Comment by cathyray on April 21, 2011 at 8:52am

no mention of the drunk asshole that killed 4 kids?

Comment by Masshole in Fringecrest on April 21, 2011 at 9:57am

too depressing. too "mainstream".

Comment by once banned twice shy on April 21, 2011 at 10:08am

no mention of the drunk asshole that killed 4 kids?

 

Errm....a jury acquitted him of the vehicular homicide charges.  So no, he did not kill the kids.  Here's the thing:  the crash occurred in his lane and there was no evidence of his car swerving from one lane to the other, as the kids said he did.  Sorry, but that kind of tells me that the kids may indeed have been fucking around and screwed up.

I was a teenager once and did really stupid shit with my car right after I got my license.  A friend of mine and I once "raced" up Central on a Saturday night (her behind me) and she decided she wanted to pass me and cut me off.  Problem was that she didn't have the driving experience to predict what her car was going to do once she gave it the gas and she and her car jumped the median, went for a distance in the oncoming lanes of traffic and then she jumped the median again and came to rest on Maple over there by the Copper Lounge.  Fortunately, there was no traffic around at the time, so we escaped unscathed, except her car had four flattened tires.  We called her dad and lied our asses off as to the cause of the incident.  So yeah, teenagers can and do lie.  Particularly when they think the consequences will be dire.

Comment by cathyray on April 21, 2011 at 11:27am

okay, I'm off my angry high horse. I was also young & extremely stupid in my time & am lucky to even be here. I don't doubt the jury's decision & looked at the evidence & had to "technically" agree. I just can't help but feel for the parents & that pain clouds my vision.

Comment by Todmaninnm on April 21, 2011 at 11:39am

Pretty cold blooded to blame the victims once banned twice shy.

I believe it is fact that being over a .16 when driving (2x the legal limit in NM) leads to poor judgement and poor reaction time.  I saw that at least one eyewitness said the accused didn't even check on the victims conditions before trying to unload a motorcycle from his truck to flee the scene.  To top it off this admitted drunk driver thought he was headed the other way.

There is no excuse now for driving drunk.  We have to stop this behavior from happening, but how I don't know

Comment by once banned twice shy on April 21, 2011 at 1:33pm

Pretty cold blooded to blame the victims once banned twice shy. 

Seems to me that everyone involved in this crash was a victim.  Some people hear "drunk driver!" and automatically assume all blame goes to the drunk driver.  Not so.  Now, did he make a mistake driving drunk?  You bet.  He served nearly two years in jail--more than if he'd been convicted of the DWI.  Let's hope this sad accident causes him to swear off drinking and driving for the rest of his life.  

Also, your facts are bit skewed.  Dude was driving a Jeep and if you see the aftermath pictures, it's pretty impossible to imagine him a)getting out and b)being able to extract a motorcycle that wouldn't even fit in the thing to "flee."  I also don't know where you get your facts about him stating he didn't know which way he was going.  Is it possible that he was a bit confused after hitting a car head-on?  I have talked to people after car crashes and they are often really confused and not quite sure about what happened--and yes, that includes what direction they or the car that hit them were heading.

Comment by Masshole in Fringecrest on April 21, 2011 at 1:54pm

It was also a Santa Fe story, not an Albuquerque one. (Although DWI is an issue for all in NM).

Comment by Todmaninnm on April 21, 2011 at 2:19pm

Ok, here are some sources for my earlier post:

From what he saw, Owens definitely wasn’t speeding, but was driving on the wrong side of the road. “He was in our lane…He realized what happened and swerved into them,” McReynolds says.
http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-4605-accused-dwi-driver-s...

Several teens took the stand Tuesday to testify that they saw Owens driving in the wrong lane. The defense tried to poke holes in the testimony, making the case that the teens’ car was actually at fault in the crash.
http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2065766.shtml?cat=0

Besides describing the carnage at the crash scene, McReynolds' 911 call, played in court Tuesday, also gave police dispatchers the first glimpse of Owens' actions immediately after the crash. When asked to check on the driver of the Jeep, McReynolds obliged. "He's struggling to put his pants on," McReynolds told a dispatcher. It is unclear why Owens' pants were off. "He sounds pretty drunk or out of it," McReynolds added. "I have no idea."

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/local%20news/scott-owens-trial-Tee...

When a deputy arrived at the scene, he found Owens, who had not been wearing a seat belt, attempting to take a motorcycle out of the back of his Cherokee, Garcia said. Owens, who was able to walk around, was not attempting to help the injured teens, he said.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Teens-killed-in-colli...

I just do not believe this drunk was a victim of anything but incredibly poor judgement that lead to others deaths.

Comment by Adelita on April 21, 2011 at 2:38pm

I heard from a SF resident who knows some of the kids involved that the kid that was driving didn't actually have a license, only a permit.

Comment by cathyray on April 21, 2011 at 2:54pm

the whole thing is tragic, wrong place, wrong time, wrong drunk, wrong teenagers

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