Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Repeat offenders.

Just typing the words gives me the creeps.

A week ago, a beautiful 20-year-old young lady from a Chicago suburb was killed while crossing a street near her school (Johns Hopkins University). The girl, Miriam Frankl (the daughter of a friend's friend), was a junior researching amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. She was headed to an event at the Baltimore campus when she was killed this month by a hit-and-run driver.

What makes this death even more tragic is that the driver of the vehicle that hit her has 21 motor vehicle convictions, including six for driving while intoxicated and two for driving under the influence, according to the Baltimore Sun. Authorities have filed a slew of charges against Thomas Meighan, 39, including negligent driving, reckless driving and failure to stop at an accident involving death.

Also according to the paper, Meighan white Ford F250 truck terrorized Baltimore for hours before and after its driver struck Frankl, according to a half-dozen witnesses who told police they saw the vehicle running red lights, tailgating other drivers and driving the wrong way on a one-way street throughout the day.

21 motor vehicle convictions!!!

And yet, according to a Baltimore Police spokesman, the best the city can do is put him away for 10 years.

And then what?

Listen, my grandfather was killed by a drunk driver 27 years ago. As bad as the laws are now, they were far worse in Texas in 1982. I'll give you that.

But 10 years??

And just how are they going to keep this asshole from getting behind the wheel again? Our judicial system is broken and it's only getting worse. My heart bleeds for this young girl and her family and friends.

The only good news that came out of this horrific episode is that the family is donating the young lady's organs so others may benefit from her death. Again, this is something obviously near and dear to me.

And then I read the story of David Sanchez, out of Orlando...

From WFTV in Orlando: “An illegal immigrant in Palm Bay faces multiple counts of sexual battery after officers say he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl. David Sanchez, 28, investigators say, used a family friendship to rape the child. Sanchez is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who has already been deported once for doing the same thing to another child in Alabama. Investigators say he returned to the U.S. in mid-2008 where he began having an unlawful sexual relationship with a then, 12-year-old child.”

Don Surber asks,

"Why are we deporting child molesters?

Put them in the can for 50 years and then deport them.

The expense?

Some 13-year-old girl — victim No. 2 — just paid a helluva price for our cheapness."


I would throw up, if I wasn't so busy crying.

2 comments:

Gail Doeff said...

Hey Shayne,
Thanks for writing about Miriam. Although our political views (yours and mine) differ rather dramatically, it's not hard to reach consensus on this one.

Shayne said...

There is no doubt that this transcends politics. Besides, I like you enough not to blame you for your political views :-)!

But serious, no matter what side of the political fence someone is on, this is a serious problem and it needs serious people to fix it.