Takara Davis, 13-year-old girl in coma, gets jaywalking ticket at hospital

reply to post by TrueBrit


I do not disagree one bit with what you are saying.

But the unfortunate reality of this world, especially in the US, is that people abuse the civil justice system to such a degree that acts of kindness or consideration often result in one losing in court. Prophylactic behaviors are simply part of the game here. These events create no-win situations...

Give the ticket now and you are part of a heartless system. And the people rage.

Give the ticket later and it seems as though you are going back to cover your own arse and screw somebody out of their just compensation. And the people rage.

Some situations are just plain difficult with no easy answers.

~Heff

Wow True Brit. I sure hope your thinking is in the minority. You're so off base here it's astonishing. The person that you should be concerned about is the driver of the vehicle. He/she did absolutely nothing wrong. Imagine what they must feel like? But you seem to feel it's a lot easier to stop a 3,000lb object in motion than a 150lb object in motion. Pedestrians and cyclist cause many accidents each year. But to you, in this Age of Entitlement, somehow this 13 year girl who did something wrong, should be coddled and exonerated.

This girl did not care to take the appropriate precautions to insure safety, plain and simple. I personally know somehow who hit and killed a 15 year old that darted out into the street. That was over 20 years ago and he still feels terrible, even though he didn't do anything wrong. If that 15 year old would have acted appropriately, he wouldn't have been killed.

True Brit, people like you must learn to take responsibility. Quite shucking the blame and putting the emphasis on others. Your quote:

"First of all , pedestrians should have right of way on every road but large motorways. We are better for the environment, cost a hell of a lot less to fuel, and a person who walks is a person who stays fit , and doesnt cost the taxpayer a bunch in anti obesity treatment."

I will personally guarantee you that "fit" people drive vehicles. As a professional athlete, I will tell you that it is the obese who take to walking to try to shed the pounds. Athletic people (and every professional athlete I associate with) does not walk to stay fit. We utilize much more aggressive forms of exercise.

Here's another of your quotes:

"Then priorities need to change. There should never be a situation where the functions of law overwhelm a families right to peace in troubled times."

Are you referring to the family of the driver? Somehow I don't think you are. But let me point out to you that the driver of the vehicle has emotions and needs to be assured that the law is doing what is called for. In this case, it is being done properly. So go on feeling sorry for the one who caused the accident. My feelings lean towards the victim....who happens to be the driver.

reply to post by 0288796


This is nothing to do with my attitude toward the driver of the vehicle. It is of course terrible for anyone involved in a car to person collision, on both sides, and I in no way wish to take away from that. However, what I am angry about, is that the police couldnt have the compassion and understanding to leave the childs family alone until she was out of her coma or dead, whichever happens first. There is no way to coddle a person who is in a coma. It has no psychological effect on the young girl in the hosptial bed wether her family recieves a ticket on her behalf, but for the family of that young lady this ticket is insult to injury. Its not enough that thier daughter/sister is in a coma, but now they have this ticket as well, just in case thier day wasnt bad enough already.
This situation should never have come to pass, because there should be, regardless of the situation some basic principles of decency, which prevent official matters entering into a time which should SOLELY be about the family of the injured party, and making sure than an already difficult, painful , and potentialy despair inducing time is not further messed with by affairs which could very easily be deffered until later. It is highly unlikely that the family of this young girl are going to be capable of dealing with the ticket in any case, and the speed of its arrival in thier hands has NO baring on any legality that may ensue from the jaywalking offence in any case, since the injured suspect in that offence is hardly capable of defending her position, nor, being 13 of making any financial reparation for her actions.
Therefore, the ticket could have waited, and the whole thing should have been deffered until such time as either the girl was out of immediate danger and lucid, or until she had passed away, no matter which was which.
Furthermore, the issue of this ticket has no effect on the driver, since they will either get by just fine, or have to find some means of addressing any post traumatic stress they may have suffered from the incident, REGARDLESS of when or if a ticket has been issued.
Again, defending the course of events and the route taken by the authorities in the particular matter of the timing of the ticketing for the offence is just inhuman. People are not numbers, nor files. They have minds and hearts, both of which can be broken by just the merest things in times of stress. An inability to adjust the actions of an authority in those circumstances shows it is flawed in terms of its ability to recognise and respect a persons greif and fear. That anyone could defend such a flaw is beyond me entirely.

