I believe that every drunk driver makes the decision to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. I have been arresting them, young and old, for almost 11 years. I have seen some the most horrific scenes and crashes humanly possible. I don't care if the pedestrian made a mistake walking outside of a cross walk. The driver's reaction and motor skills are greatly deminished by consuming alcohol. Go home and drink until your BAC is .126, as was Stallworth's, and see how much you miss walking down the hallway. You will be suprised how much your body is effected by that amount of alcohol. The drunk driver is always at fault in a traffic collision, and the primary collision factor is DUI! Every single time.
Drunk driving is preventable. Therefore, if I make the decision to drive, despite my sobriety, and I kill someone, I believe that it is absolutely equivelent to murder. Call me crazy, or call me over the top. I have had several family members killed by drunk drivers, some of my family have been the drunk driver.
Stallworth should have had to face a harsher sentence than 24 days in jail. DUI manslaughter is a felony. That should equal prision time. Just because he cooperated, and didn't run doesn't change the fact that someone is dead. All that means is that he didn't commit any more crimes after the accident.
