Teenager’s Lawyer Blames Pothole for Crash

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/07/nyregion/teenage-drivers-lawyer-blames-pothole-for-crash-that-killed-girl.html?ref=todayspaper

2. Category: murder case

3. level: local

4. This article concerns: A teenage driver who hit a 4-year-old girl, killing her and injuring her grandmother in June while speeding away from the police. Now the boy’s lawyer is blaming a pothole for the accident.

5. How this affects individuals/families: If the boy who murdered the girl even if it was unintentionally, gets away with this he could be possibly putting more people in danger. He is only 15 years old and clearly not an experienced driver so with no punishment he might repeat this incident again which could lead to more injuries and even deaths. Parents in this area are going to worry a lot more if nothing happens to this boy because they will fear the lives of their own children.

6. My views: I think it is ridiculous for this boys lawyer to say he killed someone because of a pothole. Clearly he is just trying to find anything he can to get this boy out of spending quite a few years in jail. I would feel bad if this young boy had to be put away but he choose to break the law and should be punished like anyone else would who broke the same law as him. It wasn't just like he was accidentally driving down the road and hit someone. He stole his mothers car, sped off from the police while they were chasing him, killed and injured two people while in the process of fleeing from the cops, and didn't have a drivers license. If he gets away with this I will be surprised and kind of upset because a lot of what he did was illegal and should have consequences for his actions. Any mother or father would agree to this because they would be like what if this was my kid who got killed for the ignorance of a teenage boy. Even if he did hit a pothole he already committed a crime by running from the police which led to the death of an innocent child. The pothole could of helped the chances of him hit the girl but I don't think that that is a very good argument, he clearly was just trying to get out of a bad situation and hurt people in the process. this lawyer is just trying to win a case because out of everything against the law he did his only response was "well there are several potholes on that road." I think that is a really dumb response and any logical person would think so too. I don't think that the judge is going to take his side one this once because of all the crimes he committed in the process. The only thing that could help him out is the fact that he is only 15 years old, but still he did kill someone along with committing several crimes in the process. If I was the family of the little girl who got killed I would be furious and make sure I did everything in my will to make sure this kid doesn't get away with murder. So hopefully everything works out for the best and I think either way this kid will definitely learn a lesson.