Posted by orangeblobman:
Posted by tkf:
Posted by SupremeCommander:
from what I understand Stallworth took responsibility immediately and told the cops then and there it was his fault. They worked out a settlement immediately to avoid a civil trial, which likely means Stallworth was generous out of the gate. He should definitely be held accountable but what's the point of destroying two lives from his mistake especially when he likely will be working in the community after this
I am not a lawyer but I also think florida has a law that reduces the charges if the victim was partly responsible for their demise... In other words if a person is driving a car over the alcohol limit, and someone runs a red light, hits their car and the person running the red light dies in the accident.. although the person in the other car was over the limit, the accident was unavoidable and inevitable and was not caused by the manner in which they( the person drinking and driving) operated the vehicle, then they can be held to a lesser charge...
I guess this law was put in place so people who may be over the limit but were in an accident due to no fault of their own, would not spend 15 years in jail, just because someone else was reckless and they happened to be over the alcohol limit...
The victim was not partially responsible for his demise...he was a 50+ year old construction worker walking home to his family after a hard day at work.
one of the arguments in the case was if the victim was in the crosswalk, and if not then it could have been a situation that would have been avoidable for anyone, sober or not.... I am not saying that the victim was responsible, but they do have crosswalks for a reason. a few winters ago, I saw someone try to run across the street to catch a bus, he was hit by some poor old white lady in a very ethnic area, she was terrified, but could not avoid hitting the man... The man was not in the cross walk and she could not avoid him. The reason why she is not in jail is because she didn't have a drink, although the outcome would have been the same.. the guy died by the way...
this was from the CBS. sports wire
According to the report, Stallworth told officers he flashed his lights to try to warn 59-year-old Mario Reyes, a construction crane operator who was rushing to catch a bus after getting off work around 7:15 a.m. March 14.
Police said Stallworth was driving about 50 mph in a 40 mph zone. They are investigating whether alcohol played a role in the accident. No charges have been filed against Stallworth pending the outcome of blood tests.
A police diagram shows that Reyes was hit in the far left lane of the six-lane MacArthur Causeway -- not in a nearby crosswalk. Stallworth stopped a few feet away.
Not making any excuses for stallworth, he should not have been driving, period, I am just trying to give some insight as to why his sentence may not have been as harsh....
[Edited by - tkf on 16-06-2009 10:10 PM]Anyone who sits around and waits for the lottery to better themselves, either in real life or in sports, Is a Loser...............
TKF
6/16/2009 5:32 PM
