In an instant, it could happen. A five second glance could cause the death of multiple people and the distracted driver would be held culpable. In 2013, a teenage boy from Anchorage, Alaska stole his parent’s Chevy Tahoe and was cruising down the road late at night. He was sending several texts and making a few phone calls along the way. At 2:36 am, he pressed the send button on his phone to send a text. The next minute, a Jeep appeared right in front of him and it was too late to stop. Now, 16-year-old Murphy Gross has to wake up each day knowing that a mother is no longer there for her two small children (Hopkins). Although this accident only affects this town in a remote part of Alaska, collisions like these could happen anywhere. Many people
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One case of this occurred in Apple Valley, Minnesota where a 29-year-old lady was the driver that caused a fatal crash. On April 6, 2013, Amanda Schlachter was driving a van full of group home residents back to their group home when she “ran a red light at McAndrews Road while entering a number on her cell phone and hit an SUV” (Walsh). Upon impact, the van she was driving “rolled onto its side and struck a third vehicle” (Walsh). One of her passengers, James Sundboom, was killed and a few others were severely injured. As a result of this crash, Schlachter “was charged...with criminal vehicular homicide and three counts of criminal vehicular operation” (Walsh). Now Schlachter has to live with the repercussions of her actions-one man is dead, others are wounded and criminal charges are now on her record. Unfortunately for her, these charges were all caused by one little device that had deadly …show more content…
A police officer from Belleville, Illinois was the guilty party in a crash in 2007 where he was speeding and using his phone. When addressing the family of the two girls that he killed, he states, "I shall forever regret beyond what anyone here knows, why we are here today” (Pistor). The epitome of tragedy is that, in an instant, drivers can destroy the life of a human being with a small battery-charged device. No wonder the police officer felt extreme remorse for his actions. Nothing should take the place of a human
One case of this occurred in Apple Valley, Minnesota where a 29-year-old lady was the driver that caused a fatal crash. On April 6, 2013, Amanda Schlachter was driving a van full of group home residents back to their group home when she “ran a red light at McAndrews Road while entering a number on her cell phone and hit an SUV” (Walsh). Upon impact, the van she was driving “rolled onto its side and struck a third vehicle” (Walsh). One of her passengers, James Sundboom, was killed and a few others were severely injured. As a result of this crash, Schlachter “was charged...with criminal vehicular homicide and three counts of criminal vehicular operation” (Walsh). Now Schlachter has to live with the repercussions of her actions-one man is dead, others are wounded and criminal charges are now on her record. Unfortunately for her, these charges were all caused by one little device that had deadly …show more content…
A police officer from Belleville, Illinois was the guilty party in a crash in 2007 where he was speeding and using his phone. When addressing the family of the two girls that he killed, he states, "I shall forever regret beyond what anyone here knows, why we are here today” (Pistor). The epitome of tragedy is that, in an instant, drivers can destroy the life of a human being with a small battery-charged device. No wonder the police officer felt extreme remorse for his actions. Nothing should take the place of a human