Should Jones be charged in their deaths?
I have had this argument with jusTON before, and I've always said if a police car chasing you kills someone, it's your fault. But this chopper accident seems pretty removed from this man's actions and definitely an unforeseeable externality.
But I think there is a statute, not sure if they have it in Arizona, called criminally negligent homicide. If your criminal behavior leads to the death of someone, then you are responsible for their death.
A very sad side note to this story. One of the helicopter pilots, Craig Smith, had a dog, a West Highland Terrier named Molly. Molly would fly with Craig on every trip in the chopper. But this time, because they were rushing to cover breaking news, Molly was left behind. And the little pooch is alive today because of it, but without her buddy Craig.
Man, this one's crazy. I voted No, cuz in the car chase scenario, the driver is actively trying to evade the cop car(s)...causing them to do dangerous things to keep up.
ReplyDeleteIn this instance, I guarantee the guy couldn't even see or hear the choppers, and even if he could, he couldn't cause them to take dangerous action since they are airborn, and play by aviation rules.
They were doing news coverage. So if a paperatzi guy see's Lindsey Lohan driving down the street drugged up with no undies...and he runs after her to get a photo...and gets hit by a bus and killed...is it Lindsey Ho-Hans fault? Kinda the same thing as this chopper case no?
You can try to get the scoop, but you still gotta watch your own ass!