Texting + Driving Can Lead to Criminal Charges in California
Texting + Driving Can Lead to Criminal Charges in California .
For those of you who feel it is just not as safe on the roads after the invention of texting, here is more fuel for the fire:
The Huffington Post published this story on Wednesday, April 16, a 21 year old Australian woman has demonstrated that “victim empathy” and “remorse” are not words she learned about in school. In September, the 21-year-old woman struck a cyclist with her car, and made the required call to police—but from that point has become the poster child for a bad attitude.
Her car was slightly damaged when the accident happened, which got her very upset, because “like, her car is expensive”. Of course, the impact of the collision also broke the spine of the cyclist, resulting in a three month hospital stay, and the possibility that he would become a paraplegic.
During a now-viral statement to police, the 21 year old made the following statement:
“I just don’t care because I’ve already been through a lot of bullshit and my car is like pretty expensive and now I have to fix it,” she told a police officer. “I’m kind of pissed off that the cyclist has hit the side of my car. I don’t agree that people texting and driving could hit a cyclist.”
The woman stopped 100 yards away from the accident scene to call police, but rather than helping the cyclist, she chose simply to wait for officers.
Police counted 44 texts sent / received during the period of time she was driving. However, the young lady said that the notion she caused the accident by texting and not paying attention was wrong. She was not happy that the cyclist ran into the side of her car.
Adding to the drama, she later posted on Facebook “Don’t drive and do bad things kiddies. Or you will lose your license”
On Monday, April 14, she pled to dangerous driving, was fined $4500 for the driving and lost her license for 9 months.
In California, simply driving on a suspended license results in fines, jail time, and often further suspension of the driving privilege by the DMV if it has occurred multiple times.
In addition to breaking the law and very severely injuring someone, the young woman broke all the rules regarding appropriate behavior of a person facing criminal charges. She did not attempt to help the victim or even sit with him while waiting for police. Even if she felt no remorse except for her own inconvenience, she should never makes a statement like that to police.
Her third “strike”, becoming more and more common, is posting about the accident on Facebook. Social media is increasingly used by authorities to find incriminating statements, associations, and even photos of crime scenes and weapons! It has become a treasure trove for the police, sometimes even better than a smoking gun!
If you or someone you know is accused of a crime, arrested, or contacted by police, contact San Jose criminal defense attorney Maureen Baldwin at (408) 279-4450 to learn your options today!
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