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Man faces fifth OUI charge after slamming into a bicyclist in Watertown, police say
By adamg on Sun, 06/20/2021 - 1:11pm
Watertown News has the details on the Arlington Street crash (scroll down a page).
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Comments
Five times?
This person needs to be locked up for a long time.
This person should definitely
This person should definitely never again be issued any form of driver's license.
There should be no such thing
There should be no such thing as a fifth OUI because dangerous criminals like that should be sentenced to life in prison after 3 or 4. They have repeatedly shown they are fine with potentially killing people so they cannot be part of society.
Agreed
First offense (OUI or Wreckless plea bargain) = suspension
Second offense (OUI or reckless driving plea bargain) = some jail, permanent revokation
Third = 10 years in prison
Fourth? Life.
Sadly, too many OUI lawyers and participants in the legislature to have the gonadal tissue to tackle this obvious public safety hazard.
the breathalyzer problems
In February 2017 a judge ruled that the breathalyzer machine police in Massachusetts were using produced unreliable results. At that time, Boston District Court Judge Robert Brennan decided that any breath test results from any Dräger 9510 machine from June of 2012 to September 14, 2014 are scientifically unreliable.
https://www.oberhauserlaw.com/mass-breathalyzer-problem-updates/?sfw=pas...
It is having an ongoing effect on on oui prosecution.
Don't need a breathalizer
Blood samples are scientifically reliable.
But what we really need is to raise the penalties for reckless driving such that it doesn't matter. Drunk - nailed. Stoned - nailed. Prescription Rx - nailed. Aggro - nailed.
Even if you refuse a test, you will still be nailed based on the way you were driving, which is as it should be. The rest is just a distraction and a convenient plea bargaining game.
People can refuse blood tests here
Unless they go to the hospital and then doctors by law are required to draw blood (FYI they don’t always honor the request).
The recent prevalence of body cameras has done wonders for OUI prosecutions though too. Seeing someone on camera failing a sobriety test or just talking in general is almost enough in itself to be found guilty. Juries want scientific evidence like breath tests and blood tests but those aren’t admissible in Massachusetts courts anyway!
Also first offense OUIs are continued without a finding and then dismissed (with about 10k in fees) if the person doesn’t get another OUI during the “continued” period. If they get an OUI after that it can’t be used against them because the first one is “dismissed”.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I present you with why so many people are killed by drunks in Massachusetts. You've gotta be deliriously drunk and hope the cop has a camera in order to be convicted.
What is the alternative?
Convicting people of crimes without proof beyond a reasonable doubt? If a cop says someone was drunk, automatic guilty, right to jail?
Convict them of reckless driving
We get so caught up in BAC that we forget that it is ultimately the shitty driving that kills people.
Up the penalties for reckless driving and you don't even have to be drunk - just driving dangerously.
This
Rather than endlessly getting caught up in the technicalities of impairment, just make people responsible for the fact that they chose to drive while in an impaired condition and it resulted in reckless driving. The cause doesn't matter.
Because people won't
A jury in Cambridge found a garbage truck driver not responsible for backing over a pedestrian in the crosswalk. This is despite the fact that the truck was in an intersection and although the vehicle had a backup camera it was broken. They determined that the pedestrian crossed against the light and since they found head phones next to the body the pedestrian wasn't paying attention. Which light makes it legal to back up in a fourway intersection, I forget?
I personally sat on a jury for a reckless/negligent driving case. Despite the fact that the defendant was riding a minicycle without lights or signals in the dark or that said defendant caused a crash or that this non street legal vehicle was in such poor repair that its chain broke when he jumped up or off the curb my fellow jurist were reluctant to call this reckless. I had to settle for negligent.
How does he have a license after four OUI convictions?
I assume he somehow has a valid one, because he wasn't also charged with driving on a suspended or revoked license.
Because
This state doesn't give a shit about motor vehicle homicides or maimings
People drive without a
People drive without a license. I know of someone with a suspended license but still drove anyways. When he was pulled over, since they have not been arresting for low level crimes, he got off until the court cases (which he has not had yet. Hopefully they will throw the book at him. He totaled his car, which he could register, without a license.
Wow. It looks like Watertown
Wow. It looks like Watertown police has nothing better to do than enforce some laws. These arrests would never be made in Boston.
Ooh, did you need some burn cream
After typing such a hot take?
Since only the police were
Since only the police were called , this data won’t be added to Vision Zero (only bike accidents that involve EMT are recorded.) and Boston will
Continue to appear that it’s becoming safer for bike commuters when in reality it isn’t
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/583e2036be0b4a359be5efe0a6c33f25
“ The data used by Vision Zero is drawn from emergency medical response reports instead of police reports. The data does not capture crashes in which EMS was not called, nor is it reported to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Despite the Mayor's plans, 36 pedestrians and 8 cyclists have already been killed in motor-vehicle related accidents in 2020 according to WalkBoston, a pedestrian advocacy group. The group collects its data through social media posts and news reports. This data is not reflected on Vision Zero's website.”
Not Boston
Since IT DIDN'T HAPPEN IN BOSTON it wouldn't have been added to the Vision Zero stats anyway.
True , still worth pointing
True , still worth pointing out the skew of vision zeros data.
Also it literally borders Allston/Brighton
It’s not like vehicular manslaughter cares about town lines
Sounds like Watertown
Watertown has had some of the worst/scariest drivers of all the Cambridge-vicinity towns I've cycled in.
Don't worry, guys
I'm sure they'll slap him on both wrists this time.
From the Watertown PD arrest
From the Watertown PD arrest log;
https://www.watertownpd.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/415