Motorcyclist gets 30 years for killing state trooper

[clawhammer]

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.

[King Of Crunk]

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?

[Musashi3000GT]

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?

[PWRDbyUNCLEbens]

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

[CBFryman]

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?

[Musashi3000GT]

^ 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?

[clawhammer]

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.

[CBFryman]

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"

[BP2K2Max]

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.

[-The Stig-]

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.

[Musashi3000GT]

Originally Posted by BP2K2Max

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.

[Sleepr awd]

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

[CassiesMan]

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

[CBFryman]

we should start a petition...

[Musashi3000GT]

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