04/19/24
August 13, 2010
Be Cognizant Of Your Decisions: Over a year after Donte Stallworth hit and killed Mario Reyes with his car he prepares to return to the football field. The way Stallworth handled the accident and Reyes’ death should say something about character, and perhaps say he is someone worthy of a second chance.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia to football at 04:54 PM - 7 comments
Oh come on. Do you still wince and turn away when Craig MacTavish shows up on screen?
posted by yerfatma at 10:50 PM on August 14, 2010
It's a sad tragedy for many reasons. It's impossible to know if anyone in that situation, whether they had been drinking a while ago or not, would have hit the victim who was running across a freeway (a ridiculous move, regardless). Anyone who has ever had a drink and drove home without driving poorly may find themselves in a situation where a person runs in front of their vehicle, or a vehicle pulls out in front of them, meaning the accident itself may not be their fault, but it doesn't change the fact they are behind the wheel of a vehicle while being over the legal limit. Obviously, nobody should drink and drive, but someone else's carelessness can sometimes be totally overlooked in a situation such as this.
Long story short: Don't drink and drive. The risks and life-altering consequences just aren't worth it.
posted by dyams at 08:28 AM on August 15, 2010
As Dyams said, if you get behind the wheel after drinking it doesn't matter whether a subsequent accident is entirely your fault or not. If Stallworth really took a plea to take responsibility and avoid hurting the victim's family, he did the right thing. Driving at .12 blood alcohol is indefensible.
posted by rcade at 01:30 PM on August 15, 2010
I think it say a lot about a person who not only takes person repsonsibility for his actions, but also does so in a way to minimize the impact of pain and suffering on the part of the victim's family.
Any of us, drink or not, may not have seen this guy in time and braked fast enough to stop from hitting him. Donte Stallworth has paid his debt to society and deserves a second chance, more so than most.
"A Yahoo! Sports story published August 12, 2010, reported that Stallworth could have fought all charges with "an excellent chance of being found innocent," but Stallworth demanded to be convicted of a felony in order to do what he felt was morally right, because he felt the situation was enough of his own fault and he didn't feel the Reyes family needed to relive the entire tragedy in court. The article later notes that David Cornwell, one of Stallworth's attorneys, felt there was irony in Stallworth's decision because the public and media criticized the plea deal without knowing the full story. He also reached a financial agreement with the family that he has refused to disclose."
I wonder how many of us would or could do the same.
posted by irunfromclones at 04:47 AM on August 16, 2010
The fact that he reached a secret financial settlement with the family makes it impossible, for me at least, to completely believe that he was just interested in justice with his felony plea. The source for the claim that he had an "excellent chance of being found innocent" is his defense attorneys. What else are they going to say?
The plea deal he reached let him be back in the NFL only 18 months after killing someone with his car while intoxicated. That seems awfully light for killing someone while drunk, no matter the mitigating circumstances. If he had not reached the plea deal and had not bought the family's silence, how long would he have been in jail? Regardless of what his lawyers said, I think most jurors have bought the idea that if you drive drunk you are responsible for the consequences -- even if somebody jumps out in front of your car. Alcohol slows your reaction time. Stallworth might have avoided the man if sober.
posted by rcade at 08:43 AM on August 16, 2010
The link is broken now.
Regardless of what his lawyers said, I think most jurors have bought the idea that if you drive drunk you are responsible for the consequences -- even if somebody jumps out in front of your car. Alcohol slows your reaction time. Stallworth might have avoided the man if sober.
I hope that's not the case. I would hope that juries would follow the instructions that they are given and only find someone guilty of manslaughter if the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he/she caused the death. Prosecutors often make lenient plea offers if they think a case will be difficult to prove. This looks like a pretty hard case to win to me (assuming, of course, that the jury will not ignore its instructions and require the prosecution to prove causation).
posted by bperk at 10:40 AM on August 16, 2010
Deserved of a second chance or not, I still had to turn away from the TV when he come on during the preseason game earlier this week. I know it's been hashed out around these parts, but seeing the "star treatment" so visibly like that, with him playing on national TV a year after killing somebody threw me off.