True Brit,

She was issued a ticket...a piece of paper...that only confirms what she and her family already know; that she committed an error and an innocent person (the driver) is not going to be punished for her mistake. She's not being dragged out of the hospital in chains and sent to the firing squad.

RoboCop!
and do they have to drag the girls bed to court?
if she die's and dos not pay the fine.
will they arrest her dead body?

Ah. So now the cop's the bad guy? This kid is once again the victim?

She broke the law and has to pay for it. That's why jaywalking is actually a rather serious law to break. Getting tackled by a moving automobile can have harsh circumstances.

No one else to blame. Age of Entitlement once again. It's always someone else's fault. Don't yell at my baby. Don't discipline my baby. My baby's an angel. My baby's a victim.

reply to post by 0288796


For the last time, I am not saying that the girl shouldnt get a ticket. I AM saying that niether she, nor her family should hear ANYTHING about this until she is out of her coma or dead. The two things are not the same, and punishment can still occur AFTER the girl is either out of danger, or dead. There is NO need for anyone to bug her or her folks until that extremely traumatic period is over.
So the law is happy, and the girls family arent suicidal over the awesome lack of tact on the behalf of law enforcement , and the car driver, the victim will either get treatment for PTSD to get over the incident if he should need it, or decide that he ought to just have a shot of scotch and carry on with his life. What is your problem with this ?
Explain to me why it is you insist that there is no other way for the police to have dealt with this, than to have delivered the ticket to the girls family in hospital, while she lay there on the edge of death?

that's so sad the cop who gave that little girl a ticket for jay walking should retire his badge

today
im gonna stick a gum on a public bench
brake a twig/branch of a tree and just leave it on the path near by
spit nonstop one block
jay walk twize to the near by asteroidstreer , buy a cup of coco
dispence the cup in a shrubbery jaywalk once again
catch a buss claim discount with fake student id
read todays paper nicked from asteroidsteer,

in all sincierity
to bad there aint invisible drones shooting epilepsi rays while scanning you for a rfid chip and adding the offence to your tax ,
by the count of dog manure on my block theres a good 2k in ticket fees to gain ,
i guess there must be an infinite amount of unsolved offences ,

True Brit,

Because the law states that a ticket has to be issued within a predetermined time frame. That is why. If she lingered in a coma for 3 years then awakes, it's too late to issue the ticket.

I also suppose you don't think her family should be responsible for any damage to the victim's car?

Bottom line, the cop did the right thing.

reply to post by 0288796


No sir, heres a bottom line for you. If the law states that a person should just grin and bare a functionary of a careless system, comming into thier life at the most trying possible time, and issuing them with a piece of paper which does nothing but prove the impersonal lack of compassion of the culture in which they live, then the law is simply wrong, and needs to take into account the psychological well being of those it is supposed to serve and protect in its workings. If a law is so inflexible that compassion cannot be enacted within it, then that law is flawed and needs re designing, and , if a person, regardless of thier orders or some misguided sense of duty (bare in mind please that the only real duty of a police officer, is to protect people from danger and criminal enterprise, not take orders and be a tool of government) , cannot see the right from the wrong here, then they shouldnt be wearing a badge at all.
What the hell is wrong with these careless , tactless idiots? I can understand the inflexibility of laws surrounding murder and drug dealing and car theft and christ knows how much else, but in this situation too much emphasis has been placed on the timely execution of a pitiful jaywalking ticket, and that is quite utterly wrong.

The law is correct. Issuing the ticket is correct. What is wrong is your way of thinking. You want the kid to get off scott free, make the victim (the driver) liable for the accident, and punish the cop for doing his job. One must wonder about your mental state to not grasp this. You are wrong, have been proven wrong, and will continue to be wrong no matter how much drivel you attempt to write.And please don't bother to post anymore. You are upsetting my family during this trying time.

