Motorcyclist gets 30 years for killing state trooper

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...story?track=rss

http://www.local6.com/news/5118250/detail.html (Links at bottom for more information)

Cliff notes:
Porsche and motorcycle street race, and pass by a cop. Cop gives chase, and loses control of his Camaro at 150 mph, crashes and dies. Motorcyclist gets 30 years for aggr. manslaughter.

Discuss.

i've watched ALOT of Cops and ALOT of world's wildest police videos and as far as I know it's the individual police officer's discretion whether or not to go after the suspects at a high rate of speed...

how is it the motocyclists fault that the trooper took that risk? i know that traveling at 150 on the interstate is WAY against the law, however the trooper shoud've known his limits by now...afterall he was 49 years old...

and what the heck is up with tires nowdays? they can't handle 150mph or is tire maintenence to blame?

Thats fucked up! he didnt kill the cop, ok sure the cop was chasing him but so what?

If he couldnt control the cruiser thats his problem right?

and you mentioned a porsche was also involved right, did he get away?

That ruling is wrong in every way. Again no one can take responsibility for their own actions. :disappoin

Trooper was probably trying to be a hero... they are jackasses like that here in FL. think they have to save the day. Even more so if they get to sit in one of Comaro's.
He should have called ahead and told them to put up a blockade or something. what did he think he was gonna do? talk him down on the PA at 150mph?
ya that is safe and like the motorcycleist was going to stop. or maybe he was gonna ram the bike. in which case he would have died too. along iwth the motorcyclist in which case the motorcycleists family should have sued the hell out of the FHP as they woudlnt even have been able ot have a funeral because he would have been pure asfault paint at thoes speeds.
and it isnt like if the motorcycleist where to have rearended someone he would have lived anyway... the car he hit would have probably been some stupid asses soccer mom in a suburban and she would have felt a little bump and turn around and screamed at her kids telling them to stop screwing around while driving with her feet and putting on make up and reading a book...did i mention talking on the phone?

^ exactly!

Fucking cops need to man up and take responsability for thier own actions instead of crying like little bitches and blaming some poor guy. The only thing the biker is guilty of is handling speed better then the cop.

so what happens if I get into a fight with my wife and they call the cops. What if when the cops are on theyre way to my house a meteor falls out of the sky and crushes thier car and kills them both. Are they gonna put me in jail for double homicide?

I feel the same way that you guys do. It's a fact, a motorcycle would cause waay less damage at 150 mph than a Camaro would.

The police officer should have simply gotten a plate number, description, etc and radioed ahead, and get a road block, etc set up.

If the police would have backed off, the motorcycle would have probably slowed down as well after a couple miles

There is no mention of the Porsche driver, so I think it's safe to assume that he got away free. Why? Just because the motorcycle was faster, and the cops chased the motorcyclist down?

From one of the other news stories that is linked to at the bottom of the news article "Investigators suspect a right rear tire on Haywood's Chevrolet Camaro cruiser blew, causing the patrol to hit an Audi driven by 24-year-old Thomas Evanchik, of Daytona Beach." Law enforcement have a funny way of covering up the truth in order to protect their own. Yeah, sure, blame it on the tire. Police cruisers are more maticulously maintained than the average Joe's car, so it should be in top condition.

Also from the story "Haywood, a four-year veteran of the FHP and a retired New York City homicide detective, was honored as Trooper of the Month in July for pulling a person from a burning car." The cop was clearly trying to be a hero again, but this time he failed.

Pulling someone from a burning car is one type of hero, the other (his mindset when he died) is "i have t osave the public form this person so i can get a premotion and all the fame and glory"

i don't understand why it all falls on the motorcyclist. what a total load of bullshit.

"Attorneys for Donald Williams, who was driving the motorcycle during the incident, said Tuesday their client did not know he was being followed by Haywood when the officer crashed." ...

"However, some in the courtroom found William's defense that he did not look behind him during the alleged race hard to believe, Minor said."

yeah right, you ride a motorcycle at 150 mph and see how quick you are to take your eyes off the road ahead of you. at those speeds and in a full crouch there's no way he could have looked behind him.

this is my take on what happened. the cop thought he was hot shit in his camaro. he thought he'd try to be the man and stop the porsche and bike so he could be on the 6 o'clock news or Cops or whatever. he proceeded to drive the car beyond his(or the cars) capabilities and got himself killed. not the bikers fault. if you wanna hit the biker with evading arrest, speed contest, reckless endangerment or whatever else that's fine i guess, but the manslaughter charge is total horse shit.

Well, I know this tid bit as a fact... if you pass a Cruiser that's standing still at 80mph. And he tries to get after you, he'd have to do 110mph for I believe 6 miles (might be 8) to catch you.

Now, escalate it a bit... I don't know what the Trooper was thinking... it'd take him miles to catch up. By the time he got to wherever they were, they'd probably be done racing and off the freeway.

As my buddy who was a reserve cop and all his old cop buddies say... "why take that risk? It pays the same to sit here or chase him down."

