09/07/2013

   Based on what had happened to us on the night of the accident, when our local police had treated my wife and I to quite a run-around regarding what had actually happened to our son, and the difficulty we'd had getting a response from the same department when we inquired about getting a copy of the police report of the accident, we had no illusions about what we might expect to happen to the man who had caused the accident. Our neighbor, the police officer I spoke of previously, had tried to prepare us for the realities of our situation. I really don't remember very many details about all the months of legal issues, but I do remember that early-on in the process, the deputy district attorney assigned to the case arranged a meeting so all the families could meet with him and the police officers in charge of the case. All I remember from that meeting was when the lead officer from our local police department stated early in the meeting that according to the law we should not expect the man to get much in the way of penalties and besides, everyone runs red lights at some point in their life. I was incensed! How dare he minimize the losses of our three children? I fully understand police officers, by necessity, sometimes become desensitized to what an ordinary family in the midst of suffering is going through, but I felt then, and I still feel now, that he had no right to expect us to accept those words from his mouth. After hearing those comments I don't even remember what else happened at that meeting. Later, the deputy district attorney tried to soothe our anger and hurt feelings, but it was too late. From that day forward, I still hoped that justice would be served, but I no longer expected that to be the case.
Apparently, a man can drive carelessly through a red light intersection, traveling in excess of 60 miles per hour, be the direct cause of an accident that kills three teenagers and puts two adults into the hospital, changing the lives of their families and friends forever, and because he was not drunk or under the influence of drugs it's really not that big of a deal in the eyes of the law. We were told that under the circumstances, the best we could hope for would be one year of jail time for each of the deaths of our three children (that was the maximum penalty allowed under the law in these situations.) As things turned out, we would have to fight tooth and nail for the man to get that much. I couldn't help wondering if we would be in the same situation if we (or our children) were more rich, powerful, or famous.