Black woman charged with vehicular homicide after her 4 year old get killed ( she wasnt the driver ) - Polidicks

[quote=david goldberg] Campaign Blog Press Releases Prosecuting the victim, absolving the perpetrators July 18, 2011 By David Goldberg Updated 7/19: The charge has been corrected. Nelson was charged with vehicular homicide. This is an advocacy blog, but typically we’re rather measured in our tone. Sometimes, however, we see something so utterly outrageous, so emblematic of the failure of our current transportation system, that “measured” just won’t cut it. The prosecution and conviction this week of Raquel Nelson – a metro Atlanta mother who lost her four-year-old son to a hit-and-run driver – on the charge of vehicular homicide is one of those times. You heard that right: According to the office of Cobb County prosecutor Barry Morgan, Nelson – who had no car at the time – committed vehicular homicide by attempting to cross a five-lane highway with her three kids to get to her apartment, after being let off the bus. [img]http://t4america.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Marietta-crash-scene.jpg[/img] This photo shows the bus stops (located on both sides) of Austell Road, and the path taken by Raquel Nelson across Austell Road to get from the bus stop to her apartment complex across the street. No marked crossings are visible in the photo. Nelson, 30 and African-American, was convicted on the charge this week by six jurors who were not her peers: All were middle-class whites, and none had ever taken a bus in metro Atlanta. In other words, none had ever been in Nelson’s shoes: They had never taken two buses to go grocery shopping at Wal-Mart with three kids in tow. They had never missed a transfer on the way home that caused them to wait a full hour-and-a-half with tired and hungry kids for the next bus. They had never been let off at a bus stop on a five-lane speedway, with their apartment in sight across the road, and been asked to drag those three little ones an additional half-mile-plus down the road to the nearest traffic signal and back in order to get home at last. And they had never lost control of an over-eager four-year-old as they waited on a three-foot median for a car to pass. Nor had they watched helplessly as a driver who had had “three or four” beers and two painkillers barreled toward their child. That’s right: Because Nelson did not lug her exhausted little ones three-tenths of a mile from the bus stop to a traffic signal in order to cross five lanes of traffic, she is guilty of vehicular homicide. Because she did as her fellow bus riders, who crossed at the same time and place, and because she did what pedestrians will do every time – take the shortest reasonable path – she is guilty of vehicular homicide.[/quote]

[quote]Nelson, 30 and African-American, was convicted on the charge this week by six jurors who were not her peers: All were middle-class whites, and none had ever taken a bus in metro Atlanta. In other words, none had ever been in Nelson’s shoes: They had never taken two buses to go grocery shopping at Wal-Mart with three kids in tow. They had never missed a transfer on the way home that caused them to wait a full hour-and-a-half with tired and hungry kids for the next bus. They had never been let off at a bus stop on a five-lane speedway, with their apartment in sight across the road, and been asked to drag those three little ones an additional half-mile-plus down the road to the nearest traffic signal and back in order to get home at last.[/quote] This shouldn't have made it through the fucking initial hearing before being thrown out to find an actual fucking jury.

Why is the colour of her skin so important as to be included in the title?

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;31234538]Why is the colour of her skin so important as to be included in the title?[/QUOTE] because the jury was white, and white people are racist of course.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;31234538]Why is the colour of her skin so important as to be included in the title?[/QUOTE] it gets more views and posts this way

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;31234538]Why is the colour of her skin so important as to be included in the title?[/QUOTE] Because the article is saying that the middle class whites who weren't her peers convicted her racistly.

Bullshit meter rising...

The article doesn't say what happened to the actual driver. It doesn't say if he was charged for the hit-and-run, or being drunk.

The guy had committed two other hit and runs, both on the same day, back in '98. He got two years and served one. He did six months for killing the kid. THAT dude is well connected, it has to be. If I killed a kid on my THIRD hit and run, I'd do a lot more than six months. A mom struggling to bring her three young kids, and their shopping, home faced a choice of walking an extra half mile just to get across the street, or making a run for it. That sucks. [url=http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/pedestrian-convicted-of-vehicular-1014879.html]link[/url]

[quote]Nelson, 30 and African-American, was convicted on the charge this week by six jurors who were not her peers: All were middle-class whites, and none had ever taken a bus in metro Atlanta. In other words, none had ever been in Nelson’s shoes:[/quote] Haha, what a crock of shit. I wonder what else this is either making up or is completely false. [del]Let alone, the blog in question doesn't even have a source.[/del]

[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;31234926]Haha, what a crock of shit. I wonder what else this is either making up or is completely false. [del]Let alone, the blog in question doesn't even have a source.[/del][/QUOTE] Isn't that kind of the point of a jury? So they won't have a bias opinion.

