Justice has been served! A mother who dared to walk her children across a street was charged with vehicular homicide after a driver who had been drinking hit one of her children with his car. Wait, what? Seriously, what in the fuck:
A Marietta mother whose child was hit and killed by a driver who had been drinking may serve more time than the driver, according to various news reports.
Raquel Nelson, now 30, was attempting to cross an intersection of Austell Road in Marietta with her three young children when her 4-year-old son was struck by a hit-and-run driver in April 2010, according to news reports. The boy, A.J., died from his injuries.
Nelson’s 9-year-old daughter was unharmed, and Nelson and her 2-year-old daughter suffered minor injuries.
[…]
At a court hearing July 26, Nelson could be sentenced to up to 36 months in prison, said her attorney, David Savoy.
Nelson was convicted this week of homicide by vehicle in the second degree, crossing a roadway elsewhere than at a crosswalk and reckless conduct, according to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Additional information can be found in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Jerry L. Guy, the driver who admitted hitting the child when pleading guilty to hit-and-run, served a 6-month sentence. He was released Oct. 29, 2010, and will serve the remainder of a 5-year sentence on probation, according to Cobb court records.
[…]
Guy confessed to having consumed “a little” alcohol earlier in the day, being prescribed pain medication and being partially blind in his left eye, said David Simpson, his attorney.
In summary a mother was walking her three children across the street, one was hit by a man who was driving and had at least some alcohol, the driver spent six months in jail, and the mother is looking at 36 months. Her only crime? Walking across the street outside of a crosswalk.
Yup, because she was outside of a crosswalk (and honestly there may have been no crosswalks for miles, they’re availability is quite sporadic in many cities) she’s been convicted of vehicular homicide, a charge carrying a maximum prison sentence of 36 months, while the man who hit and killed her child only spent six months in the clink. Where the fuck is the justice in that?
I also forgot one minor detail:
Court records show that Guy was previously convicted of two-hit-and-runs on the same day, Feb. 17, 1997.
The first hit-and-run also happened on Austell Road, but when Guy fled from that scene he hit another car, seriously injuring that driver and passenger, records show.
So this isn’t the first time the driver had hit somebody and caused injury.