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The mothers of the children killed by an unoccupied van, left in reverse while the driver was making a delivery, spoke to the Daily News, and it's just a heartbreaking interview. Wana Wu, whose 3-year-old son Diego Martinez, said the day care program didn't call her about the accident, "My son died by himself in an emergency room. [I was] not able to see my son take his last breath, not to know that he was in pain, not to be by my side - that's the worst thing that can happen to a parent. All I want is justice." And May Ng, whose 4-year-old daughter Hayley died immediately on the sidewalk, "Our children were killed and the driver walks away without even a ticket. How can this be? How can this be allowed?" Their children were good friends; Wu said, "Diego was holding Hayley's hand when they were hit." Lawmakers and community members have demanded the city re-examine traffic in Chinatown.
Mother of Child Killed in Chinatown Crash: "How Can This Be?"
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It's the same media that NEVER mentioned Muslims' hatred of Israel as a possible motive for 9/11.
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Unfortunately, it WAS an accident. However, I'm sure justice in the mainland would have meant a bullet through the medulla oblongata from an AK-47...
It may have been an accident, but it was also negligence.
Leaving the van running and in gear is not an accident, it is negligence. The fact the driver did not even receive a ticket is disgraceful.
To play devils advocate, if I made a stupid mistake that left 2 children dead, I would probably be suicidal. I am guessing that the driver is similarly devastated.
I don't understand why drivers aren't held accountable for these accidents. So many people have been killed by vehicles in this city and drivers are very rarely prosecuted (unless they are DUI). I understand the driver didn't mean for this to happen, but he can just walk away after killing two children? I'm with the parents. I don't get it.
You ever see fight club? edward norton's character is a actuarian that calculates the cost of the recall of a product versus how much a company would pay in civil suits if their product were dangerous and deadly. If the cost of the civil suits were less then the recall the company would just leave the dangerous item out there. This is the same shit but it's the cost of number of accidents versus government regulation of vehicles. In the big picture, the number of accidents of accidental reverse parking is miniscule compared to actually enforcing strict driving regulations and legislating it. It's fubar but that's how it is.
I have conflicting thoughts on this issue. If the driver is a normal person and not a sociopath, living with the knowledge that he killed two children will exact a far stronger punishment than anything the state could come up with.
But I do feel that some charges are probably warranted in this case, there is definitely a serious negligence issue. I was just browsing the New York criminal law to see what statute might fit the circumstances and it seems a good case could be made for criminally negligent homicide, a class E felony.
Here is the legal definition that New York uses for criminal negligence: "A person acts with criminal negligence with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such result will occur or that such circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation."
I originally thought about vehicular manslaughter but after reading the elements of the violation, they would not apply to the facts of this case. For 2nd degree vehicular manslaughter, there basically needs to be some form of DWI and for 1st degree the driver would have had to be driving when his driving privileges had been previously revoked by the state.
Reading the requirements of 2nd degree manslaughter, I don't think that would apply either as I don't think the driver's conduct meets the legal definition of "reckless" conduct which basically requires knowledge of a circumstance likely to cause death and then, knowing that circumstance, disregarding it. If the guy thought that he put the van in Park then you have no knowledge of a dangerous circumstance.
And of course 1st degree manslaughter, 2nd degree murder and 1st degree murder are all out because they require intent.
The street culture of East Broadway, on the parts of drivers, pushcart wranglers, and pedestrians alike, seems to be one of easy negligence. Life is cheap. People walk in the street directly in front of moving vehicles, drivers drive on the sidewalk, nobody cares. I don't know what the police can do about it if the people who live and work there don't care.
Meanwhile, I have learned to avoid it if possible.
really. Cause that's the same in times square and herald square and every other tourist trap.
The whole city is a tourist trap ... no where is safe. Just need to be cautious at all time.
Negligent driving is on the rise because we see few legal consequences for such behavior.
I've yet to see the NYC police do anything with traffic. They are completely useless. NYC drivers are easily some of worst on Earth and lack of enforcement makes it worse. Whoever thinks Bloomberg is doing a good job needs to leave their apartment once in a while.
My heart goes out to those who knew these children.
The truck was illegally double parked in the bike lane when this happened... I'm just saying that if tickets for that were issued more often or the penalties were harsher, this guy might have spent a few minutes finding safer parking... then again pedestrian protection would have done a lot more to prevent this.
There has to be consequences for your actions. Auto negligence is taking the lives of our young children. Innocent people are being maimed and killed. When a driver chooses not to be responsible while operating a vehicle capable of killing they make a choice. We need drivers to be accountable. I would like to see the laws corrected. I would like to help change the laws for auto negligence. Murder is Murder.