Source? It really looks like politically spun bullshit right now, there's always another side to things. I'm going to reserve judgement until I see something credible. If the white jury thing is true, though, that woman's public defender is completely worthless. [editline]20th July 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31234898]The guy had committed two other hit and runs, both on the same day, back in '98. He got two years and served one. He did six months for killing the kid. THAT dude is well connected, it has to be. If I killed a kid on my THIRD hit and run, I'd do a lot more than six months. A mom struggling to bring her three young kids, and their shopping, home faced a choice of walking an extra half mile just to get across the street, or making a run for it. That sucks. [url=http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/pedestrian-convicted-of-vehicular-1014879.html]link[/url][/QUOTE] Oh, nevermind, here it is. Doesn't surprise me that he got such a light sentence, even after hitting two other people. I worked with a guy whose brother got drunk, hit and killed a pregnant woman. His parents spent a million someodd dollars on his defense and he got away with less than a year of jail. The guy still drinks and drives regularly. If you have money you can get away with anything. This woman clearly has no money, and therefore will be going to jail.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31234898]The guy had committed two other hit and runs, both on the same day, back in '98. He got two years and served one. He did six months for killing the kid. THAT dude is well connected, it has to be. If I killed a kid on my THIRD hit and run, I'd do a lot more than six months. A mom struggling to bring her three young kids, and their shopping, home faced a choice of walking an extra half mile just to get across the street, or making a run for it. That sucks. [url=http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/pedestrian-convicted-of-vehicular-1014879.html]link[/url][/QUOTE] Well in his defense if I were on a highway I don't know that I'd be looking for a kid in the road. Nowhere does it say when the accident occurred. Perhaps at night?

She should be charged with something else. Yes it's her fault the kid was killed but she didn't run him over. She got charged with the wrong crime.

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;31235247]Well in his defense if I were on a highway I don't know that I'd be looking for a kid in the road. Nowhere does it say when the accident occurred. Perhaps at night?[/QUOTE] Hit and run. We're not talking about "I was driving around and a kid jumped out in front of me." You only get to claim that if you stop. If you run, you are now a criminal. If the person you hit dies, now you are a criminal who killed someone while committing a crime. That's why he has no defense and plead guilty. However, he does seem to have an ace up his sleeve, since he did even less time for the third hit and run than he did for the first two(1 year vs 6 months). So here's a guy who is averaging 6 months in jail per hit and run, whether the victim dies or not. It has to be vast amounts of money or he has influential family or he is/was part of some organization that protects its own no matter what they do(law enforcement or medical come to mind).

Oh right hit and run. Welp I guess you're right

I wonder if she stepped out immediately in front of the bus. Traffic would be oblivious to her presence until she was in their lane.

This is mental.

While it was a tragic accident and it's primarily the drunk drivers fault obviously, she should have found another way to get home that didn't involve walking her children across a deathtrap. I think it's ridiculous to bring race into this just because the jury made a decision you disagreed with, you don't sit there and pull the race card because they concluded that jaywalking across a speedway with a bunch of young children was a careless action. Vote dumb all you want..its illegal to cross roads that way for exactly this reason.

[QUOTE=Noble;31238725]While it was a tragic accident and it's primarily the drunk drivers fault obviously, she should have found another way to get home that didn't involve walking her children across a deathtrap. I think it's ridiculous to bring race into this just because the jury made a decision you disagreed with, you don't sit there and pull the race card because they concluded that jaywalking across a speedway with a bunch of young children was a careless action.[/QUOTE] Well, maybe the city should put in a Pedestrian bridge or something like that, so people don't cross 5 lanes of traffic, because NO ONE is going to walk a half mile or whatever just to get to the other side of the road. I know I wouldn't want to.

[QUOTE=Atlascore;31237541]Atlanta Georgia, what a shitty place, it's stupid this even happened.[/QUOTE] You can't be racist in Atlanta. You would go fucking insane because Atlanta is like 90% black and I'm pretty sure that's the only place in Georgia Asians live too.

Read as Black Woman Charged with Vehicular [b]bombicide[/b] :smith:

Well it is illegal to cross freeways, but I don't know if it should be considered vehicular manslaughter.

[QUOTE=shatteredwindow;31241178]Well it is illegal to cross freeways, but I don't know if it should be considered vehicular manslaughter.[/QUOTE] Georgia.

Such a horrible year, eh?

Stay classy US justice system.