are going to charge a guy driving a stolen truck with charges related to the crash of two tv station news helicopters that crashed into each other covering the police chase? Are they out of their minds? Auto theft, sure, resisting arrest, sure, but how in the world is he responsible for the stupidity of one or both of the pilots? "The police chief said the suspect will likely face criminal charges for the deaths in the helicopter crash. "I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris said." http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/27/helicopter.crash/?iref=mpstoryview[^]
"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon
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The police are going to charge a guy driving a stolen truck with charges related to the crash of two tv station news helicopters that crashed into each other covering the police chase? Are they out of their minds? Auto theft, sure, resisting arrest, sure, but how in the world is he responsible for the stupidity of one or both of the pilots? "The police chief said the suspect will likely face criminal charges for the deaths in the helicopter crash. "I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris said." http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/27/helicopter.crash/?iref=mpstoryview[^]
"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon
"The trooper was Ralph C. Tatoian of north St. Louis County, a trained sniper who was rushing along Interstate 44 to join the manhunt in Franklin County on April 20, 2005. He died when he struck a tractor-trailer that had stopped to help another motorist. Even though Stallmann was hiding in woods some 30 miles away from Tatoian’s crash site, prosecutors won the murder conviction. Missouri law allows a felony murder charge when an officer is killed while responding to aid in a felony arrest." "...Tatoian had a slight blood-alcohol level, was late for his callout to duty and drove fast in a construction zone. A prosecution witness said that the low level of alcohol wouldn’t impair the trooper." http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/D159F9B9C70CFBDC8625731E0012B1E8?OpenDocument[^]
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I would say in Scenario 1 you should partially be responsible for her death but it is definitely not for the charge of murder. In scenario 2 you have no responsibility at all. It is the truck driver's fault or the fault of the planners who constructed a dangerous road condition (very little shoulder).
John
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I would say in Scenario 1 you should partially be responsible for her death but it is definitely not for the charge of murder. In scenario 2 you have no responsibility at all. It is the truck driver's fault or the fault of the planners who constructed a dangerous road condition (very little shoulder).
John
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The police are going to charge a guy driving a stolen truck with charges related to the crash of two tv station news helicopters that crashed into each other covering the police chase? Are they out of their minds? Auto theft, sure, resisting arrest, sure, but how in the world is he responsible for the stupidity of one or both of the pilots? "The police chief said the suspect will likely face criminal charges for the deaths in the helicopter crash. "I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris said." http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/27/helicopter.crash/?iref=mpstoryview[^]
"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon
Other people in this thread have just mentioned other scenarios where there have been deaths related to a criminal act and the people have been charged for those deaths. But in those cases the death was an unavoidable/direct consequence of the criminal act, or resulted from a necessary response to the criminal act, whereas in this case, that is not so. The newscasters chose of their own accord to be there, and their deaths resulted from the mistakes or carelessness of one or more of the people aboard, rather than from something the criminal did. That being said, I can't say I'd feel sorry for the guy if he was charged with their deaths.
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I guarantee they would charge you for the murder of the officers. Whether the charge would stick would be highly dependent on your lawyer(s). And you will need a lot of money to fight that one...
John
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BTW, my reasoning for dismissing the second scenario is that if you caused an accident with an other driver (and you were not drunk) and that both parties pulled off the road to the shoulder and after exchanging insurance info you left the scene but the other driver was waiting for a tow as their car was disabled. Now if they were hit by the truck I would say that in this case you are in no way responsible for their death even though your actions put them in this position.
John
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The police are going to charge a guy driving a stolen truck with charges related to the crash of two tv station news helicopters that crashed into each other covering the police chase? Are they out of their minds? Auto theft, sure, resisting arrest, sure, but how in the world is he responsible for the stupidity of one or both of the pilots? "The police chief said the suspect will likely face criminal charges for the deaths in the helicopter crash. "I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris said." http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/27/helicopter.crash/?iref=mpstoryview[^]
"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon
It's all typical of the "not my fault" mentality that seems to be endemic. Everyone's looking for someone else to blame instead of just going "yeah, my bad". But to blame a third party for something that was someone elses fault? A little lame...
cheers, Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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It's all typical of the "not my fault" mentality that seems to be endemic. Everyone's looking for someone else to blame instead of just going "yeah, my bad". But to blame a third party for something that was someone elses fault? A little lame...
cheers, Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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The police are going to charge a guy driving a stolen truck with charges related to the crash of two tv station news helicopters that crashed into each other covering the police chase? Are they out of their minds? Auto theft, sure, resisting arrest, sure, but how in the world is he responsible for the stupidity of one or both of the pilots? "The police chief said the suspect will likely face criminal charges for the deaths in the helicopter crash. "I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris said." http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/27/helicopter.crash/?iref=mpstoryview[^]
"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon
Regardless of who is legally at fault, you would have to be an idiot to fly a helicopter so recklessly as to hit another. That is the pilots fault in my opinion.
Brad Australian - My Blog Thinking - My Personal [Ad Free] Blog
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achimera wrote:
Think about it.
It is really very simple. If an ambulance chaser, (which is anyone who is following something like that chase for personal and commercial gain, rather than to prevent loss or out of goodwill) crashes their car jumping a red light then touch luck. It is sad, especially when it is corporate greed not personal that causes it, but it is still tough luck. In this specific nstance the accident can only have been caused by pilot error -- there was no way for the man on the ground to cause them to collide short of shooting them down with a rocket. In your scenario one, it could be unintentional manslaughter because your action indirectly caused someone's death. To claim it would be murder you would need to charge the man who shouted "robbery" as equally responsible because ultimately it weas his action that caused her heart attack and death. In your scenario two, the truck driver is responsible for committing either negligent manslaughter or possibly even causing death by dangerous driving if he wasn't paying attention. The original driver who hit them bears no responsibility for their deaths, merely the for the cost of damage to their vehicles at that time, and, if caught, criminal charges for beng drunk and breaking highway laws. Here are my two scenarios, I would like you to answer them. Scenario 1: If I phone the fire brigade on a hoax callout and they crash on the way here, killing someone, have I comitted murder? If it wasn't a hoax calout, does that change your answer? Scenario 2: If I park my car on a hill above a kindergarten school and while I am out shopping something gives and it rolls down the hill into the school and kills and maims some children, have I comitted murder and assault? Has the car manufacturer? Has the last mechanic to service the car comitted murder and assault? I find it disgusting that people want to try and blame somebody for every sad and unfortunate accident that happens today. "It must be somebody's fault". No... it doesn't...
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Regardless of who is legally at fault, you would have to be an idiot to fly a helicopter so recklessly as to hit another. That is the pilots fault in my opinion.
Brad Australian - My Blog Thinking - My Personal [Ad Free] Blog
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Those comparisons are not valid. Let's change scenario 1 to a hold up is in progress, someone sees from outside and runs in to get a better look and slips and falls on the floor and breaks their neck.
"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon
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It does raise the question was there one person per helicopter? There is no way on person can pilot safely and still focus on filming.
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The police are going to charge a guy driving a stolen truck with charges related to the crash of two tv station news helicopters that crashed into each other covering the police chase? Are they out of their minds? Auto theft, sure, resisting arrest, sure, but how in the world is he responsible for the stupidity of one or both of the pilots? "The police chief said the suspect will likely face criminal charges for the deaths in the helicopter crash. "I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris said." http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/27/helicopter.crash/?iref=mpstoryview[^]
"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon
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Sue god.
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