1 Year Old Baby Dies During Off Duty Cop Car Crash
On Oct 12, 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a Nissan SUV carrying 4 adults and four children was making a left turn onto Florline Boulevard at a green light when a Corvette driven by a speeding off-duty police officeholder traveling at an estimated 94 MPH in a 50 MPH zone smashed into its rider side, killing a 1-year-old girl who was ejected from the SUV.
Every bit noted in a meme circulated on social media in the aftermath of the accident, the officer backside the wheel of the Corvette, Christopher Manuel, was not penalized (even though he was driving nearly double the speed limit), while the dead daughter's female parent (who was a passenger in and not the driver of the SUV), 21-year-former Brittany Stephens, was charged with negligent homicide for non properly securing the child in a car seat:
Equally is oft the case, while the meme provided factual information, it also ignored the many complexities of this case and instead focused on a unmarried, outrage-inducing attribute of information technology. The primary context omitted here is that both Manuel and Stephens were initially arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide, just prosecutors — who deliberated for two years — ultimately felt they could non determine who was more at fault for the kid'south expiry, nor could they meet the brunt of proof needed to successfully bring criminal charges against Manuel. In the end, they took no action against either party.
The crash occurred when the driver of the SUV turned left onto Florline Boulevard while Manuel was traveling northbound on Airline Highway. According to Manuel's arrest report, investigators estimated his vehicle'southward speed at the fourth dimension of the accident at 94 MPH based on calculations from information recorded by his car's airbag control module. Both cars had green lights, so the primary issue was determining whether the SUV's driver failed to yield, or whether the Corvette'due south excessive speed would have made it extremely difficult or impossible for the commuter to safely judge the plow. Investigators came down on the side of the latter, and Manuel filed a civil suit alleging that the commuter of the SUV was at fault for turning "of a sudden and without alert" into his lane.
Additional complicating factors were that the driver of the SUV was unlicensed, the vehicle was carrying likewise many occupants, and no i in the SUV was wearing a seatbelt. Constabulary also stated that Stephens did not properly secure her daughter's auto seat, instead placing information technology on the SUV's center console between the two front seats, which is considered an human action of "gross negligence" that was a "contributing factor in the death" of the child.
Equally the Billy Rouge Advocate reported, the commune attorney felt his office could not fairly determine whom, if anyone, to prosecute:
Eastward Billy Rouge District Chaser Hillar Moore Three said his office decided not to bring charges against either Manuel or Stephens, reasoning that both had contributed to the tragic outcome even though "1 suffered a bigger loss."
"Information technology becomes a conundrum of 'Who'south at mistake?'" Moore said. "Practice you lot really want to charge the mom with her child'south death? Of class not. Which human action truly caused the decease, speeding or lack of proper restraint? Is one more culpable than the other? We couldn't really determine that based on the facts of the case and what the law requires."
"This is a trying decision," Moore said. "It weighed on me as a parent with children."
One aspect of the controversy surrounding the crash was Manuel'south status equally a fellow member of the Billy Rouge Constabulary Department, which some critics maintained may have influenced the DA's determination not to prosecute a criminal example against him. Another was that no one involved in the accident was fifty-fifty cited:
[Marcus Allen, an attorney] volunteered to represent Stephens for gratis after news of her case went viral within some circles online. He said Moore's "unilateral conclusion" not to prosecute "has the look of venial" because the case involves a law enforcement officer and argued prosecutors could have avoided that by going frontward with the case and allowing the criminal justice organization to decide the officeholder's fate.
Police force recommended citations for several other people in the SUV with Stephens later finding various condom bug, including that at that place were too many occupants, none were wearing seatbelts and the commuter was unlicensed. Prosecutors had two years to outcome those citations but instead let the tickets expire without doing so.
They did the same for a misdemeanor speeding count against Manuel, which as well expired.
Moore said prosecuting Manuel for speeding would accept meant essentially forfeiting the selection to accuse him with negligent homicide because of double jeopardy laws at the time. But once prosecutors ruled out the more serious accuse, they could have chosen to issue the speeding ticket and so with no major impacts on the instance.
[Allen] said that's the least Moore's office could take done.
"How tin can you overlook the glaring fact that he was going almost 100 mph?" Allen said. "Yous just cannot operate a vehicle that fast. For him to walk abroad from this with no criminal charges … it almost appears he's above the constabulary."
Although prosecutors decided to have no activeness in the instance, some online reports nonetheless mistakenly reported that Brittany Stephens had been convicted and sentenced to prison.
Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/negligent-homicide-speeding-crash/
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