Spiral

"An 11-year-old Signal Mountain boy was struck and killed Wednesday night when he followed his dog onto Taft Highway.Albert Landis, 57, also of Signal Mountain, was charged with vehicular homicide by alcohol.The incident happened just inside the Sequatchie County line.

The boy had been at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church for an Awana meeting.The Tennessee Highway Patrol said the dog went onto the highway and the boy followed.Landis was driving a 2001 Chevrolet pickup truck.Trooper Pumpy Tudors said the pickup truck struck both the dog and the boy.The boy, whose name has not been released, was killed instantly. He would have turned 12 next Friday. His family recently moved here from Louisiana. Church officials would not comment."

Well this is a tragedy of course, and before I continue with what might
be considered a distasteful opinion, I will admit I've never been
charged with DUI. I've had two public drunks, both cited to me more
or less at my own home, and I will admit I was being loud and ob-
noxious, but hardly violent in any manner. Both times the cops told
me I could have been charged with stiffer offenses, with such things
as domestic assault, for apparently it does not matter to cops who
started an argument, who threw punches, as long as the primary
person of interest is intoxicated. When you are drunk, you lose a
whole safety net of rights. You are in truth less of a human being
in the eyes of cops and the law in general.

With that said, I in no way want to diminish the sad affair of this
boy's death. But I'm fairly sure this man will do 10 years in
prison. And I'm also fairly sure, most people don't care. But
think for a moment, given the facts of this case, would it have
mattered one iota if this man was drunk or not? The boy rushed
onto a dark highway chasing his dog. This accident would almost
certainly have happened whether or not the unfortunate driver
was drunk. This is the sad truth of this boy's death. No one
would blame the driver for this if they'd been a 50 year old
librarian teetotaller driving home late from a Librarian's
Convention in Nashville or wherever. But this man was drunk
so he must pay the price for inordinate bad luck. I only bring
this to light to the public because I think it ultimately will
matter in the future: how much power will we continue to
allow our friendly "society-enhancing" peace officers? Is there
danger lurking here, far beyond one boy's death and one
drunk driver's ruined life, that the citizens of 1930s Germany
might appreciate? Totalitarianism starts with little con-
cessions to Power. Our lust for this man's punishment seems
to me-- in my wicked irrational skewed perspective of the
world-- a baby step towards such a fate.