Can a criminal be charged for a crash he didn’t directly cause? July 28, 2007

A guy in Phoenix, Arizona stole a vehicle, the police got the stolen vehicle report, which began a police chase to catch up with him. The local news media sent their helicopters to catch the chase on film. Two of those helicopters, with a pilot and cameraman each, crashed into each other killing all 4 people on board.

This sounds like a pretty routine police chase, as far as that goes. And it’s pretty routine for the TV stations to cover it with helicopter teams. 

Here’s what caught my attention about this story:

The police chief, Jack Harris, said the suspect will likely face criminal charges for the deaths in the helicopter crash. “I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy,”  Harris said.

Off the top of my head, I said, “What? Is this for real? Can they DO that? Wow! Is he responsible for their flying into each other?”

Quotes by Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor seem to support my questions. Gregor told the Associated Press, ”Typically air traffic controllers clear helicopters into an area where they can cover a chase like this. Once they are in the area, the pilots themselves are responsible for keeping themselves separated from other aircraft.”

I usually feel we give way too much leeway to the criminals, but this one’s a stretch for me. Does this mean that if I’m having a medical emergency and the ambulance crashes on the way to pick me up that I could be considered responsible for that? I know, I know, he was committing a crime and I was not. But we all know how creative lawyers are these days. And some judges seem to have extra holes in their heads. How can judges rule that people aren’t fully responsible for their actions when they’re on drugs or alcohol, which they took of their own free choice, yet someone is responsible for a helicopter crash, flown by 2 trained pilots that, in a way, chose to be there? They weren’t just someone in the wrong place at the wrong time when a crime took place. Yet, we’ve all heard such rulings.

Yes, this is a tragedy in the truest since of the word, but someone isn’t always directly responsible and punishable whenever a tragedy occurs.

We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out but…

If I had a little money and the ambulance crashed on the way to get me, I’d be afraid for a good long time afterward.

Michael Rasmussen Out of the Tour de France? July 27, 2007

So Michael Rasmussen, the leader of the 2007 Tour de France, has been sent home by his own team for violating the team’s internal rules – and on the day he won the stage! What’s up with this? Rasmussen has been the race leader since July 15th and appeared likely to win the race when it ends on Sunday.

It seems Rasmussen missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28, saying he was in Mexico. But a former rider (Davide Cassani) said he saw Rasmussen in Italy in mid-June. He’s in Mexico for over 7 weeks? Or did he go twice? Why does he spend so much time in Mexico? If he was in Italy in mid-June, does that necessarily mean he’s STILL there at the END of June (the 28th)?

Those questions aside, my biggest question is:

What took so long to kick him out of the race – Why was he even allowed to START the race?

He has not tested positive for doping. Tour organizers said they would have stopped Rasmussen from racing at all IF they had known about the missed tests before the race started July 7th. But the International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid was quoted as saying, “My immediate reaction is, why didn’t they do this at the end of June, when they had the same information.”

So tour organizers claim they would not have let him race had they known, but it sounds like they did or should have known. And they still didn’t send him packing, or cycling, when they did find out. In the end it was his own team who kicked him out after letting him start, take the lead, and appear to have the win in his sights.

Why the delay? Bad press is good for business? If he wasn’t going to win, they would have let him continue? Somebody has a score to settle and was willing to see him lose but not win?

I have no problem with them kicking him out for breaking the rules. Lots of sports need to be cleaned up these days and they should enforce their rules. Just take the action immediately and don’t tease the fans for their own promos.

Off the top of my head, I can’t even tell you who’s the 2007 Tour de France leader right now.

I Could Solve the World’s Problems – If Only Someone Would Listen to Me July 24, 2007

I read the newspaper and watch the news every day. And I read or hear stories every day that don’t make sense to me. I know that I don’t look at things the way most people do and I often can’t figure out why the solutions to things are so hard for others to see. I always say that I tend to look at things from 180 degrees opposite everyone else. It seems to make the solutions to my own problems obvious, so I figure I could solve the world’s problems – if only someone would listen to me!

Sometimes I do additional research and dig deeper into a story to find out more so I can sort it all out. Even after that I’m often left wondering what is wrong with someone in the news story.

This is a place for me to share my observations and thoughts with anyone else who may be interested – whether you agree or not.