The grieving parents of a 7-year-old child who died hours after being hit by a car were charged with involuntary manslaughter after allowing him and his brother, 10, to walk home unaccompanied by an adult from a nearby grocery store.

    • Aragaren@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      Did you read the article? The kid ran out into the street. The driver wasn’t speeding or impaired. They did nothing wrong so what exactly do you want them to be blamed for and why are they the asshole in this situation?

      • GoodOleAmerika@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        No he did not read. People here do not read and just go for “oh the poor kid” without knowing the whole story. Also they want to stop a vehicle going 45mph to 0 in a dime. Literally these commentator have never driven a car.

        • mcv@lemm.ee
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          14 hours ago

          In Netherland, max speed is usually 30 kph (about 20mph) when there’s any chance of interacting with other traffic (bikes or pedestrians). The idea of walking along a busy road where cars go 45 mph is ridiculous. Separate the traffic streams and give them crosswalk with traffic lights, or slow down the cars.

      • Alaik@lemmy.zip
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        10 hours ago

        You’re right. There’s nothing insinuating the driver is at fault in the article. That being said with him being 76 I’d fucking loooove to see if he could pass a driver’s test.

        The fact theyre charging the parents is fucking ridiculous.

        • Muffi@programming.dev
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          5 hours ago

          If a 76 year old passes a drivers test, there is something seriously wrong with the test. I have never met anyone above 70 with good reaction times.

        • @Alaik @Aragaren It’s quite possible the driver was following all the rules and using the road exactly as intended and wasn’t able to stop in time because the road design and speed limit encouraged drivers of any age to travel at speeds incompatible with child pedestrian traffic despite being in a populated area surrounded by homes and stores. It’s also possible they wanted to retire from driving but were thwarted by the same demonic traffic engineers and land use planners.

      • fodor@lemmy.zip
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        8 hours ago

        I read the article. Did you? Did you notice what it didn’t say? We can quickly infer that the man is local and these were local streets. What kind of crazy mother f***** would drive 25 in a 25 when there’s kids right next to them? I know what kind of crazy mother f*****, the kind who wouldn’t care if they struck those kids and killed them. The rest of us would show common sense, we would see the kids, and we would slow down to 15 miles an hour because we know that little kids might step out into the street accidentally and care about the lives of children.

        Let me put it simply. If you see a kid near the road, slow the f*** down, you aggressive m***********.

      • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        15 hours ago

        Driving a killing machine. You don’t point a gun at anything you don’t want to kill. You dont drive a car without willingness to kill.

        Streets should not be a place its just okay to murder children.

        I would argue, and i know this is kind of radical and lots of you will disagree, that we should not have places where its okay to murder children.

        • oo1@lemmings.world
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          6 hours ago

          I think you mean “involuntary manslaughter children” not “murder”.

          Involuntary manslaughter just requires negligence, and cars and roads seem like tailor made environments for drivers to be negligent.

          I know people here like to throw the ‘murder’ accusation around but it is a totally different level of intent and culpability - and it’d be hard to prove it beyond reasonable doubt.

          In my country though there is special laws for drivers , death by dangerous driving, and death by careless driving - so as long as you use a car, the normal rules for manslaughter don’t directly apply.

          I think , here, if you’ve killed someone it is hard to defend against a death by careless driving charge, as our highway code is very clear on duty of care towards vulnerable road users. But ultimately it’d be jury’s decision on “reasonableness”. I can’t see how no charges would be brought though - as the jury has to determine it, and any death must be taken seriously.

          Prosecution should just need to show that there was a hazard (pedestrians, children, in this case the corpse should do the trick) and that a reasonable driver could have done more, say slow down to less than 20mph.
          “no evidence of speeding” might be enough for some jurors, but that should be their call.

          Our problem over here is more on the punishment side. The punishment for death by careless driving seems lower than other forms of negligent killing. Many will get away with a small fine/community order and a 12 month ban from driving. So i think a lot of people probably plead guilty to avoid the fine and get away with a 1 year ban.

          Weak punishment, but there’s at least an acknowledgement that they did something wrong.

          Back to this case it seems crazy (to me) that there is not even a question for the court to determine whether the driver was negligent. Maybe the driver was reasonably attentive and had taken all reasonable measures to keep other road users safe, but surely they should be made to demonstrate that to the court.

          • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            4 hours ago

            Welll, part of the issue here is that americans are R strategists, and we must cull the weakest of our children pretty regularly.

            Generally crimes committed with a car carry less/no penalty here, but it isn’t formalized.

        • dellish@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          You don’t drive a car without willingness to kill

          It has been a while since I’ve come across a statement that leaves me wondering how anyone came to such a disconnect with reality. Watching these mental gymnastics is making me sea sick.

          I drive a car with a willingness to get from where I am to where I’m going, quickly. A comparison to a gun is just retarded: guns are killing machines because that is their sole purpose. The purpose of cars is fast transport of people and cargo.

          Now, “murder” needs to show intent, and it sounds like you’re concluding anyone who is killed by a car is murdered because drivers must intend on killing someone simply because they got behind the wheel. I’m going to go ahead and assume you either a) don’t have any friends or family who drive, or, more likely, b) don’t have any friends and don’t talk to your family.

          • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 hours ago

            willingness to get where im going quickly

            And a willingness to kill to get that done, if necessary, or you’d be on a train or a bike.

          • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 hours ago

            Youre right. Im sorry i said that.

            We absolutely need a place where its okay to kill children, and streets are far and away the best option for that.

            I get a little stupid and udealistic sometimes when im high, but I’ve sobered up now.

            • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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              10 hours ago

              you’re misreading my intent, deliberately. no one is suggesting those things.

              cars are fucking this culture up. comments like this are pretty good evidence.

        • TheFrirish@jlai.lu
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          12 hours ago

          I think your high ping has caused you to be disconnected with reality, try rebooting your modem.

          • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            12 hours ago

            You’re right. I switched to a wired connection and im much more reasonable now.

            Of course we need designated child killing zones. How else will we cull the weak, and keep america strong?