Crashed car at Apple store in Hingham (rental, live in)

[msRB311]

Wow. this guy will be lucky if he gets YOU on his jury ^^

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Wow. this guy will be lucky if he gets YOU on his jury ^^

Eh, based on what I've read (which is obviously a lot less than what LE has access to) I'm on the fence about whether it was intentional or just really, really negligent. So criminal negligence is the absolute best case scenario for me at this point. Like I said, boots getting stuck isn't crazy at all. But even if that's what happened, plowing into the glass wall of the Apple store in the back corner of this place still seems, not just avoidable, but like a stars-aligning coincidence of everything going the worst possible way. I can still see a scenario in which this guy did it intentionally and the Reckless MVH charge is just a placeholder while LE builds a bigger case.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Eh, based on what I've read (which is obviously a lot less than what LE has access to) I'm on the fence about whether it was intentional or just really, really negligent. So criminal negligence is the absolute best case scenario for me at this point. Like I said, boots getting stuck isn't crazy at all. But even if that's what happened, plowing into the glass wall of the Apple store in the back corner of this place still seems, not just avoidable, but like a stars-aligning coincidence of everything going the worst possible way. I can still see a scenario in which this guy did it intentionally and the Reckless MVH charge is just a placeholder while LE builds a bigger case.

Exactly. It is kind of a stars aligning coincident type thing happening.

I can't imagine someone feeling such rage that they would want to plow into a building like this either. It's just very weird.

The guy is recently divorced, had a recent OUI, but also has two high school aged kids who I would think would be worth getting your sh*t together for. Divorce can be hard on people but most people don't slam into buildings in their car.

I'm not sure the past OUI means much here since he had no alcohol or drugs in his system for this incident but depression/mental illness are real things. I do kind of feel bad for the guy in a way but he clearly needs help. Even if his foot was stuck (which I doubt) he still deserves to be punished for what that caused.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Exactly. It is kind of a stars aligning coincident type thing happening.

I can't imagine someone feeling such rage that they would want to plow into a building like this either. It's just very weird.

The guy is recently divorced, had a recent OUI, but also has two high school aged kids who I would think would be worth getting your sh*t together for. Divorce can be hard on people but most people don't slam into buildings in their car.

I'm not sure the past OUI means much here since he had no alcohol or drugs in his system for this incident but depression/mental illness are real things. I do kind of feel bad for the guy in a way but he clearly needs help. Even if his foot was stuck (which I doubt) he still deserves to be punished for what that caused.

One of the news outlet videos during his court appearance featured his court appointed defense saying something to the effect that he is hoping to spend Thanksgiving with family....sounds like he has no remorse.....how can you be worried about your Thanksgiving plans when you just ruined or damaged the lives of ~20 individuals plus their families?! I hope he has a good insurance policy plus liability umbrella...he's gonna need it!

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

One of the news outlet videos during his court appearance featured his court appointed defense saying something to the effect that he is hoping to spend Thanksgiving with family....sounds like he has no remorse.....how can you be worried about your Thanksgiving plans when you just ruined or damaged the lives of ~20 individuals plus their families?! I hope he has a good insurance policy plus liability umbrella...he's gonna need it!

I mean, it's a pretty standard defense tactic. Part of his lawyer's job is to humanize him and make him look like a sympathetic character rather than a cold, degenerate killer. Establishing that he has a family and desire to see them on the upcoming holiday is an easy way to do that and connect him to the people who will determine his fate. I doubt he's actually sitting in his cell complaining about how he might miss Thanksgiving.

[Southshorebound]

Originally Posted by lrfox

If you're wearing something like bulky steel toe work boots, I can absolutely see them getting wedged underneath the brake pedal, forcing the accelerator to the floor and simultaneously making it impossible to press the brake (since the boot is in the way and has zero give).

