Originally posted by Maverick
Apparently in your mind they are. It's not the case here though in reality.
In the case here the guy has been convicted. He has had a trial. A full investigation has been completed and the evidence was brought to the court where a jury heard it and rendered a verdict.
None of that was present in the situation of the thread you are alluding to.
As to his doing time, sure why shouldn't he serve time? He's been convicted of a crime that does not require mens rea. Just because he didn't mean to does not mean he should not face the penalty for the act and his age is not an excuse or get out of jail free situation.
As to the issue of drivers license holders and age, think hard about linking specific ages to licenses. Think also about the age of drivers involved on the collisions. If you do a direct corollary you may not like the result.
BTW who were you before you got banned?
I think you took my statement all wrong. All I'm saying is that in the case of the cop, a lot of people were saying all he did was miss a stop sign and no crime was committed. In this case all the guy did was confuse the gas and brake pedal and he's a murderer. I wonder (I could go back and match up the posts to the posters but I'm too lazy) how many of the people who said the cop only ran a stop sign are saying "string the old man up" and how many people who want to execute the cop think they should just leave the poor old man alone…
My own opinion is that the old man should do time and the only injustice in that is that he probably doesn't have enough years left to properly pay his debt, and that if no criminal charges are brought against the cop then a lot of people's suspicions about cops being above the law are correct.
A few years back (Clinton was prez so it was a least 7 or 8) the prez was in town and his motorcade caused a huge traffic back-up on the e-way. A semi-truck driver didn't see the jam and plowed into it and killed a bunch of people (I can't remember an exact number). He was convicted on X counts of Vehicular Manslaughter and most likely will spend most of the rest of his life in prison all because he was daydreaming and didn't see the stopped traffic in front of him.
Of these three incidences the two involving civilians are consistent and most people would agree that the outcome is just. Why would people argue that a cop who ran a stop sign and killed two people is only guilty of failing to stop?
As far as age and license testing goes, my point is that at least in Michigan, a person can go for as long as ten years without having any kind of test at all. A LOT of things can happen to a person in ten years. Perhaps changing laws for elderly people is the wrong approach. Maybe what should be done is to expand a doctor's Hippocratic Oath to include the duty to inform the proper authorities when a person is not mentally or physically sound to operate a motor vehicle.