If the trooper used a bit of common sense he'd still be alive. It's sad to hear that he died in a accident such as that... but this is a bit much on behalf of the Biker.

this is my take on what happened. the cop thought he was hot shit in his camaro. he thought he'd try to be the man and stop the porsche and bike so he could be on the 6 o'clock news.

He did get on the 6 o'clock news, just not how he thought.

in this state, if a motorcycle runs, you're not allowed to give chase b/c of the dangers of the speed and the ability of the cycle to get away

the cop was being a dumbass, nobody should be traveling on any road at 150mph, that is insanity and it was his own responsibility that was supposed to tell him whether it was ok or not. he wasn't responsible, so he shouldn't have been a cop anyways. and especially if he was highway patrol he should have known much better and had his vehicle in a better condition

Its horse shit. Not the bike guys fault the cop cant control his own car.

we should start a petition...

^ hell yes we should.....but how does that work? do we just get everyones names and then what?

^ You're the one in florida. Maybe try to find out the the address of the da's office that convicted him, or the police dept, or something. I don't know, but I'll sign.

we'd have to get the Adress and all of the court house of the country which convicted him and then get a bunch of signatures and then show them there is extreme intrest in protesting what happened and hten they would set X number of signatures required before they would allow him to be retried.

I saw his wife crying on TV about how that motorcycle guy had no regard for human life when he chose to race...

Well how the fuck about the regard for life when that cop tried to catch the motorcyclist and blew a tire out??? How many people could have been killed by captian doofus who thought his 1337 FHP cruiser could catch a bike and a porsche???

She has the right to be upset...but only at her husband's arrogant decisions and FHP lack of attention to detail on cruiser condition/matinence. Motorcyclists gets punished for not stopping, careless driving, and speeding. That should be it.

i've watched ALOT of Cops and ALOT of world's wildest police videos and as far as I know it's the individual police officer's discretion whether or not to go after the suspects at a high rate of speed...

how is it the motocyclists fault that the trooper took that risk? i know that traveling at 150 on the interstate is WAY against the law, however the trooper shoud've known his limits by now...afterall he was 49 years old...

and what the heck is up with tires nowdays? they can't handle 150mph or is tire maintenence to blame?

:1:

Even more amazing that the cop tried to chase someone at 150mph, is the fact that he passed innocent people on the freeway at those speeds. The cop is willing to put an innocent motorists life in danger further more so he could look good.

SO THE MAN IS GOING TO GO TO JAIL FOR 30 FRICKIN' YEARS BECAUSE OF SOME HOT SHOT!!!

The more I think about it the more angry I get. How can you justify that sentence. You could smuggle 30 kilos of cocaine, run over a pedestrian, and assault a cop all in the same cay, and still not get 30 years.

OMFG the Florida legal system is a fucking joke. Well, what can u expect from the same institution that gave the presidency to George Bush.

Well, what can you expect from a sue happy nation of people, some of whom can't take responsibility for anything. Regrettably, I have to say Australia is heading down that same path.

This just goes to show the weaknesses in the jury system.

Aggravated homicide is some shit like you wave a gun at someone and they jump out a window and kill themselves. Chasing someone down the highway is completely different...some people in the DA's office have obviously too much time on their hands.

I guess politically they have to look like they're doing something about the st racing....which would mean....all YOU people caused this!! :evillol: :grinno:

Well, I'm really hoping that the motorcyclist has a good lawyer who will appeal the sentence. I mean the guy was 39 years old, he was probably having a mid-life crisis. It's not fair that he should spend the best part of his life, and get out of prison when he will be 70 years old. There is a good chance that the man will die in prison.

If he had a good lawyer, he wouldn't have been convicted. I don't know what kind of monkey would not be able to defend that. Florida law must just be weird.

now that i think about it is was probably a federal court, not a country court...which means we would submit the petition to the state.

either way this sencence is bunk. id like to give that DA a big kick in the nuts.

The more I think about it the more angry I get. How can you justify that sentence. You could smuggle 30 kilos of cocaine, run over a pedestrian, and assault a cop all in the same cay, and still not get 30 years.

Yeah, youd only get two stars for that, three if another cop saw you run over the first cop.

thats bs. the trooper should have know the limits of the tires on the car. an his wife talkin that inocent life bs her husband also put lives at a risk to. i willing to bet my life if the trooper had hit another passenger car when he wrecked they wouldnt have thought much about it an would have also been blamed on the guy on the motorcycle

This is an unforunate trend in "law enFORCEment".

Last year, here in Virginia, a cop backed his cruiser into a pond and drowned, while setting up a road block. They charged the guy they were after with capital murder because the cop was answering a call he caused.

Another guy was pulled over for speeding. After the stop, he tried to run. The cop jumped into the car, trying to control it. Neither of them could control the car. It went up an enbankment, rolled over and squashed the cop. They charged that guy with capital murder, too. They (the cops) told a slew of lies to cover the hard-ass attitude.

It has become the national approach to allow law enFORCEment people to do pretty much anything they want without being accountable for their own actions.

I even had a cop argue with me over an issue directly related to a car's capabilities. Wrong thing to do... I'm an aknowledged "expert" in things "automotive" by the state and lower courts. But he insisted, simply because he's a cop, he knew more than I. It didn't end up that way...

