Reply #21: An old man did much the same in Santa Monica a few years back [View All]

[Cronus Protagonist]

He had a history of driving reckelssly and he drove into a farmer's market and killed several people, drove over some of them and severly injured a lot more. He got away with it. I know someone who was narrowly missed and he saw the old man just staring straight ahead, eyes wide open, acting as if nothing was happening. He never hit the brakes.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/07/16/farmers.market.crash/index.html

Nine (in the end, it was ten) people were killed, including a 3-year-old girl, authorities said. The more than 54 hurt include 14 people with critical injuries, they said. Two of those critically injured are under the age of 2.

And the result of his trial?

Suspended sentence.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=4778820

Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson said he agreed completely with the jury and called Weller's actions callous and showing "an enormous indifference to human life."

...

"Mr. Weller chose to steer into the people, plowing into the crowd and literally launching bodies into the air as his car sped 2½ blocks," the judge said. The judge also called Weller's apologies hollow.

...

Weller could have received up to 18 years in prison, but the judge said Weller's health problems including severe heart disease would make him a burden on prison authorities and taxpayers, and that imprisonment would most likely kill Weller.