We don't want special justice for anybody. We don't want celebrities, politicians and the rich to escape justice just because of their status.
And we also don't want celebrities, politicians and the rich to be prosecuted - when they otherwise wouldn't - just because of their status.
On 23 February 2021, elite golfer Tiger Woods was driving a Genesis SUV on as rural a road as you can find in LA County. He ran off the road, hit a tree, destroyed the SUV, was pinned in the wreckage, and is still being treated for injuries including an open, comminuted tib-fib and foot/ankle fracture. He reported that he doesn't remember driving. The Sheriff has reported that there were no skid marks, indicating that he didn't apply the breaks before he left the pavement. The Sheriff has not found indications of impairment, other than remarkably lousy driving.
Other than the identity of the driver, this was an ordinary, boring - to those who responded - motor vehicle accident. In the past month, dozens or hundreds of accidents have happened which are very similar. If the LA wreck happened with Joe Blow driving, nobody would remember the details of the wreck after a month.
The LA Sheriff's Department is still "investigating." And they probably really to some extent, to avoid the charge of giving Tiger special justice and giving him a pass on prosecution. In doing so, he's receiving special justice in an effort to avoid the appearance of special justice.
Let's pretend Joe Blow was driving. Here's what would have happened: The police, fire and EMS would have responded just as they did, gotten the driver out, and transported him to the hospital. Hopefully, he would have gotten the same medical treatment. I'm less sure of the treatment, because no doubt they knew that it was Tiger Woods, that they had better not mess up, and that he could afford the absolute best. But I think that Joe Blow would have gotten similar surgeries and I hope Joe would have gotten similar healing.
Then the Sheriff would have sent a accident investigator to the scene, one of many the Department uses in LA County. They would have found no indication of impairment other than lousy driving. It would have been referred to one of the many assistant prosecutors. That prosecutor and the investigator MIGHT have charged Joe with "Failure to Maintain Control," a citation only with a fine. But probably, they would have determined that Joe's experience had already taught him all the lessons he might have learned and closed the case within a week.
Mizpah!
No comments:
Post a Comment