After reading more, it appears that law enforcement is treating this like criminal negligence rather than an intentional act (at least for the time being). I can see that. Even if the stars aligned perfectly and it accidentally played out like he said (which I'm still a little skeptical of), they'd argue that he could have avoided catastrophe. For starters, it takes over 8 seconds for this SUV to go from 0-60. 8 seconds is an eternity in terms of time to react. If he couldn't get his foot unwedged in that span (which would be surprising) they'll argue that his choice of footwear was a hazard. Knocking the shifter from "Drive" into "Neutral" takes a split second and would have avoided the whole thing. And finally, they might argue that he could have steered the vehicle into a more substantial part of the building (a brick pillar or solid wall) or even into parked cars rather than the giant glass front of the Apple Store.

Probably a tough one for all involved. Victims and their families will want accountability and while there's plenty the driver could have done, some people just freeze under pressure.

I guess I could see steel toe work boots getting wedged, but the news has reported that he was wearing Brooks running shoes... gives me a little pause believing his story - not sure what to make of this. I agree with you that 8 seconds does seem like an eternity

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

One of the news outlet videos during his court appearance featured his court appointed defense saying something to the effect that he is hoping to spend Thanksgiving with family....sounds like he has no remorse.....how can you be worried about your Thanksgiving plans when you just ruined or damaged the lives of ~20 individuals plus their families?! I hope he has a good insurance policy plus liability umbrella...he's gonna need it!

The last thing on anyone's mind should be him spending Thanksgiving with his family. He should be placed in a facility. Ive known people who had mental/substance abuse issues who did FAR LESS than this guy did and they were in rehab getting help during holidays. Pretty unbelievable that after killing someone and injuring 19 others that anything would be brought up about this guy spending time with his family. Ok now I don't feel bad for him.

[msRB311]

Hit and run in Brockton yesterday:

https://www.boston.com/news/local-ne...ed-pedestrian/

Crazy that people think they'll get away with things like this

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by Southshorebound

I guess I could see steel toe work boots getting wedged, but the news has reported that he was wearing Brooks running shoes... gives me a little pause believing his story - not sure what to make of this. I agree with you that 8 seconds does seem like an eternity

The interesting aspect of that is that is the main reason why I don't tend to like to drive wearing dress shoes or any form of boots. I don't think cars are really designed for people to drive them with anything other than sneakers.

If you didn't have the intense murder so that means you could just charge him with some form of manslaughter. He'd probably serve about 5 years and get out. Now if there's anything civil which always happens after criminal that's for other lawyers to determine.

Although he did have a DUI which was not part of his record there was no alcohol in his system so they can't really be a factor in here. The state will show how compact the area is and show the size of the vehicle and articulate that you cannot simply slam on the gas in these areas. I've been to this place a number of times and many like it. You can't go beyond say 5 mph while in the parking lot for good reason. You incur a form of liability when you operate a motor vehicle. If you're unable to drive you should not be driving.

I was nearly hit directly head on a few years ago while in a parking garage and it was a 72-year-old woman on her way to eye surgery. I'm not making this up as she told me that weeks afterward. Chances are they got cameras of this happening and that would pretty much determine the facial expressions and the behavior that you had prior to the crash. If there's anything within the car's Black Box to show when the break was applied and when the gas was applied that would all be used in court. The car is not under any form of recall and I don't think there's any issue necessarily with other makes or models within the lineup with brakes otherwise you'd see that brought up. This is not an issue of the Ford Explorer with Firestone tires.

In the aftermath of this I think there could be some other planning to have SUVs parked further away or encourage garages to be put more further away to make it more pedestrian friendly. The planning for parking spaces is getting interesting earlier today I saw a piece of software where you could literally just bend a route of planning of parking spaces it would subtract and add to the design

[msRB311]

A way to have avoided this would have been to have those cement balls/pillars out in front. Target has something similar. Or perhaps a place like Apple shouldn't just have a glass wall as the only thing protecting it from the outside. Sadly we live in a world where we need more protection i guess.