Once in a while there comes along an idea so obviously brilliant, so irrefutable in its logic, so necessary in its fruition, that the fact it has fallen on deaf ears defies even the most elementary understanding. I shall try once more to rally the rational among us to its immediate subscription.
The time has long since passed, children, to enact a law that assigns responsibility for a person's actions to that person. I know what you're saying. "Dave, it's only common sense that each of us is responsible for our own behavior. We don't need a law to tell us that."
Well, you are wrong, bailiff-breath. Apparently we do.
On Christmas afternoon in 2007, according to eyewitnesses, Ray McWilliams, his wife, 50-year-old step-daughter and mother of three, and 51-year-old son-in-law were sitting at a red light in Ray's Chevrolet Tahoe.
Fast approaching from behind was David Belniak, driving his Nissan Titan pickup truck. He was stoned, surprise, surprise, on a combination of Xanax, alcohol and cocaine. Without braking, swerving or slowing down, Belniak plowed into the rear end of the Tahoe.
Ray's son-in-law died at the scene. His step-daughter was taken to a hospital and into surgery. She didn't make it. His wife suffered a traumatic brain injury and was taken off life support a few days after the crash. Ray died last year.
Belniak pleaded guilty last August to three counts of DUI manslaughter and is serving 12 years in the slam. He got off easy.
End of story, right? Ha! Silly you!
The family of the victims has sued Belniak. Fair enough. But here's where it gets insane. You see, Belniak has countersued, claiming now that the accident was really Ray McWilliams' fault. In spite of eyewitness testimony and Ray's deposition that he and his family were just sitting at a red light, Belniak alleges that Ray swerved from the left turn lane into the through lane, giving Belniak no chance to stop.
"You were impaired at the time of the accident, is that correct?" asked the victims' family's attorney.
"I can't deny that," Belniak replied.
"Do you take or accept any blame for this accident?" asked the judge.
"I don't know what I could have done differently," answered Belniak.
Seriously, Sparky? Perhaps not mixing booze and coke with Xanax and then hopping behind the wheel of your pickup? Hell, you weren't even going to stop for the red light, were you?
Belniak's lawsuit should have been thrown out immediately upon its filing. And if the law I have been urging passage of were on the books, it would have been. Here yet again is its essence:
Any death, personal injury and/or property damage that results during the commission of or fleeing from the scene of a crime will be solely the responsibility of the person(s) determined to be guilty.
So how 'bout it? You with me on this?
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