Kid Dies, Texter Pays Only $1000 Fine, Will ‘Jake’s Law’ Help?

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“Five-year-old Jake Owen played a video game in the back seat of the car as his family sat in Baltimore traffic. He excitedly announced, “Mom, I have 42 lives!” Then an SUV slammed into the sedan.

Devin X. McKeiver, 23, was using a cellphone when he rear-ended the car. He didn’t hit the brakes. The impact killed Jake.

Had McKeiver been drunk, he could have faced jail time. Instead, with his lawyer arguing at trial that McKeiver was doing something that everyone does, he was fined $1,000.”* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.

*Read more here from Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/jakes-law-addresses-penalties-for-distracted-driving/2014/03/09/c64aaa22-a3da-11e3-a5fa-55f0c77bf39c_story.html

Comments

  1. If you use your car as a weapon and hit someone intentionally you are charged with a felony murder attempt. If you use your car carelessly in a hit and run, a drunk driving incident, a texting hit you are charged as carelessly. If the car is a deadly weapon what is the disparity?

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