The low price for Hit and Run in South Carolina
Over the last couple of months, a lot of Blogland readers have asked how my daughter was doing after a recent hit-and-run incident. When my daughter was sore from her injuries, going somewhere and having someone ask how she was doing made her day a little better on more than one occasion.
This morning was court day at the magistrate's court for the driver, charged with leaving the scene of an accident, operating an unsafe vehicle and driving too fast for conditions. Having supposedly figured out who her insurer was, she finally produced proof of insurance so that charge was dropped. All said, after paying about three hundred dollars in fines, she's done and off the hook - no need to even appear in front of the judge to explain her actions, much less jail time.
That's all she got.
While many instances of hit and run which involve injury require an appearance in General Sessions court and the aggrieved party gets their day in court, apparently my daughter's incident was the exception to the rule.
The kind of person who can drive off and not care that they injured someone, or is so loaded or irresponsble they don't even notice, should be standing in front of a judge to explain their actions, and if found guilty, required to serve jail time.
Several legislators have been contacted about closing this loophole and they're willing to work on this. The Blogland will work to keep readers informed as to the progress of this legislative effort - and we'll be naming names along the way.
Stay tuned.
This morning was court day at the magistrate's court for the driver, charged with leaving the scene of an accident, operating an unsafe vehicle and driving too fast for conditions. Having supposedly figured out who her insurer was, she finally produced proof of insurance so that charge was dropped. All said, after paying about three hundred dollars in fines, she's done and off the hook - no need to even appear in front of the judge to explain her actions, much less jail time.
That's all she got.
While many instances of hit and run which involve injury require an appearance in General Sessions court and the aggrieved party gets their day in court, apparently my daughter's incident was the exception to the rule.
The kind of person who can drive off and not care that they injured someone, or is so loaded or irresponsble they don't even notice, should be standing in front of a judge to explain their actions, and if found guilty, required to serve jail time.
Several legislators have been contacted about closing this loophole and they're willing to work on this. The Blogland will work to keep readers informed as to the progress of this legislative effort - and we'll be naming names along the way.
Stay tuned.
I found out the hard way, that justice is VERY BIASED. Especially in magistrate's court. And especially Judge Rawl's court in Lexington, SC. And especially if you are NOT a friend of Donnie Myers or 'Judge' Rawl.
It's p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c, to no small degree.
Glad your daughter is OK. The angels were watching her back. They have to -- the courts surely aren't.
When you stop hanging out with the SCRG kooks (your criticisms of them don't fool those of us who know how much they're paying you) and care about someone else's kids as much as you do your own, it will probably be the day hell freezes over.
Bush is gone. Soon you will be too.
You're living in the Twilight Zone. I hope you like it there.
Hang in there, I suspect Glen can help shake a few things up.
Remind me, was that an appointed or elected imbicile presiding?
In this case, it's not a matter of the judge, but rather how these offenses are classified under state law.
Driving off from any incident where you hit someone should be classed as something more serious than a mere traffic ticket.
4 shots to the car and one shot to our front porch doorbell (couldn't afford the forensics to prove the doorbell shot).
This from 2 18-yr-old thugs that were over at our house "visiting" (harassing) my 18-yr-old son. Lexington County Sheriff's Department didn't even look into it. They told me I would have to take it up with the magistrate's office to get any charges pressed. That would have been a joke, seeing as I am NOT a friend of Judge Rawl or Donnie Myers.
Ugh.