Truck Driver Gets 110yr Prison Sentence for an Accident & 3m People Sign Petition

[LevelUP]

Over 3 million sign petition to change 110-year jail sentence of truck driver in crash that killed 4
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/3-m...a-rcna9177

As a result of the verdict, truck drivers have refused to deliver to Colordo for the next 110 years until the verdict is overturned:
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/rogel-agu...tt-tiktok/

[Alpha]

In your own opinion, what would be a just sentence?

[ss20ts]

Part of driving a vehicle - any vehicle - is that you are taking responsibility for the operation and condition of that vehicle. This is a law in many states. His failure of using the emergency ramp is on him. He's supposed to be trained for this.

[dfrecore]

I'm not a fan of 110 years for an accident, whether he failed to use the emergency ramp or not. That's just a ridiculous sentence for an accident. They drug and alcohol tested him, and he was not DWI, so again, that's just insane.

If I was a truck driver, I wouldn't go to Colorado either. If it can happen to that guy, then it can happen to any truck driver that gets in an accident. I wouldn't take the chance. It's just not a good plan to go there.

[LevelUP]

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos testimony
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/10/15/i...testimony/
https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime...6425f58ddc

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos could have taken the runaway ramp and avoided the accident. That is true.  

Sully Sullenberger should have turned back and landed at the airport rather than landing in Huston Bay, destroying a multi-million dollar airplane and putting people's lives at risk.  Should we grab him and throw him in prison?

Many people that drove Toyota Cars that had unintended acceleration ended up wreaking their cars when they could have avoided the wreck by shifting their cars to neutral or holding the power button for exactly 3 seconds to turn off their cars.  Should we start rounding up these people and throwing them in prison for assault?

What about people that get a tire blowout and touch another vehicle when they lose control of the car.  Should this be a mandatory 10yr prison sentence for assault?

We could ban all people from driving until they have an engineering level of understanding of their cars and complete inspection of their cars every time they hit the road.  Or have a zero-tolerance law that put anyone in prison for 10yrs for any accident.  That would make driving a lot safer.

As for the rich and famous, there will, of course, be exceptions to this rule, and they won't be doing any long prison times.  If you are famous like Alec Baldwin, you can literally shoot and kill a person with a gun and get away with it.

[freeloader]

For the past 35 years the Republican Party has fought for and passed mandatory minimum sentence laws. Colorado’s sentencing laws date to GOP policies of the 1990s when “tough on crime” was the rallying cry of the party.

The prosecutor in this case had a choice: he could pursue charges that were effectively a life sentence OR could reduce charges to a moving violation that would have resulted in a fine. Because of Colorado’s laws, there was no middle ground.

When you support Republican legislators and they pass Republican legislation, you have to deal with Republican consequences. That includes the occasional 110 year sentence for a truck driver for what was clearly an accident.

[LevelUP]

For the past 35 years the Republican Party has fought for and passed mandatory minimum sentence laws. Colorado’s sentencing laws date to GOP policies of the 1990s when “tough on crime” was the rallying cry of the party.

The prosecutor in this case had a choice: he could pursue charges that were effectively a life sentence OR could reduce charges to a moving violation that would have resulted in a fine. Because of Colorado’s laws, there was no middle ground.

When you support Republican legislators and they pass Republican legislation, you have to deal with Republican consequences. That includes the occasional 110 year sentence for a truck driver for what was clearly an accident.

I doubt voters are smart enough to know where laws come from.

If Republicans rally around Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, and you have a Democrat Governer of Colorado, then it will look like the Democrats are stepping down on the working man and putting an innocent Cuban immigrant in prison.

Let Rogel Aguilera-Mederos stay in prison till the next Governor's election in 2022 so a Republican can then rally all the working men and Latino vote and campaign on freeing Rogel Aguilera-Mederos.  Checkmate.  GG.

It will look like a swamp move if Rogel Aguilera-Mederos is freed just before the election so you may as well free him now.

[Alpha]

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos testimony
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/10/15/i...testimony/
https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime...6425f58ddc

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos could have taken the runaway ramp and avoided the accident. That is true.  

Sully Sullenberger should have turned back and landed at the airport rather than landing in Huston Bay, destroying a multi-million dollar airplane and putting people's lives at risk.  Should we grab him and throw him in prison?

Many people that drove Toyota Cars that had unintended acceleration ended up wreaking their cars when they could have avoided the wreck by shifting their cars to neutral or holding the power button for exactly 3 seconds to turn off their cars.  Should we start rounding up these people and throwing them in prison for assault?

What about people that get a tire blowout and touch another vehicle when they lose control of the car.  Should this be a mandatory 10yr prison sentence for assault?

We could ban all people from driving until they have an engineering level of understanding of their cars and complete inspection of their cars every time they hit the road.  Or have a zero-tolerance law that put anyone in prison for 10yrs for any accident.  That would make driving a lot safer.

As for the rich and famous, there will, of course, be exceptions to this rule, and they won't be doing any long prison times.  If you are famous like Alec Baldwin, you can literally shoot and kill a person with a gun and get away with it.

From a legal perspective, none of that is relevant to the case that you originally presented.

[ss20ts]

Sully Sullenberger should have turned back and landed at the airport rather than landing in Huston Bay, destroying a multi-million dollar airplane and putting people's lives at risk.  Should we grab him and throw him in prison?

The plane would have been destroyed no matter what. The engines were gone because geese flew into both of them. He would never have made it to any airport. He did consider it. And it wasn't Huston Bay - whatever that is. It was the Hudson River. Sully saved lives. No one died because of his actions. 

This is entirely different than a man who drove a tractor trailer with brakes that weren't in proper working order and then killed 4 people.

[LevelUP]

From a legal perspective, none of that is relevant to the case that you originally presented.

Those are all accidents too involving a malfunctioning vehicle.  And you could make a legal case they are ALL guilty. 

Sully Sullenberger should have turned back and landed at the airport rather than landing in Huston Bay, destroying a multi-million dollar airplane and putting people's lives at risk.  Should we grab him and throw him in prison?

The plane would have been destroyed no matter what. The engines were gone because geese flew into both of them. He would never have made it to any airport. He did consider it. And it wasn't Huston Bay - whatever that is. It was the Hudson River. Sully saved lives. No one died because of his actions. 

This is entirely different than a man who drove a tractor trailer with brakes that weren't in proper working order and then killed 4 people.

Actually, that is a fact he would have made it to the airport that he took off from.  That was proven in a simulator.  The plane would have been ok, engines can be swapped. 

In hindsight, it's pretty easy to Monday morning quarterback these things.