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June 20, 2005
Leave the scene!
This seems like a good law school exam question: DAVIE, Fla. -- An altercation in a casino parking lot escalated into road rage and ended with a man killed in a hit-and-run accident, officials said.One of my worst fears is hitting a pedestrian, and I'm still haunted by coming within one inch of hitting a small boy who darted out in front of my car without warning. I screeched to a stop so suddenly that my passenger's head hit the windshield and the battery was jarred loose from it's compartment. I lost my temper, and got out of the car screaming bloody murder at the child, who stared blankly at me. No parent anywhere. So I continued on. Thoughts of "what if, what if" still plague me, and I'm always aware that something like this can happen anywhere, at any time, to anyone, no matter how good a driver. Then there's the duty to stop and render assistance after you hit someone. Depending on the circumstances, this could get you killed. If I saw a fight in progress, I'd be inclined to drive to the nearest police station instead of stopping at the scene. Even though this might be construed as hit and run, at least I'd be alive. What's interesting about this case from a criminal law perspective is that but for the car striking Roqueta, the fight would probably have gone unreported. I found another report of the incident ("Robot whiz dies in scuffle") which describes Roqueta as a bit of a hothead, and a driver of "Rammstein" on Comedy Central's "Battlebots" show: Roqueta got into a shouting match with one of the man, but no punches were thrown. It looked like a fight would be avoided.Bad timing? Murder? Manslaughter? (I worked on a murder case in which our client had struck another man in a fistfight from which both parties had walked away appearing normal if bloodied. But because the other man died the next day of internal bleeding, our guy was charged with murder.) You set in motion a chain of events, and you can be held criminally liable. This might very well be charged as manslaughter, especially if the other man was the aggressor in the fight. And what about the still-unidentified driver who hit Roqueta? There's clearly hit-and-run culpability, and if he'd been speeding, there might be a theory of manslaughter against him too. (It would depend also on whether pedestrians are permitted on U.S. 441 -- described as "a four lane highway" in that location.) As I say, it's a good law exam question. AFTERTHOUGHT AND UPDATE: I think I've finally figured out what caused this fight. It puzzled me that anyone driving a Mercedes would pick a fight with the driver of a Dodge Neon, so I read this account again: The group left shortly after 4 a.m. and returned to the parking lot where they prepared to leave in Moreno's souped-up Dodge Neon, Espinosa said Sunday.And, considering that the owner was a builder of robots, I'll bet it had more than that. According to the accounts, the Mercedes driver was the aggressor, and he was the one who struck the blow. I'd be willing to bet that the reason for the "ridicule" was that the Mercedes driver was absolutely infuriated by the idea that an older Dodge Neon could possibly be cooler than a Mercedes. Simple jealousy! I'd be willing to bet that the Neon was cooler than the Mercedes too -- way cooler! (I should probably be careful with my '64 Ranchero...) posted by Eric on 06.20.05 at 03:26 PM |
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How awful. What should have been a matter settled with a simple and quick fisticuffs (not that I'm condoning that) turns horribly wrong. Now one man dead and another surely regrets starting the whole thing in the first place. The motorist, however cowardly for not stopping, is probably terrified and ashamed.
As an aside, the Neon SRT-4 is one of the sweetest little cars you can get for $20,000. Dodge slapped a turbocharger on the little four-banger engine, with makes it pump out something like 260 horses. It will do 0-60 in the low 5 seconds and is the fastest car in the Dodge stable after the 500 HP Viper.