Woman Charged With Murder After Driving Drunk Into a Party, Killing 2 Children

[Anonymous]

Sickening story. Curious why they are charging the deaths as murder; presumably they'll downgrade unless there is something more going on (like she thought her husband was drinking there, as one witness speculated).

If this wasn't an intentional act, a 66-year old with no criminal history will probably get a relatively light sentence. Sucks for the victims but that's how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sickening story. Curious why they are charging the deaths as murder; presumably they'll downgrade unless there is something more going on (like she thought her husband was drinking there, as one witness speculated).

If this wasn't an intentional act, a 66-year old with no criminal history will probably get a relatively light sentence. Sucks for the victims but that's how it goes.

The sentences for DWI never cease to amaze me. Brian Schwartz, rich white man from Columbia Maryland was at a work happy hour with his colleagues who witnessed him downing a more than 6 drinks, left and crashed his Mercedes into a 17 year old black kid Esai López who was riding his bicycle. He left the kid for roadkill rather than call for help, and didn't get charged with DWI because he hit and ran and didn't turn himself in for days by which time his blood alcohol level was back to normal. Despite killing that kid, he served just a few weeks in jail. But Lopez’s family was poor and not able to keep the story in the media.

https://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene...il-after-deadly.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sickening story. Curious why they are charging the deaths as murder; presumably they'll downgrade unless there is something more going on (like she thought her husband was drinking there, as one witness speculated).

If this wasn't an intentional act, a 66-year old with no criminal history will probably get a relatively light sentence. Sucks for the victims but that's how it goes.

The sentences for DWI never cease to amaze me. Brian Schwartz, rich white man from Columbia Maryland was at a work happy hour with his colleagues who witnessed him downing a more than 6 drinks, left and crashed his Mercedes into a 17 year old black kid Esai López who was riding his bicycle. He left the kid for roadkill rather than call for help, and didn't get charged with DWI because he hit and ran and didn't turn himself in for days by which time his blood alcohol level was back to normal. Despite killing that kid, he served just a few weeks in jail. But Lopez’s family was poor and not able to keep the story in the media.

https://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene...il-after-deadly.html

And none of those colleagues thought to call him a cab?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The woman in this case could have had myriad reasons for behaviors which resulted in this unfortunate circumstance.

Don’t rush to judgement here.

Look no further. It's because of muddled and confused thinking such as the above that society is in the mess it's in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sickening story. Curious why they are charging the deaths as murder; presumably they'll downgrade unless there is something more going on (like she thought her husband was drinking there, as one witness speculated).

If this wasn't an intentional act, a 66-year old with no criminal history will probably get a relatively light sentence. Sucks for the victims but that's how it goes.

The sentences for DWI never cease to amaze me. Brian Schwartz, rich white man from Columbia Maryland was at a work happy hour with his colleagues who witnessed him downing a more than 6 drinks, left and crashed his Mercedes into a 17 year old black kid Esai López who was riding his bicycle. He left the kid for roadkill rather than call for help, and didn't get charged with DWI because he hit and ran and didn't turn himself in for days by which time his blood alcohol level was back to normal. Despite killing that kid, he served just a few weeks in jail. But Lopez’s family was poor and not able to keep the story in the media.

https://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene...il-after-deadly.html

And none of those colleagues thought to call him a cab?

Apparently not:

http://www.gazette.net/stories/041608/montnew195536_32402.shtml
After less than a week in jail and six weeks in a work-release program, the Columbia man who killed 17-year-old Esai Lopez of Gaithersburg in a hit-and-run collision last year has been transferred to home confinement to serve the rest of his one-year sentence.
The March 28 transfer of Brian Schwartz, 43, from a county work-release program to home confinement has left the Lopez family irate with the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office for steering them toward a plea deal that could allow such an outcome.
Schwartz, who struck Lopez as he crossed Redland Road near Muncaster Mill Road with friends July 31, had been at a happy hour before the collision. He and three colleagues consumed 27 alcoholic drinks, according to police records. Schwartz did not admit to drinking, but his colleagues said the entire group was drinking, according to police records.

After hitting Lopez with his BMW, Schwartz fled the scene and replaced the car’s windshield before turning himself in to police three days later, according to police.

[Anonymous]

My guess is that she is an alcoholic who had a disease. I have a friend like this and she would want to kill herself if she did this. And I can see her doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s been having epileptic type seizures for 5 months, she’s on an anti seizure medication, she chose to mix wine with that medication and then drive. That’s all per her defense attorney. In the eyes of the law she’s presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, and that’s fine, but there’s no reason why the rest of us need to reserve our judgment. She made very poor choices and killed and maimed people as a result.