I know issuing the ticket seems like a callous, heartless thing to do, but because of the way the civil courts work I believe the officer was in the right. Yea it sucks, but sometimes doing what could be the right thing is hard. I know if a child walked out in front of me and my truck put them in the hospital I would feel heartache beyond belief, even if it was the childs fault. But my family and my familys financial well being would be in jeapordy at that point. If all it would take to keep my income and assets intact from a lawsuit who's judgement I'm sure would exceed the limits of my liability policy was for a cop to issua a jaywalking ticket, then I would expect him to uphold the law and issue a jaywalking ticket. Yes it sucks for the girls family, and I feel for them. But the fact of the matter is they will probably sue (regardless of fault), and that ticket maybe the only thing that keeps that driver from a wage garnishment, lien against their property, and ruined credit report that could keep them from certain jobs in the future.

And by the way, I know the street where she was hit. It is not some tiny residential side street with a speed limit of 25mph. It is a major drive with crosswalks within walking distance. Unfortunaly this town is not set up well for pedestrians and bike riders. The public transpotation here is not the greatest. Yeah it bites, but cross at the darn crosswalk. Don't run out into the raod to save a few stpes or a few minutes. Your time is not anymore valuable than the 150 cars coming down the road at that point in time. At the very least you may cause a small traffic jam, at the worst an accident involving other cars as they all slam on the brakes or you getting run over and killed.

Maybe I missed something, but why are some people talking as if it is a fact that it was the pedestrian's fault? One of the links is dead now, in the one that is up it gives no indication of that. Yeah jaywalking is evil and everything, but what if it was the driver dialing a cellphone, or changing the radio station that caused it, and being in the crosswalk up the road might still not have helped any? Plenty of pedestrians and motorcyclists get hit all the time because people that don't pay attention to the damn damn road.

reply to post by filosophia

.i wouldn't be surprised if this was done on purpose to make people angry or myabe their greed is getting the best of them plus with a ticket for jay walking the real cruelty is now the girl may be at fault and not the driver maybe this is so the insurance company does not have to pay the hospital. Too bad we cant find out the name of the driver...Im wondering if it may have even been an off duty police officer, driving too fast for conditions.
NAH...cops always abide by the laws. Or was it a dui judge or politician? Negative there too, they are all sober when there forced to drive themselves. Maybe they should have posted a gaurd outside her hospital room door, in case she woke up and tried to escape, then they could have issued her that ticket upon discharge.

reply to post by TKDRL


I'll have to see if I can find the article from the local paper online from that date tommorow. I believe she was not in a crosswalk and the driver was calculated to be driving the posted speed limit of 45 mph. The paper also said DUI was not a factor.

Also, in this state (NV) at least, it isn't always just the insurance company paying. State minimums for auto liability insurance are 15k/30k. If you are sued for, and the plaintiff obtains a judgement for, say 200k, your insurance company will only pay for what you are insured for. If you only have the minumum of 15k per person, you are personally liable for 185k at that point. With a judgement they can then garnish your wages and lien any property you own. They can't force the sale, but you or your hiers will have to pay if the property is ever sold. Also a judgement will be placed in the public records section of your credit report. That could influence some employers not to hire you. This would force most people to file bankruptcy.

I think all of the above is a stiff price to pay if it wasn't your fault you hit the pedestrian. Especially if the cost to you coulde have been avoided or greatly reduced by the police issuing a ticket to the person at fault. You can't just wait for the person to die or come out of the comma. There is a statute of limitations, and it could take months or years for the person to come out of it or pass away. Could the ticket maybe have waited 24 to 48 hours? I'm sure it could have. And that probably would have been a better way to handle it. But lets be honest, people would still be angry with the cops. And I don't blame the family for being angry and hurt about it. I would be too. But as one who has no connection to this at all, I see why it was done. It wasn't for revenue. Its not a felony. It is a misdemeoner. Just a small fine. My bet is under the circumstances the judge will dismiss the fine itself. But the innocent (untill proven otherwise) party deserves protection under the law too, and determination of fault helps greatly. Yes it sucks. In a perfect world none of this would happen, but this is not a perfect world.

