Drunk drivers should be dropped in the ocean
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jrjo
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 Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:10 Post subject: Drunk drivers should be dropped in the ocean
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/9737635.htm
| Quote: | Pain and punishment
PUBLIC SAFETY: A man receives four years in the drunken-driving deaths of a mother and daughter.
BY JANNA GOERDT
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
The car was crushed -- and with it, so was a family.
When Sean Kelly, 24, of Minnetonka, Minn., crashed his car head-on into the Hunter family car outside of Carlton last year, "he destroyed eight innocent lives," said family friend Bruce Ellingson. Two of those lives were lost, and the rest were changed forever.
Carolee Hunter, 46, and Caiya Hunter, 8, both died at the scene of the crash on July 10, 2003. Four other Hunter children in the car were injured.
Ellingson brought the remains of his friends' car to Carlton on Wednesday for Kelly's sentencing -- graphically illustrating the devastating effects of drunken driving.
Kelly was sentenced to four years in prison, with 11 years, eight months of probation to follow. If Kelly violates any terms of his probation, he will automatically serve another seven years.
Kelly had a blood-alcohol content of 0.11 percent two hours after the crash, and also had traces of marijuana in his system. It was Kelly's second drunken-driving incident.
The Hunter family was traveling from their home in Park River, N.D., to the campground at Jay Cooke State Park, where husband and father Peter Hunter was staying while he looked for work.
But the family never arrived.
"I'd like to crawl in a hole and die," Peter Hunter said during a victim impact statement before Carlton County Judge Dale Wolf. "I'd like to run away from it all, but I can't."
Peter Hunter is the only parent left for his five children now, and "Dad's lap is harder than mom's," he said. "No one can replace a mom."
Kelly expressed remorse for his actions. The young man's hands trembled as he faced the Hunter family and read a prepared statement.
"Not a day goes by that I don't think of this," Kelly read. "Mr. Hunter, the biggest burden has fallen on you. I don't expect you to forgive me. If there was any way to reverse my actions, I would do so.
"To the Hunter children, I feel helpless for the pain you are feeling," Kelly said. "I deserve to be punished. I know that nothing I do will make up for this incredible loss of life. I only hope some day God can forgive me, because I know I can never forgive myself."
Members of Kelly's family wept silently during Kelly's statement.
Though defense attorney Michael Colich asked for leniency in the sentencing, Hunter family members pointed out that Kelly had made a series of choices that led to the fatal crash.
Kelly had been charged with drunken driving in Hennepin County in 2001, Judge Wolf said, and had pleaded that charge down to careless driving.
"I do know that action might have missed an early opportunity for intervention," Wolf said. "It might have prevented these events."
Kelly was returning from a Wisconsin courthouse where he had paid a fine for a drug-related offense on the day of the fatal crash. He had stopped for several hours of drinking at a local bar.
"This wasn't an accident," Ellingson said. "This was a choice, a terrible choice."
"It's been hard getting along," said Carissa Hunter, 18. She was home alone in North Dakota when the crash occurred.
"The worst is not being able to talk to my mom any more," she said. "We talked about everything."
Carla Symons, Carolee Hunter's only sibling, spoke of the close bond the family shared.
"Carolee was such a loving mother," Symons said. "Everything centered around her family."
Family members milled around outside the courthouse after the sentencing, some looking at the Hunters' crushed car, others talking among themselves.
The maroon Dodge Intrepid was smashed open along the driver's side. Blood was splashed along the interior roof, and deployed airbags were still visible inside. Some of the family's belongings were still in the car. Pillows were piled on the back seat, and a used McDonald's cup was in the debris.
"It's the first time a car like this has been brought to a sentencing here, from what I'm aware," said Patty Wheeler, a victim's advocate for the St. Louis County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "I think it's a good thing."
Wheeler said people often look at drunken driving "as a minor thing, like everybody does it. But here's the reality," she said, looking at the Hunters' crushed car. |
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jrjo
Gone Fishin
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:11 Post subject:
I'm sorry.. you use a handgun or a knife or your stinkin' car with a .11 blood alcohol level, it's all the same. 4-years behind bars is not even a smidgen of justice.
You drink, you drive, people die.
When will this country wake up?!
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robp
Pyromaniac
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Location: Waiting in line at the beer store...
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:14 Post subject:
4 years is a joke, especially with his previous track record.
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Cappy
Excelent
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:15 Post subject:
I agree jrjo. 4 years is a disgrace.
The penalty's for DUIs need to be looked at once again. Drunk Drivers get off way to easy, heck most of them still drive even while they have had their licenses suspended or revoked
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MastrBrewr
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:17 Post subject:
| robp wrote: | | 4 years is a joke, especially with his previous track record. |
Big f'ing 
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brie k
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:17 Post subject:
That's just not right, 4 years?
How sad. So very sad.
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akern
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:21 Post subject:
| Cappy wrote: | I agree jrjo. 4 years is a disgrace.
The penalty's for DUIs need to be looked at once again. Drunk Drivers get off way to easy, heck most of them still drive even while they have had their licenses suspended or revoked |
I agree. My brother is on #5 and still hasn't seen any jail time. 
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cherylpf
crazy cat lady
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:25 Post subject:
| jrjo wrote: | You drink, you drive, people die.
When will this country wake up?! |
Unfortunately not anytime soon I'm afraid.
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shelflifers
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:28 Post subject:
| akern wrote: |
I agree. My brother is on #5 and still hasn't seen any jail time. |
My BIL just got his 4th....gonna do 90 days in the slamma... what an embarassment... 
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runaroundsue
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:32 Post subject:
I'm a firm believer of jail time for first offense, no matter what your level is. It works.
I disagree with the statement that the driver made a choice to drive. He did not. You don't make a conscious decision when you are drunk. You act on habit. If this guy had a habit of calling a cab when he was somewhat sober, he'd do the same when he's in the bag. Jail time scares drunks, they don't want to be locked up with people of other offenses. They will form good habits after serving time.
I also don't think the sentence was lenient. He will be reformed in 1/4 that amount time
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jrjo
Gone Fishin
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 10:56 Post subject:
| cherylpf wrote: |
Unfortunately not anytime soon I'm afraid. |
We are just a bass-ackwards society.
Here we have the strongest opinions in the world over the 1,100 lost lives in Iraq (which don't get me wrong is warranted) but we have 17,000 people dying each year back home from intoxicated dopes.
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/RNotes/2004/809780.pdf
It just turns me blue with fury 
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spongebob
Former FFL Champion
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 11:02 Post subject:
The drunk driver that hit my family head on and put me through the windshield was on his 4th offense. He was up to 7 offenses before I started high school 3 years later.
Society tends to have more pity for the offenders than their victims...
You shouldn't put them in jail for drinking too much.
You can't take away their car - how will they get to work?
They just had a few too many.
It probably won't happen again.
Nobody should have to pay a lifetime for one small mistake.
They didn't mean to hurt anyone.
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runaroundsue
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 11:03 Post subject:
| akern wrote: |
I agree. My brother is on #5 and still hasn't seen any jail time. |
your kidding???? I thought it was 3rd offense....or maybe it's state to state
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runaroundsue
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 11:04 Post subject:
| shelflifers wrote: |
My BIL just got his 4th....gonna do 90 days in the slamma... what an embarassment... |
does he get work release?
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AlaninTX
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Posted: 09/23/04 - 11:06 Post subject:
Wow, just 4 years? You pull an automatic 10-years in Texas is someone is killed or seriously injuried.
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