28th St. shutdown after crash

We as a culture are far to light on drunks and the toll they take among us. Their behavior is a blight and they are without conscience in many cases. So we put them with lawyers in the system and are not held accountable. If a drunk kills with a car the death should be treated as though it was a gun or a knife. Our system is set up to set drunks free with no consequence to them. Let the community judge them. Take them out of the relm of lawyers and put them in the hands of the people of the community in which they are a plague. No more wink wink that will be 1000 dollars and re-hab see ya. Its go to jail forever.

Drunks drivers who kill are still killers.

Life entence. No 8 y/o should have to go through that.

Sentence

All of us should report a suspected drunk driver with our cell phones. We might save a innocent person. Think of the heartbreak of all the family members of these poor people.

What bar let a person this drunk drive a car?

people have no conscience these days-
they can't even see beyond their own noses.

friend wrote:

people have no conscience these days-
they can't even see beyond their own noses.

It's not just "these days". There has always been people with no concience. There's been drunk drivers on the road as long as there's been alcohol and cars. And there always will be. Unfortunately there's a neverending supply of irresponsible idiots. They shouldn't be allowed to breed.
We can make all the laws we want, but outlaws won't care. It's too bad so many innocent people have to pay the price for those who behave irresponsibly.

Why wrote:

What bar let a person this drunk drive a car?

Every single one in downtown GR...just stand outside at 2:30 am and watch hundreds of people stumble out and can't even find their car. I used to get out of work around then, and always worried if I'd make it home alive. The bars get cited on stings and stuff, but Lansing doesn't do much. Look at Vitale's on Leonard, they served that guy right up till he got on the highway, struck a car that exploded and killed 2 teens...they were never shut down for even a day, didn't miss a dollar of business.

Well unless this kid had a fake I.D. he was not drinking at a bar, he was drinking somewhere else, and when they find out where I hope that the friends of this kid will have to pay the same consequences also! Somebody supplied a underage kid with alcohol and this is what happended. Several people are hurt and a couple of them are critically hurt!

What about the drunk drivers own culpability. Why are we trying to blame the bar or his friends. Lets just blame him. He is the one who drove drunk not the bartender or waitress or the clerk at the party store. He did it, no one else but him.

Wow, these poor children and their families! My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Regarding the drunk driving, it's still being investigated and has not been verified yet.

One would think drunk driving is suspected because of speeds and the driver losing control. It could be that the teen was just driving too fast and lost control.

I agree with unthinkable that whoever supplied the underage drinkers with alcohol should be held as accountable as the driver, if that is the case.

In regards to the car full of children... I don't want to be negative here to the innocent victim driver, but it makes me wonder if the children who were badly injured would have been so badly injured had they been in a vehicle proper to the amount of people.

I mean, seriously, 7 people in a Toyota Camry? I have a family of seven, myself, my husband and five children, and we fill our Ford Windstar to the max. When we are all in our Windstar, there is not a spare seat and seatbelt for ever one more person.

Now if our family takes up an entire Windstar, how on earth do you fit seven people, all seatbelted in, to a Toyota Camry? Unless I'm mistaken I thought the Camry only seated five (2 front, 3 back).

And....Such a shame. In either case it sounds like it was an underage drinker. Pay attention peoople. Don't ever, ever drink and drive!!!
Someone told me that there is legislation to drop the drinking age to 18 and keep the bars open all night......
Better get out and vote if this one is on the ballot.

Frank-

No one is saying that the drunk driver shouldn't be held accountable and responsible for his own choices.

The fact remains though that we have drinking age requirements for a reason. We have laws.

You can't sit there and say, this person should be punished for breaking this law, but eh, this crime is this persons own fault, so we'll excuse the other law breaker of breaking the law.

An adult provided alcohol illegally for an underage drinker. That adult is also responsible and should be held accountable.

unthinkable wrote:

Well unless this kid had a fake I.D. he was not drinking at a bar, he was drinking somewhere else, and when they find out where I hope that the friends of this kid will have to pay the same consequences also! Somebody supplied a underage kid with alcohol and this is what happended. Several people are hurt and a couple of them are critically hurt!

I totally agree, he was under age to be in a bar, but people always have to jump to conclusions, he was probably drinking at a friends house. If you are in the bar drinking you should already have your game plan planned for a taxi or someone sobor to drive you home. I bartended for almost 30 yrs. and believe that both parties should be responsible, bartender and the customer, the last thing either need or want is a fun night out with friends to have it end in a death or serious injury.

Barry wrote:

We as a culture are far to light on drunks and the toll they take among us. Their behavior is a blight and they are without conscience in many cases. So we put them with lawyers in the system and are not held accountable. If a drunk kills with a car the death should be treated as though it was a gun or a knife. Our system is set up to set drunks free with no consequence to them. Let the community judge them. Take them out of the relm of lawyers and put them in the hands of the people of the community in which they are a plague. No more wink wink that will be 1000 dollars and re-hab see ya. Its go to jail forever.

I TOTALLY agree...something needs to be done, a couple slaps on the wrist isn't teaching people a lesson!

So very sorry for all involved. Thoughts and prayers to everyone,and thier families

Why wrote:

What bar let a person this drunk drive a car?

A bar has no control over what the person does after he goes out the door.

Drunk driving laws are really lax, in MI and all over America, really. If we really want to make a concentrated effort to stop drunk driving but not punish those who are responsible enough to know what not to do, we really need much stricter laws on drinking and driving. Something that will deter them from doing it again. Maybe a minimum of 4 weeks in jail, license revoked for 6-12 months, etc. Something that will make us think twice before we go out and celebrate or have fun. Otherwise, we will continue to see people who are on their way home, to the mall, or to a family function get hurt at the hands of drunken, irresponsible drivers.

What if drinking in bars and restaurants was stopped?
What if you had alcohol at a friends house and they cared enough about you to drive you home?
It doesn't take much to to fail the "test" so why do we allow bars and restaurants to serve it?
Prayers for all involved. God is good and He is a forgiving God!