A few years ago, a semi failed to slow to the speed of traffic--the freeway was 50, he was going 53, and the traffic he was approaching was going 30. He just didn't realize that everyone had started to bottleneck. It's a common problem during rush hour. Unfortunately in his case, it started a chain reaction of a half-dozen crashes, and about 3 dead and plenty more in the hospital. All technically his fault. But he wasn't charged.

Vehicular manslaughter usually doesn't get anything more than a fine and probation, unless other factors such as DUI/DWI or reckless driving charges are included. Accidents happen, and it doesn't seem like Brandy was drunk or speeding.

Indeed. Plus the extreme amount of money could be excused as the grieving parents wanting something for the death of their child. All that the parents would really have to do is go on the stand, weep and talk about how much they miss their daughter, and nobody could really go against that.

Not sure where the best place to put this is, but Boston had state, federal, and local police out today investigating suspicious possible explosive devices that turned out to be lite-brite Mooninites, put up around the city as part of an ad campaign for the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. The mayor promised to prosecute the responsible parties.

But she was black.

Honestly, I hate this sort of posturing. Where were they when Halle Berry was running people over?

What I don't get is why they don't want her to be charged with Vehicular Manslaughter (a misdemeanor!). She killed someone. It was her fault. It was an accident, but she still killed someone. She's not going to jail. She'll pay a fine and probably do community service. She still killed someone!

I completely agree with everything you said, bookworm.

And I really do hate that kind of posturing, because it diminishes the very real incidents of bigotry that do not involve celebs.

From the article:

I... But... What?! Is she being prosecuted because she's a political trophy or because she's a celebrity? Brandy isn't really much of either nowadays. What the hell?

People who accidentally kill other people are usually punished in one way or the other. Celebrities do tend to get away with crimes, but that doesn't make the mild (and valid) prosecution of this celebrity 'racist' or politically motivated. Didn't Rebecca Gayheart kill a child with her car (she drove around a stopped car and hit a kid crossing the street, I think). What happened to her?

According to Wikipedia she "struck nine-year-old Jorge Cruz Jr. as he crossed a Los Angeles-area street. According to the police report, the child was walking home from school, and crossed the street about one-hundred-and sixty feet from the nearest crosswalk. While several cars stopped to let him go, Gayheart swerved around them and into a two-way left-turn lane, striking the boy.

He died the next day at Los Angeles Children's Hospital. His parents, Jorge Cruz and Silvia Martinez, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on 6 August 2001 against her. Gayheart chose to pay for Cruz's hospital and funeral expenses. On November 27 2001, she pleaded no con-*test*-('") to vehicular manslaughter. She was sentenced to three years probation, a one-year suspension of her license, a $2,800 fine, and 750 hours of community service. She was also ordered to make a public-service announcement."

This is (almost) exactly how I got hit by a car (while I was in my car) in December, and it's really turned me off to "being nice" and stopping to let some other car or pedestrian cross against traffic, especially on busy streets.

It's only almost because I was going with the flow and the car that struck me was going against, after two other lanes had stopped for him--but I couldn't see that, and my lane was clear. Gayheart wasn't in a proper lane, which puts her at fault, but I still don't think cars should be quite so polite as to stop for people who want to cross against traffic away from a crosswalk or intersection.

A pedestrian always gets right of way when they're in the middle of the road, even if they aren't supposed to be there. Usually, it's not that someone was 'nice enough' to let them cross, but that they stepped out in a hole in traffic and are suddenly in the middle of the street and traffic has to yield to them. They have right of way, because they'll die otherwise, but they also get jaywalking tickets. That sounds like the situation in Gayheart's case. I don't have much sympathy. If the car in front of you is stopped, there's probably a reason you can't see; have some patience.

Anyways, Gayheart is even less a celebrity than Brandy, and she was prosecuted. It's not racism; it's the law.

That's why I never stop for jaywalkers. Also because they're jaywalking and don't have the right of way and I hate it when cars stop for me if I'm jaywalking. (Which is because of the whole someone-in-the-other-lane-might-hit-me thing as well as the fact that I would have to wait approximately 2.3 seconds longer to walk across the street if I wait for them to go, while they have to wait more like 20 seconds for me to cross.)

More Vehicular Manslaughter ala celebrity.

Now this is a case where the driver needs to be put under the jail.

Definitely. Blood alcohol level of 0.20 percent and cocaine in his system to boot? Oh, Tweener. You had so much potential.