I just got finished reading the Chronicle Herald’s story on Paddy Brogan in Sydney. This fucking monster was just set free from any responsibility for the death of a little boy when he was admittedly impaired while driving. How the fuck is this possible? Judge Anne Derrick came to the conclusion that no person, sober or impaired, could’ve avoided this tragic accident. BULLSHIT! Brogan should have never been on the road if he was fucking drunk, thus making it impossible for him to kill anyone. Our legal system in Canada is a fucking joke. I hope you sleep well tonight Paddy you murdering fucking monster, knowing that you put a little boy in his grave. My wish for you is that you are overcome with grief and jump from a very tall building and about halfway down you catch your fucking eyelid on a tack.
Shame on you Anne Derrick, hopefully your legal peers will see fit to have you investigated and have all your Law credentials suspended indefinately to review whether or not you are competant for the position you are in.
This little boys blood will forever stain both of you and I hope that he is all you see when you close your eyes.
He was fucking DRUNK, he should’ve never been there.
To the Penney family: Everybody in their right mind knows that this is an outrage and trust me people, if we don’t call our legal system on this error our kids could be next.
UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2008.
Yeah, it’s fucking unbelievable how someone with a prior DWI offence is let off for this. I’m sure one of the things one hears when they get arrested for driving while drunk is “next time someone could get seriously hurt”. This was that next time, and someone was killed. I agree with POIE – he never should’ve been behind the wheel in the first place. For that reason, he should have been convicted. They effectively told him, go ahead and drink while driving, just try not to kill anyone, and if you do, make sure anybody else would have done the same thing. The news made it sound like this kid had a fucking death wish! As if the only reason he was killed was because of where he was riding his bike, not because of the impaired driver who killed him. Prosecution is already preparing to appeal, but this shit rarely gets overturned. I am pissed about this, too, and expect more from Derrick as a judge. Where’s her old fire and passion for justice?
The death was the result of an accident. Alcohol was not a factor(I think people have a hard time getting their heads around this). Prior convictions and all those related issues aside, would you want the sentence applied to this guy to be the same to one you would receive if you were the one driving the car and were stone cold sober. That is the crux of the decision right there.I know it sucks, but step back and re-read the background behind the decision.Pabst Blue Ribbon!
Good post, cranky. I was about to point it out myself. It could have been anybody driving that car at that moment in time. If I were the mayor of that town I’d be prepared to dodge bullets because a court just proved a road in his town to be deadly, with or without alcohol.
What a surprise….. a racist cunt also supports a drunk diving murderer……Drunks have a slower reaction time and that is a proven fact, this case is so fucking crooked. Glad to see the crazy is back though, on another slow day at work.
I’m no racist, Lori. Maybe YOU should get back to work and stop using IWK bandwidth for your bullshit. I’m vacationing here.The point is it could have been ANYBODY behind the wheel without or without alcohol. That was the conclusion. DUI is still illegal, criminal and he’s been charged with such a crime but did it cause this child’s death? The court concludes it could have been YOU behind the wheel and the boy would have been hit anyway. THAT would be a different sort of story then, wouldn’t it? THAT would be an attack on the town for the dangerous infrastructure and lack of planning. Just watch where it goes now… right into the mayor’s lap and likely hurled by the grieving family who feels no justice was served.
Lori, you’ll notice that kay denies the rascist claim, but not the other thing.
Kay is offended by the word… She’s not gonna come down to that level today.
I agree with the OP. Even if this accident was “unavoidable”, regardless of blood alcohol content, this douche should NEVER have been on the road in the first place … he was driving drunk and took a life.
And THAT will be addressed given the criminal DUI charge he’s got. No?
I feel sorry for the family who lost the child, but perhaps they should have been more watchful of their little boy. I mean, who lets their kid drive on that dangerous street anyway, with NO helmet and breaks that DON’T work. The stupidity of some people amazes me sometimes.
The Crown’s best expert testimony could not prove that the kid would be alive no matter who was driving in no matter what capacity.Get that into your heads or prove otherwise.Thank god for due process and no capital punishment in this country.Pabst Blue Ribbon!
Just because this guy is a scum bag doesn’t mean he should be burned for murder. IF it was completely unavoidable, which from the very beginning of the investigation it proved to be, it’s case closed. It wasn’t lack of evidence that got him off, it was the evidence that proved otherwise. Charge him with max penalties , but don’t be a lynching mob.I think the investigators understood the situation and had to be very careful if they said he didn’t have responsibility for hitting the boy.Paddy Brogan and this brothers are all scum bags. It hurts to let him off but the charge is a lot bigger then being a scum bag.Who knows maybe it was a factor in the death, but it wasn’t proven. If paddy was in another country though, I’m sure we’d see his public execution.
