Originally Posted by
degnaw
I'm all for holding people accountable, with license suspensions, paying large restitutions, community service, possibly a few days or weeks in jail depending on the circumstance.
The question is, should someone, likely with no criminal record and little to no previous accidents, be locked away for several years just because of a momentary lapse of attention? Keep in mind a serious indictment with jail time will basically ruin a person's career and social standing.
(i'm not referring to this specific case, as sleep apnea is a different situation)
I think we're pretty much on the same page, then. We have a program out here where people have to go in on weekends and do cleanup work on the highways each weekend. Maybe a couple of years of that in their off time will also give them time to think about paying attention to driving.
My bet is that the county will settle any lawsuit instead of allowing it to go to court, where the complainant can bring out the schedule that the deputies work.
For the person that asked, we are not getting the whole story, since the other Sheriff's Dept officers removed the driver from the scene before the investigating agency, the CHP, got there. They also advised him to keep quiet instead of letting him talk and documenting what he said. That's one of the reasons that folks around here believe he got off lightly, and that the Dept hindered the investigation. My personal belief is that those other deputies that did that should be either heavily reprimanded or lose their jobs.