So, Jim, this jury I was on...

[Doktor Howl]

The victim:  A 36 year old woman who - along with her mother - went into physcial therapy as a career, specializing in working with brain damaged children.  Obtained a PhD, did a lot of good work for over a decade.

The jackass:  Driving 97MPH in a 45 MPH zone, at 2:15AM on a Friday night, blood alchohol at .17 (.02 over extreme DUI) in a Ford Explorer.  Suspended license, no insurance, no registration.

The Cop:  Sheriff's deputy driving on patrol, along with his fiance, a CVS officer (non-bonded, no weapon, still a cop).

The victim had been attending a going away party for a friend at Dillon's Country Bar on the largely empty state route 90 near Sierra Vista.  She had drunk water all night, and was found to have a blood-alcohol content of .00...IE, she had nothing to drink.

At or around 2:15, she got in her Dodge Durango to go home, a distance of about 1 mile.

1.7 miles East, Sheriff's Deputy Berry and his fiance were heading East on patrol when a West-bound Ford Explorer blew past them doing 97MPH in a 45MPH zone.  Deputy Berry made a U turn and began an attempt to catch up, accelerating to 110MPH on a wet road at night.

He never even got close.  When he was still 2000+ feet behind the Explorer, the victim pulled out onto the highway, 650 feet in front of the Explorer.  Had the Explorer been doing the speed limit, she had more than enough time to accelerate.

At this point, she is going 21 MPH.  The Explorer is going 147 feet per second, and the police cruiser is going 162 feet per second in pursuit, at a distance of about a half mile from the Explorer.

The explorer impacted the back of the Durango without even hitting his brakes.  It was an "offset rear end collision"...which is to say, he didn't hit her headlight to tail light,  but about 10 inches off center.  At this point, a number of things happened.

Deputy Berry began to brake at a moderate rate.

The Dodge Durango accelerated by about 50MPH in a third of a second.  The victim was wearing her seat belt, but her car began to spin at the exact moment it began to accelerate.  Two things happened:  One, she broke the left side of her skull on the upright between the front and rear left side windows, and two, the right and left sides of her brain partially separated (read:  her brain tore in half) under the extreme G's generated by the impact and acceleration.

The Ford Explorer turned sideways and began to roll.  The driver was not wearing a seatbelt, and was ejected from the vehicle, which rolled over him on the concrete, leaving what I call "The Shroud of Dumbass" imprinted on the passenger side door of the vehicle.  His ribcage and skiull break, and all major organs are destroyed or damaged.  He dies within minutes.

The lawsuit alledges that had Deputy Berry turned on his emergency lights when he first saw the Explorer, the victim would have seen the pursuit and would not have made the turn.  Evidence points otherwise, and we found that the deputy was following the law and department procedures by attempting to close the distance before turning on his rollers.  As such, we found for the defendant.

The result:  The victim is now permanently and profoundly brain damaged, but is expected to live out a normal life span.  Her parents will take care of her for as long as possible, but she will eventually be moved into an institution, where proper therapy will most likely not be available.  The children she worked with no longer have a therapist.  This woman was also a pillar of the community, and was considered the "go to" person for people with trouble (very small town).  They no longer have her for help, or even just friendship.

All because of one drunken bastard.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Tragic but I guess at least the dumbass bought the farm. A lot of stories like this end in community service and a couple of months banned from doing it again.

Still - it makes you  doesn't it

[Doktor Howl]

Tragic but I guess at least the dumbass bought the farm. A lot of stories like this end in community service and a couple of months banned from doing it again.

Still - it makes you  doesn't it

Not in this case.  Had he lived, he would have received the same amount of jail time as if he had randomly chosen her and beat her with a piece of pipe.  12-20 years.

[Thurnez Isa]

So how did it take you to deliberate... 20 seconds.. 30?

[Doktor Howl]

So how did it take you to deliberate... 20 seconds.. 30?

45 minutes.  We wanted to be sure of the department procedures.  The verdict was unanimous.

[Cramulus]

JESUS christ that is fucked up.. the part about the brain tearing in half... ugh... didn't even know that could happen. I feel really bad for this woman.

[Suu]

It's hard, I understand the family wants retribution, but the cop was doing his job and following the regulations of such. There was no way to predict that the victim would have attempted to get on the highway at that time, even with the speeds the Explorer was at there was no way she could have been saved otherwise.

[Doktor Howl]

JESUS christ that is fucked up.. the part about the brain tearing in half... ugh... didn't even know that could happen. I feel really bad for this woman.

She now has the cognitive skills of a two year old.  This will VERY gradually improve, but not by much.  Her right-side paralysis should improve to a degree.  She can somewhat feed herself, can stand with assistance, but will never wipe her own ass or clean herself again.

But she'll be a 3 year old until the day she dies, which will be - statistically - about the age of 82.

[Thurnez Isa]

Oh it was the woman's parents suing, for some reason I figured it was the man's. Guess I'm too jaded

[Doktor Howl]

It's hard, I understand the family wants retribution, but the cop was doing his job and following the regulations of such. There was no way to predict that the victim would have attempted to get on the highway at that time, even with the speeds the Explorer was at there was no way she could have been saved otherwise.

My guess is that the victim's health insurance drove the lawsuit.  The victim's mother was not in the least surprised at the verdict.  I think also, she just wanted her day in court, to state as a matter of legal record what happened to her daughter.  That happens a lot...It's sort of a scream at the system, a "look what has happened to us".

The court system is not founded on logic, after all.

[Doktor Howl]

Oh it was the woman's parents suing, for some reason I figured it was the man's. Guess I'm too jaded

Yes, it was the victim's mother, acting as agent for the victim.

[Suu]

The correct course of action would be to attack the bar where the intoxicated man came from. He was obviously not fit to drive, and the bar did nothing to stop him or apparently cut him off with a BAC of that level. Shut that fucking bar down.

[Doktor Howl]

The correct course of action would be to attack the bar where the intoxicated man came from. He was obviously not fit to drive, and the bar did nothing to stop him or apparently cut him off with a BAC of that level. Shut that fucking bar down.

It was never revealed to us whether or not the police even knew which bar he came out of.  I doubt it, otherwise they would have been named as a co-defendant.

[Suu]

That sucks, no witnesses as far as the intoxicated driver goes, huh?

[Richter]

They did their job.  
Sucks for the family, but those officers weren't the ones who got drunk and drove over 100.