Firefighter to Spend Christmases in Jail
When I first read this article, I just thought of it as an odd punishment and moved on to something else. But, the article stuck in my mind and the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me, so I went back and read it again.
The part that bothers me is the sentence that explains what happened. “Meglitto, a member of the Rosehill Volunteer Fire Department, was driving at more than 80 mph with emergency lights on and siren blaring, when his truck struck McKinney’s sedan broadside on June 4, 2002, killing the 40-year-old woman.”
The fact that he hit her “broadside” indicates to me that this accident probably occured in an intersection. What bothers me is that he had his “emergency lights on and siren blaring.” If that’s the case, why was she in the intersection in the first place? When you hear those sirens, aren’t you supposed to stop and let the vehicle pass? I see more and more drivers these days who fail to yield to emergency vehicles the way they are supposed to. They continue driving through intersections even though sirens can be heard approaching. They fail to pull over and stop to let them pass or they stop in the middle of the road, making it difficult for the vehicle to get around them. I’ve even heard some of these emergency vehicles turn on their loud speakers and have to request that a driver move out of the way.
Although it is a tragic accident that this woman died, I wonder if the firefighter is truly guilty of “criminally negligent homicide.” Does he even bear sole responsibility for this accident? Isn’t the woman partly responsible for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle? He was a firefighter responding to a fire and he had his lights and sirens ON. Yes, it was just a brush fire, but the woman didn’t know what kind of emergency he was responding to and yes, he was going 80 MPH, but aren’t emergency vehicles supposed to respond quickly? If you were the one waiting on an emergency vehicle, every second would count and you’d want them to get there quickly, wouldn’t you? You not only want a quick response, you expect a quick response, right? Even a brush fire can turn deadly in a heartbeat. How many brush fires have resulted in forest fires burning thousands of acres and ruining hundreds of homes?
I’m just wondering if punishing this firefighter is less an act of justice than one of revenge. Does he really need to be MADE to think about what happened? I’m sure that woman’s death will be something he will think about for the rest of his life, regardless of being punished or not, and taking Christmas away from his family for the next 6 years won’t bring her back. Nor will it do anything to ease the loss of the other family.
Deep down in my gut, it just doesn’t feel right.
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