Yeah, even her defense is damning. But it's far less bad than one of the boat club witnesses who is saying that she drove into the building intentionally to hit where she thought her husband would be sitting at the bar.

Healthcare is unaffordable even for the wealthy.

Irrelevant, she was under the care of a doctor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that she is an alcoholic who had a disease. I have a friend like this and she would want to kill herself if she did this. And I can see her doing it.

And by the way, she has spent so much money and time on this disease. It's heartbreaking. I am not sure it's fair to see it as a moral failure when she relapses. I also feel like maybe I should take away her keys but I can't do that even if I tried. Denial is a huge part of the disease.

[Anonymous]

Are there any cars that have automatic braking for situations like this? I know full self driving is a work in progress but I wonder if there are any cars that have the technology to recognize that they are off the roadway or are about to hit a person/bike/stopped car/building and will simply stop.

I fancy myself a competent driver but someday I will get older or will develop a medical condition where I would be willing to crack open my dusty wallet for a car with this technology. I would hate to be the driver in this situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any cars that have automatic braking for situations like this? I know full self driving is a work in progress but I wonder if there are any cars that have the technology to recognize that they are off the roadway or are about to hit a person/bike/stopped car/building and will simply stop.

I fancy myself a competent driver but someday I will get older or will develop a medical condition where I would be willing to crack open my dusty wallet for a car with this technology. I would hate to be the driver in this situation.

We aren't that old but already shell out for automatic breaks and such--it's pretty common on cars manufactured later than 2019. Apparently the drunk driver hit a truck first and then plowed into the building fast enough to go 25 feet into the building.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/04/23/monroe-county-boat-club-crash-suspect-mother-lawsuit/73423296007/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One witness who was a member of the boat club said this woman is often seen drunk driving. In this case, they believe she hit a truck on the main road driving home from the bar, and took off towards the boat club to avoid being caught. She was speeding and flew through a speed bump that launched her car out of control into the space where the birthday party was going on.

This can’t be blamed on anything but the choices this woman made. She is a danger to society and deserves to be locked up for a long time.

Likely she was self-medicating for a condition or something which was not her fault at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One witness who was a member of the boat club said this woman is often seen drunk driving. In this case, they believe she hit a truck on the main road driving home from the bar, and took off towards the boat club to avoid being caught. She was speeding and flew through a speed bump that launched her car out of control into the space where the birthday party was going on.

This can’t be blamed on anything but the choices this woman made. She is a danger to society and deserves to be locked up for a long time.

Likely she was self-medicating for a condition or something which was not her fault at all.

Ridiculous.

My SIL, who has severe epilepsy, is regularly evaluated by her state to make sure she is still eligible to drive. She fully complies, even though bring without a license where she lives would be a real hardship. She would never want to risk hurting someone.

That's what a decent human being does. Driving is a privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One witness who was a member of the boat club said this woman is often seen drunk driving. In this case, they believe she hit a truck on the main road driving home from the bar, and took off towards the boat club to avoid being caught. She was speeding and flew through a speed bump that launched her car out of control into the space where the birthday party was going on.

This can’t be blamed on anything but the choices this woman made. She is a danger to society and deserves to be locked up for a long time.

Likely she was self-medicating for a condition or something which was not her fault at all.

Ridiculous.

My SIL, who has severe epilepsy, is regularly evaluated by her state to make sure she is still eligible to drive. She fully complies, even though bring without a license where she lives would be a real hardship. She would never want to risk hurting someone.

That's what a decent human being does. Driving is a privilege.

+1 She made a choice to drive drunk. And injured 18 people. And killed 2 kids. She doesn't get a pass on that and to make up medical excuses when if she were that impaired with seizures, she shouldn't have been driving in the first place (let alone mixing drugs and alcohol and driving). I hope they lock her up for a decade+.

[Anonymous]

Wow. Given all the background info, she needs to be behind bars. For years, she has exhibited a serious, and now fatal, lack of judgement about her addiction and medical state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One witness who was a member of the boat club said this woman is often seen drunk driving. In this case, they believe she hit a truck on the main road driving home from the bar, and took off towards the boat club to avoid being caught. She was speeding and flew through a speed bump that launched her car out of control into the space where the birthday party was going on.

This can’t be blamed on anything but the choices this woman made. She is a danger to society and deserves to be locked up for a long time.

Likely she was self-medicating for a condition or something which was not her fault at all.

Ridiculous.

My SIL, who has severe epilepsy, is regularly evaluated by her state to make sure she is still eligible to drive. She fully complies, even though bring without a license where she lives would be a real hardship. She would never want to risk hurting someone.

That's what a decent human being does. Driving is a privilege.

I agree. I have a friend with epilepsy and she also is a very careful and responsible driver.