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posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday September 03 2014, @01:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the unsafe-at-any-speed dept.

The Los Angeles Daily News reports that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to press charges against a sheriff’s deputy who fatally struck cyclist Milton Olin Jr. while he was apparently distracted by his mobile digital computer. “Wood entered the bicycle lane as a result of inattention caused by typing into his (Mobile Digital Computer),” according to the declination letter prepared by the Justice System Integrity Division of the District Attorney’s Office and released Wednesday. “He was responding to a deputy who was inquiring whether the fire investigation had been completed. Since Wood was acting within the course and scope of his duties when he began to type his response, under Vehicle Code section 23123.5, he acted lawfully.”

To establish the crime of vehicular manslaughter, prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Wood was criminally negligent. While Wood was texting shortly before the collision, there was no evidence he was texting or doing anything else that would have distracted him at the time of the collision. Olin’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county, the Sheriff’s Department and the deputy, alleging driver negligence and seeking to obtain more information about the incident. “Just because the law allows someone to do something while driving doesn’t mean they are allowed to do something unsafely while driving,” says Eric Bruins. “Hitting someone from behind is very clear evidence that whatever was going on in that car was not safe and should have been considered negligent.”

Update: A day after prosecutors declined to file charges against a distracted sheriff’s deputy who fatally struck a cyclist in Calabasas in December, an official with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said it is launching its own administrative probe into the deputy’s behavior.

 
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 03 2014, @02:56PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 03 2014, @02:56PM (#88922)

    Now before the flames ignite, I'm not saying its right or the way it should be. Just the way it is. You're an idiot if you ride on the roads in America in 2014. Almost evidence of mental illness WRT intentional suicidal behavior.

    Traffic accidents happen. Something around 700 bicyclists are killed by cars each year. Of course, 5000 pedestrians are killed by cars each year (in the US), about the same number of motorcyclists, and 30,000 or so car and truck drivers. Does that mean pedestrians are also suicidally insane? People are idiots. Accidents happen, and the more mass you have around you, the less likely you are to die. Does that mean we should all be driving around in MRAPs?

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