Disagree with the OP, and we can’t blame Anne Derrick for this.The Crown shot itself in the foot with it’s own “expert testimony” which stated that the driver had, at the most, a reqction time of 1.7 seconds. This would have been based on the position of the bicycle when it entered traffic, the position of the car at that time, and the speed at which the car was moving.Anyone who’s taken a driver’s ed course (read: all of us) knows what the minimum reaction time is in driving. Remember? “When you’re following a vehicle, give yourself at least two seconds of reaction time.”I agree it sucks, but the kid darted out into traffic. The driver who hit him happened to have a few beers in him. Would this have been prevented if Brogan were sober? Maybe, possibly, but probably not. And that’s why he was acquitted.
Hi wall….how are you today?No one would have been driving if the drunk ass would have left his car where it was parked. Furthermore, the “expert” testimony was tainted in more ways than one, if you knew this family you would understand….CROOKED!
Well Lori, if nobody drove cars anywhere, ever, there would be no car accidents.
Qwerty, I mean that that car wouldn’t have been in that exact spot on that exact road at that exact time….or maybe another car would have been there….who knows? But you can’t argue what If’s everytime someone drinks and drives. I say, chuck the prick in jail…people get sent away for way less than this!
I wonder if Kay is offended by Mike?
Is there really a question he won’t do time over a DUI involving the boy’s death? You all know what a bad ass he is and how that information becomes relevant in a sentencing hearing. Let’s see the man convicted but let’s see him convicted for what he did, not for what could have happened to anybody.
But if it’s being at that place at that time that led to that little kid’s death, then it could have been anybody, regardless of what they were doing previous to the accident.It’s normal to want to blame, but jails are supposed to be in place to protect society, as well as rehabilitate criminals. If it was an unlucky accident, there’s nothing to protect or rehabilitate. Sometimes bad things happen.
Kay, he’s already been sentenced for the DUI. Standard sentence – $1,000 fine and a year’s licence suspension (on top of the two years he’s been without his licence already).
How about protecting us from drunk drivers and rehabilitating a possible alcoholic? I can’t believe that anyone would take the stance “It could have happened to anyone?” when we’re referring to a drunk driver and the death of a six year old boy…how fucked up is that?
I’m sorry, this is completely off topic, but I just put two and two together.A couple of nights ago I watched a movie. In big letters on the screen it said “Qwerty Productions”. The opening shot then showed “Floyd’s Bar”, with a sign for “Pabst Blue Ribbon” in the window.Qwert + Floyd + Cranky (Pabst!) = SAME PERSON!!!
Multiple offenses of a criminal nature and he gets $1,000 fine and a suspended license? What? How many DUI’s a person needs to get before they’re treated like a… well, a criminal? I’m stunned.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda, wasn’t anyone else, was someone who had been drinking, who drank and drove before, probably more than once. The “it would have happened regardless” part is true if you mean he would have eventually killed someone. I don’t give a shit if Mork and/or Mindy delivered the verdict, or if it could have been in Denpasar, or if the street was Fuck-Me-Arse Avenue, or if the kid was wearing a happy face bullet hole t-shirt, or if Paddy was listening to Ministry, or how bad ass or trashy anyone involved is. The guy should not have been driving drunk; the law states this; he knows this; he’s done it before and been caught (I’d love to know if he’s had any ordered counselling, then or now) and if he was related to me I’d say the same to him, and if he killed my kid, I’d say the same to him. Now, if it was Lou Diamond Phillips, I’d just pop him an email. I don’t wish death on the guy, I’d actually give him a lenient 2-3 years with much, much rehabilitation, and a fucking taxi pass. Like, come on. The guy shouldn’t be on the road. If he wasn’t, we would never know if this would have happened, but we’d know a drunk driver didn’t do it and that, for some fucking bizarre reason, would just sit better with me.
Bad things happen to good people, its a fact of life.Anyhoo, not too long ago a kid in Fall River did the exact same thing this kid did with the same result (but didn’t die). The driver was sober. Should that driver be given the same treatment?As an aside, it is interesting to note that if you’re going to kill someone, make sure that you do it with a car.
No, that driver was sober.This sets precedent, so future alcohol-related vehicular manslaughter cases will cite this, guaranteed. The verdict seems to place the blame on the victim, maybe that’s why it pisses me off so much. It was bound to happen to the kid, they said, but using the same logic, P. Brogan was bound to kill or hurt someone just by being on the road.