reply to post by 0288796


YOU ARE NOT LISTENING! I dont want the kid to get off scott free. I want the kids family left alone until she can deal with her ticket, not her family who are absolutely at thier wits end because thier kid is in a coma! If you cannot see the fairness in that, then you arent looking hard enough, either that or you have no heart or soul and I pity your lack of compassion. I only hope that should you ever require understanding and compassion, that all you meet is ironclad lack of care.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective

our local gov'ts are hurting for money, they need more money, this officer needs more money!! he is just going that extra mile to make sure that they all have more money!!!

seriously, they are going to great lengths to slap anyone they can with fines, many of which have been increase alot the past year or two....
so well, watch your p's and q's.....because if they see ya, they are gonna nail ya!

this was in very poor taste though.....the girl, her mom, are suffering much more that what would be deemed justifiable for jaywalking, they are paying a greater price, the price that the law against jaywalking was trying to prevent...and should be left alone, or given support, not tickets!

although, I got to admit, it is really irratating when you get stuck behind a bunch of kids, who know your are behind them and just refuse to get out of the danged road that they are walking down the middle of!!! it seems that their younger brothers and sisters know enough not to be in the middle of the road when a car is coming at them. can't help but wonder, what is going on that these kids lose such vital knowledge once they hit some magical age?

Dawnstar:

"this was in very poor taste though.....the girl, her mom, are suffering much more that what would be deemed justifiable for jaywalking, they are paying a greater price, the price that the law against jaywalking was trying to prevent...and should be left alone, or given support, not tickets!"

You can't be serious!!! That kid broke the law and endangered others as well. Now we should be supporting her? Who's supporting the driver? Who will pay to repair any damage (if there is any) to his car? Who is supporting him through this tough time? This kid got off lucky as far as the charges. She did more than jaywalk. She caused an ACCIDENT!!! And how dare you say, "

"the girl, her mom, are suffering much more that what would be deemed justifiable for jaywalking,"

What do you think will happen when flesh meets an oncoming automobile? There will be great damage potentially. This kind of in jury is exactly what I'd expect...or worse. The kid and her family need to be thankful she's alive and accept the ticket knowing that the only way she wouldn't get a ticket, would be if she were dead.

TrueBrit, you seem to want the law to be changed because of this kid. Throw out the statute of limitations, dismiss all charges if the perp gets seriously hurt committing a crime or violating laws, take in to consideration the law-breaker's family feelings before charging someone....anything else I left out? Why don't you attempt to contact the family and offer to pay the fine? Then, contact the police department and let them know your feelings? This seems to be troubling you greatly. Here is the police department's contact info:

www.lvmpd.com...

If you're serious about changes being made, ATS is not the place to do it. Good luck.

Originally posted by 0288796.

TrueBrit, you seem to want the law to be changed because of this kid. Throw out the statute of limitations, dismiss all charges if the perp gets seriously hurt committing a crime or violating laws, take in to consideration the law-breaker's family feelings before charging someone....anything else I left out? Why don't you attempt to contact the family and offer to pay the fine? Then, contact the police department and let them know your feelings? This seems to be troubling you greatly. Here is the police department's contact info:

Why dont YOU read what I wrote rather than putting words in my mouth like some sort of cantankerous cuss? I do NOT want the law to IGNORE her crime, but I do think the law should DELAY the delivery of the paperwork regarding the crime until the family have either lost the girl, in which case it hardly matters a damn either way, or until she is well enough to take responsibility for her own actions.
I do not think the girl should get away with jaywalking at all ! She deserves to be fined ! But not while she is at deaths door with her family around her. I have never said that she should get away with the crime she commited as if her injury absolves her! Thats hardly what I said , and I would thank you to pay attention to what people are talking about before formulating a response in future.

If you're serious about changes being made, ATS is not the place to do it. Good luck.

Oh really ? I tell you what, maybe when you have a little more expirience of this site and its intent under your belt, you can speak more wisely on what ATS is and is not for. In the mean time keep your limited, emotionaly stunted prattle to yourself, until you learn more about the subject.