Man pleads guilty in death of military doctor

[2021Doctor]

Taylor was on his cellphone while driving the forklift in an area shared by vehicles and pedestrians, and he didn’t see Leli before striking her, according to court documents. An investigation found that Taylor would have seen Leli walking from about 50 feet away if he had not been using his phone, and that he had almost nine seconds to avoid the fatal collision.
Ex-contractor pleads guilty in forklift death of Air Force doctor at UAE base

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[militaryPHYS]

Ugh. So sad.

 

[GreenHousePub]

Hopefully his forklift certification was yanked.

 

[EthylMethylMan]

"The former contractor could have faced up to eight years in prison, but his plea agreement recommends a maximum prison sentence of one year."

One year in the slammer for causing the completely avoidable death of a young person. This seems insanely lenient. Shouldn't this be akin to killing someone while driving a car impaired? I know he must've plea bargained like no tomorrow, but this dude chose to distract himself while operating dangerous machinery.

 

[DeadCactus]

"The former contractor could have faced up to eight years in prison, but his plea agreement recommends a maximum prison sentence of one year."

One year in the slammer for causing the completely avoidable death of a young person. This seems insanely lenient. Shouldn't this be akin to killing someone while driving a car impaired? I know he must've plea bargained like no tomorrow, but this dude chose to distract himself while operating dangerous machinery.

The US has a weird culture of using prison to deal with sad feelings.

 

[EthylMethylMan]

The US has a weird culture of using prison to deal with sad feelings.

Should the punishment not fit the crime? If a drunk driver kills someone with his car, should he get out in 6 months? A longer sentence won't bring the person back, right? Just sad feelings.

 

[DeadCactus]

Should the punishment not fit the crime? If a drunk driver kills someone with his car, should he get out in 6 months? A longer sentence won't bring the person back, right? Just sad feelings.

I won't pretend it's any easy question but there is a point at which imprisonment goes from a punishment in the name of justice to a senseless waste of resources and life. I don't think it's possible to draw a clean line in the sand but 6 months to a year in prison coupled with the socioeconomic and psychological consequences of being convicted of manslaughter seem in the realm of a reasonable punishment for an accident after someone has taken responsibility and plead guilty.

Putting someone in prison for 5-10+ years doesn't bring back the dead, doesn't serve as a deterrent, doesn't make the family feel any better about their dead loved one, and doesn't make the person and more remorseful. All it does is waste $1 million dollars in tax payer money, destroy another person's life, and make sure they're reliant on social services and tax payers for the rest of their life. All over a stupid decision rather than any sort of malice or intentional harm.

Prison should be used to separate people from society who represent an ongoing danger to the general public. It's use as a default punishment is lazy and wasteful.

 

[GreenHousePub]

The easiest way to get away with murder in America is to use a forklift.