3 killed in crash on River Road

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What he did was horrible, but he is an immature young man who made a tragic error in judgment. Whenever he completes his sentence (and I agree in hoping it is a long one), he can still do something worthwhile with his life. The fact that he'll have to live with what he's done is probably worse than any other penalty he might receive.

An error in judgement is driving 5-15 miles over the speed limit and causing an accident.

Driving 70-80 miles over the speed limit and killing three people is willful negligence and should be punished harshly. Calling it an error in judgment is like trying to equate a kid stealing bubblegum from a drug store with a teen who breaks into a house to rob them and shooting the homeowner because the homeowner tried to protect themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What he did was horrible, but he is an immature young man who made a tragic error in judgment. Whenever he completes his sentence (and I agree in hoping it is a long one), he can still do something worthwhile with his life. The fact that he'll have to live with what he's done is probably worse than any other penalty he might receive.

An error in judgement is driving 5-15 miles over the speed limit and causing an accident.

Driving 70-80 miles over the speed limit and killing three people is willful negligence and should be punished harshly. Calling it an error in judgment is like trying to equate a kid stealing bubblegum from a drug store with a teen who breaks into a house to rob them and shooting the homeowner because the homeowner tried to protect themselves.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope the sentence is fair and he doesn't get off easily. If he had received stiffer penalties the first time who knows if it may have put some sense into him earlier.

The sentencing is August 8. Can public contact judge or state's attorney with their comments?

Great question. I imagine not the judge but the state's attorney's office. I also think people should organize a group to appear and make opinions known about the severity of this crime. If I wasn't going to be out of town is be there. A serious punishment is warranted.

Does anyone know who the prosecuting attorney is for this case?

I answered my own question after reading the case information online. The counsel for the state is Christina Rodriguez.

The judge is Mary Beth McCormick.

How did you find the case information online?

[Anonymous]

Google "Maryland Judiciary Case Search."

Type in the defendant's last name. (It's in the Post article.)

Click on the case that has a status of "Open."

Also listed is his attorney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with a kid like this is what is to prevent him from doing the exact same thing as soon as he is out of prison?
He's clearly shown that he's habitually reckless. Is he suddenly going to be a model driver?

Who in their right mind would drive 115 (or was it 110?) on RIVER ROAD? I guess I could see doing it on 95 or 495 but River road?
It's just a total and utter lack of judgment. You can't change that in someone.
I don't ever want him on the road again.

This was what I was thinking. How could you even get enough of an unobstructed gap on River Road to attain that speed? It happened in the dark but it wasn't the middle of the night and it's not exactly a sparsely trafficked road. How did he even manage it? And what the hell was going through his brain? The judgment and risk assessment was just a complete and utter failure on every possible level--he didn't even have the "excuse" of being drunk or high on something to explain making such a catatonically stupid decision. Someone decides to floor it in their luxury German car at 3:30am on the Beltway, I can at least sort of comprehend the rationalization process that might lead a person to think they could get away with it safely--it's a wide, flat, very gently curved road designed for high speeds, limited access, barriers between opposite-direction traffic, at a time when there wouldn't be many other drivers or cops around. It's still extremely stupid, criminal, reckless, etc. but I could at least fathom how someone might think that way. This? Utterly baffling. 115 MPH on River Road? What?

So senseless and inexplicable.

The M4, which he was driving, is the street version of BMWs 4 series race car. It is very very powerful and going from 45-115 would not take long at all.

Not that this detail really matters, but he was driving an M235, not an M4. M235 is obviously still very fast, but not nearly as fast or expensive as an M4...different league.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do we know whether the speeder even had his lights on or not? He doesn't sound responsible enough for even that.

That model of BMW has automatic headlights, and daytime running lights. Some illumination would have been on. The crash report also states he flashed his high beams at the Volt (not clear if before it started to cross or not).

Okay, but usually, doesn't "flashing your lights" tell the other person to proceed (not a warning, but a "go ahead")? This kid isn't very smart.

Flashing your lights at someone on the highway means "get out of my way"....normally the car in front is going too slow for the car behind. I assume he was flashing the volt so it would stay out of the way...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do we know whether the speeder even had his lights on or not? He doesn't sound responsible enough for even that.

That model of BMW has automatic headlights, and daytime running lights. Some illumination would have been on. The crash report also states he flashed his high beams at the Volt (not clear if before it started to cross or not).

Okay, but usually, doesn't "flashing your lights" tell the other person to proceed (not a warning, but a "go ahead")? This kid isn't very smart.

Flashing your lights at someone on the highway means "get out of my way"....normally the car in front is going too slow for the car behind. I assume he was flashing the volt so it would stay out of the way...

The difference being that River Road is not a highway...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do we know whether the speeder even had his lights on or not? He doesn't sound responsible enough for even that.

That model of BMW has automatic headlights, and daytime running lights. Some illumination would have been on. The crash report also states he flashed his high beams at the Volt (not clear if before it started to cross or not).

Okay, but usually, doesn't "flashing your lights" tell the other person to proceed (not a warning, but a "go ahead")? This kid isn't very smart.

Flashing your lights at someone on the highway means "get out of my way"....normally the car in front is going too slow for the car behind. I assume he was flashing the volt so it would stay out of the way...

The difference being that River Road is not a highway...

It is State Highway 190, actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Google "Maryland Judiciary Case Search."

Type in the defendant's last name. (It's in the Post article.)

Click on the case that has a status of "Open."

Also listed is his attorney.

Terrible to see so many cases of reckless driving. You can't buy your way out of problems - they follow you and catch up and in this case affect so many innocent people and sickens so many in the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do we know whether the speeder even had his lights on or not? He doesn't sound responsible enough for even that.

That model of BMW has automatic headlights, and daytime running lights. Some illumination would have been on. The crash report also states he flashed his high beams at the Volt (not clear if before it started to cross or not).

Okay, but usually, doesn't "flashing your lights" tell the other person to proceed (not a warning, but a "go ahead")? This kid isn't very smart.

Flashing your lights at someone on the highway means "get out of my way"....normally the car in front is going too slow for the car behind. I assume he was flashing the volt so it would stay out of the way...

The difference being that River Road is not a highway...

It is State Highway 190, actually.

But te cars in this case were headed in opposite directions, which is when flashing lights mean "go ahead, I'll wait."

[Anonymous]

I am as equally baffled as a PP as to the decision-making process involved with going 115mph on River Road at 6:30pm. Was he suicidal? Did he mistake the gas pedal for the brake?
The article said that he was a recent HS graduate, but didn't mention him attending college or working. What was up with him? Did he have a mental or physical problem? This just doesn't seem to fall into any normal range of "accident".

So tragic. I read the WaPo story this AM with tears in my eyes. All the heroes on the road who tried to save the family. So senseless.

[Anonymous]

I can't believe that not only was the driver so extremely reckless, but he was this reckless while SOBER?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe that not only was the driver so extremely reckless, but he was this reckless while SOBER?!

Imagine if he were drunk? I also cannot believe he walked away from this with barely a scratch. What an asshole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The article said that he was a recent HS graduate, but didn't mention him attending college or working. What was up with him?

I personally know several kids from my Potomac neighborhood that does absolutely nothing after high school graduation, some of them just take a few courses at Montgomery College and that is it. All they do really is drive around is their parents' expensive SUVs to Montgomery Mall or downtown Bethesda or Tysons Corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He didn't make an error in judgement. He killed three people. His life should be over as he knows it.

+1

He is not going to "learn" anything. Don't kid yourself.

He's probably still confident that rich daddy and his lawyers will bail him out as they have been doing all along.