Article about motorcycle fatality in Wayne county Ohio.

[MiCarl]

My mother put me on to this story.

 

http://www.ohio.com/news/dyer/38072269.html

 

I feel for the guy in the SUV. Seems like he's being hung out to dry.

[kenw]

Weather the drunk was in a cage or on a bike makes no difference, I feel sorry for Kellog. Right or wrong he is the one that has to live with this for the rest of his life!

[Snaggletooth]

That is one of the most insane stories I have ever read. The legal system is running wild on this one. I hope some common sense gets applied soon and makes this right for Mr. Kellogg.

 

I sat and read every comment following that article. Some of the most bizzare reasoning was being discussed there.

[Venturous Randy]

It is so hard for me to understand why that in one motorcycle/cage crash, when the cage driver is CLEARLY at fault, it does not seem to matter because the other guy was on a motorcycle. Then you have a case like this. Some of these prosecutors run amuck and don't listen to any reason. Sometimes it does bite them in the butt. Is this prosecute running for re election?

RandyA

[hig4s]

I can see the point that the alcohol level is not necessarily prudent. I've seen too many cases where someone had been drinking, but did not do anything wrong, have to take the full blame because they were over the limit.

 

But seeing as it was a two lane road, one might reasonably expect the vehicle behind someone turning left would not pass them before they turned. That is not necessarily proper though but reasonable and should be considered.

 

But there are things we don't know. Does the SUV driver have a bad driving record with lots of accidents? Was it light or dark out? Did the SUV have its turn signal on? Was the turning motorcycle stopped. And how does the reporter know this guy wouldn't have gone around the other motorcycle even if he wasn't drinking? I KNOW, at .228 it is hard to believe he wasn't at least partially to blame.

 

Bottom line to me is the family has looked at it and believes it was an accident, nobody's fault. They should charge him with careless driving and be done with it.

[MiCarl]

I'll weigh in now since I started the thread:

 

I agree that the fact that Shanklin was legally drunk isn't the issue. His passing to the right of a vehicle turning left is. I've seen plenty of people make stupid moves while sober.

 

Should Kellog have seen Shanklin? Probably. But is it reasonable for him to anticipate that Shanklin would pass to the right of the other motorcycle. I don't think so.

 

Even assuming Kellog is responsible under the law, it seems to me this is a good case for prosecutorial discretion. Surely the county has better things to invest it's $$ in.