An English writer, some 500 years ago, said it best: "Discretion is the better part of valor". Rather than relying on force to attain their goal, the cops should have used a radio... No car I know of, is capable of going 186,000 miles per second. Every radio is.

I agree, the cop is responsible for his own demise. I'm truly sorry for his family. They don't need to deal with that. I would hope any cop reading this would have enough sense to stop and think, BEFORE he (or she) commits themselves to an unwinable situation.

You will find, with the wording of current laws, the man will lose the appeal. The legal system has been manipulated to the point where the cops are gods and everyone else are liars, thieves and druggies... (Oh, and don't forget, "terrorists")

Re-elect NOBODY! It's the ONLY bloodless solution.

Jim

That is the biggest load of bullshit ever. "innocent until proven guilty" There is no way in hell they could prove that he knew the cop was behind him, he was going 150+, on a motorcycle, i wouldnt look behind me for anything, and the wind noise must have been loud enough to drown out a siren coming from behind. I thought police were supposed to use their own discression in matters like that. Unless the motorcyclist suggested that the officer chase him than he had nothing to do with the crash. Another thing too, how many of us on here would accelerate from 0-150 in a police camaro cruser, if it was legal and we were given the chance... i think 90%. Maybe the guy was just havin some fun and it went horribly wrong, thats how street racing accidents happen.

I feel the same way that you guys do. It's a fact, a motorcycle would cause waay less damage at 150 mph than a Camaro would.

The police officer should have simply gotten a plate number, description, etc and radioed ahead, and get a road block, etc set up.

If the police would have backed off, the motorcycle would have probably slowed down as well after a couple miles

There is no mention of the Porsche driver, so I think it's safe to assume that he got away free. Why? Just because the motorcycle was faster, and the cops chased the motorcyclist down?

As motorcycle guys will agree, especially guys with japanese bikes..there is quite a bit of vehicular descrimination against bikes for some reason, at least around here...

For example, my buddy has a Harley Davidson and I have a Yamaha R1. One day my buddy and I were cruising down the interstate going about 85-90MPH and we see a cop and think nothing of it because it's the interstate...who cares?

Later at a rest stop the cop pulls in the lights on and what not and pulls up next to us....he didn't even bat an eye at my harley buddy...and i got an earfull of the various laws that i supposedly broke...all my harley buddy got was a "slow it down a bit will ya?"....total bullshit...

Later that day we were cruising at the same speed as before...some dude in a mustang swings by us and flys by a state trooper...the trooper just sat there with his radar gun in one hand and the other hand up his ass.....once again...total bullshit...

Gotta love the judicial system. GOD those people on the jury should be executed for being such morons. how the fuck can you convict someone of something he nothing to do with. Granted he should have not been going that fast and the cop SHOULD have radioed ahead but it wasnt the motorcycilists fault. At the academy were taught to " USE YOUR OWN DISCRESSION ( however the fuck you spell it ) I mean its sad to see a cop go but he was just as guilty as the other guy.

i think the jurydoesnt understand what reasonable doubt means.
There is a resonable doubt he didnt look behind him...a VERY reasonable doubt. there is even a resonable doubt if he even saw the cop...ive been up to 145 in a car...as a passeneger...i wasntgoing to remove my eyes from the road...i want paying attention to what type of cars we where passing...just that we where passing them... the cruisers are black in the rear and tani the front (the Z28 ones anyway)...going that fast it looked no more like a cop car than it did a black z28.
on a bike id be even more scared to turn my head at all...ive been on a dirt bike at 60mph...even looking sideasy can cause you to accidently vere that way if you arent careful... 2 1/2 times faster im sure the effect is far more apparent, if not deadly.
that is why i am pissed off. for all i know the guy could have admitied it. still he shouldnt be hit with a 30 year senctence...he didnt hodl a gun to the cops head and tell the cop to chase him...he didnt threaten the cop angerly to chase him...he was testing his bike out agianst a nice car...
[bangs fist on comptuer desk]

He still shouldnt have been going that fast but i still agree with you 30 years is fucking stupid. If i went to jail today for 30 years id get out at 50!

Sickens me to see this.

Should the biker and the Porshe driver both be punished for speeding yes.

Should the trooper for doing so yes. I bet they just didn't want dick his family out of benifits.

Well if 1 dumb action can make a civilan lose so much it should go the same.

I could go on for hours about how sad and wrong this is.

No way was chasing the right idea.

Id sign a petition

i'd sign a petition, this is entirely bull sh!t

He still shouldnt have been going that fast but i still agree with you 30 years is fucking stupid. If i went to jail today for 30 years id get out at 50!

bah air force!!

Go Navy!!! commander in chief trophy!! :icon16:
http://www.usna-net.org/armynavy03/cictrophy.jpg


and on to the topic at hand...i agree with all you guys....the ruling was way over the top and maybe a petition is a good way to go...

Petitions only work in a democracy :evillol: :grinno:

WOW them navy guys look like a bunch of fruits. ahahahahahh JK :lol:

lol

Hell get out in less than half that time... of course the damage to your ass would be perminate :iceslolan