Jim Leyritz charged with DUI and Vehicular Manslaughter

[26 to 6]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3171228

 

Well here's another former Yankee postseason hero finding himself in some pretty big trouble this offseason. Way to go Jim!

 

...i think it's safe to say we won't have to hear him on mlb.com anymore..

[BoSox34]

:thumbdown

[Jayhawk Bill]

Leyritz's SUV:

 

http://www.pagesix.com/files/gallery/281207_Leyritz2.jpg

 

Further information:

 

http://www.pagesix.com/story/exclusive+jim+leyritz+knew+his+victim

 

I really don't understand why a guy who made over $10 million in his MLB career couldn't find the money for a taxi after drinking Grey Goose and tonic all night.

 

Fredia Ann Veitch was a mother of two who made ends meet by bartending at a sports bar. She was driving home when Leyritz hit her when he ran a red light shortly after 3:00 AM this morning.

[zackredsox]

Why is it that the person thats been drinking usually survives the crash and the innocent one dies?

[Taliesin]

Why is it that the person thats been drinking usually survives the crash and the innocent one dies?

 

I believe the adage is God protects drunks and fools.

[Gom]

What a sad story. Poor woman. What a tragedy.

[TheKilo]

From the article in the OP:

 

She said Leyritz was driving a 2006 Ford Expedition when he collided at an intersection with 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch of Plantation, who was driving a 2000 Mitsubishi Montero.

 

Veitch was ejected from the car, police said. She died at Broward General Medical Center, Collins said.

 

I wonder if she was wearing her seatbelt...

[zackredsox]

If vick got 2 years in prison for killing dogs, this guy should get at least 20.

[Thumper]

If vick got 2 years in prison for killing dogs' date=' this guy should get at least 20.[/quote']

 

I don't have sympathy for drunk driving. I lost 3 friends in one week because of that. And they weren't the ones drinking. People who drink and drive and cause a a fatal accident should be locked up for life.

 

It sickens me because down here you could get 3 DUIs and STILL be allowed to drive. It's pathetic. No excuse for driving drunk, you f*** up, you get locked up. That's how it should be.

[Mr Crunchy]

thumper brings up a good point and i support his get tough stance on dui's

theres really no excuse

 

heres a few more that should be put to death due to selfishness and stupidity

 

(1)anyone commiting an accident while talking on a cell phone should be flogged publically

(2)anyone trying to text or read a text message and causes an accident should be blinded

(3)anyone over 75 who mistakes the gas for the brake should be shot in front of their children and grandchildren within 24 hours of conviction to ensure justice gets done before the grim reaper delivers..

 

happy new year

[Mr Crunchy]

and why do so many ex yankees find themselves in front of the judge or st peter due to their recklessness

 

they all should have bumper stickers that read

BILLY MARTIN'S DRIVING SCHOOL

and that includes the up and coming pilots

[rician blast]

pilots

 

That's not a direct shot at Thurman, is it?

[YAZMAN]

That's not a direct shot at Thurman' date=' is it?[/quote']

 

I was thinking Cory Lidle.

 

 

But can we buy Jacko some flying lessons?

[rician blast]

I was thinking Cory Lidle.

 

 

But can we buy Jacko some flying lessons?

 

 

I remember I joined a forum a few years ago with the name Thurm's Flight Trainer...didn't last long before my ejection.

[a700hitter]

A reunion of the 1996 Champs would have to include a number of Parole Officers.

[YAZMAN]

I remember I joined a forum a few years ago with the name Thurm's Flight Trainer...didn't last long before my ejection.

 

I remember that. It was a Yankee forum that mj got banned from. He got so pissed he talked us all into registering and we all got banned pretty quickly. I can't remember the name of the site.

[BudLight]

Celebrities are treated by a different set of rules than "regular" members of society. Case in point:

 

After a drunken birthday in 1998, NFL star Leonard Little crashed into and killed another motorist. When tested, his blood alcohol level measured 0.19 percent. Little received 60 days and 1000 hours of community service.

 

Six years later, after the involuntary manslaughter conviction was wiped from his record, Little was again arrested for drunk driving. The result:

 

Rams defensive end Leonard Little was sentenced Friday to two years probation — and a special condition that he not consume alcohol — for highway speeding in St. Louis County last year.

Little, who officers said was driving 78 miles an hour in a 55-mph zone on Interstate 64 in Ladue, was convicted last month of misdemeanor speeding. But he was acquitted of driving while intoxicated, a felony given his pleading guilty in a manslaughter case six years ago in which he admitted he was drunk.

 

On Friday, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Emmett O'Brien rejected a prosecutor's request that Little get 30 days of "shock time" in jail, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on its Web site, stltoday.com.

 

But O'Brien emphasized that the athlete may not consume alcohol as a condition of his probation, and that if he does he'll get six months in jail.

 

"I'm told you do not intend to drink and drive or consume any alcoholic beverages," O'Brien told Little. "If you fulfill your promise, you will have no problems."

 

Ladue police officer Gregory Stork alleged that Little flunked three field sobriety tests. But at trial, defense attorney Scott Rosenblum said Stork didn't follow proper procedures in administering the tests.

 

Little refused to take a breath analysis test at the Ladue police station.

[Thumper]

thumper brings up a good point and i support his get tough stance on dui's

theres really no excuse

 

heres a few more that should be put to death due to selfishness and stupidity

 

(1)anyone commiting an accident while talking on a cell phone should be flogged publically

(2)anyone trying to text or read a text message and causes an accident should be blinded

(3)anyone over 75 who mistakes the gas for the brake should be shot in front of their children and grandchildren within 24 hours of conviction to ensure justice gets done before the grim reaper delivers..

 

happy new year

 

Well no need to get detailed. It's simple, you cause an accident and no one dies, you go to jail for life. You kill someone, you die.

 

I would say eye for an eye but then you'd get too many liberals bitching about how inhumane it is.

 

And back to the topic, as far as celebrities are concerned, f*** them they're people to, punish them like people. I don't care if Tom Hanks is my favorite actor, if he decides he's gonna go party and drink while he's zooming down Hollywood Blvd and kills someone in a collision, behind the bars he goes. For good.

[chacha]

I remember I joined a forum a few years ago with the name Thurm's Flight Trainer...didn't last long before my ejection.

 

I was banned from a site in less tha 5 minutes because of the following user name:

 

MY_HEADS_WARMER_THAN_TEDs

 

No Sense of humor...like its my fault.. lighten the fk up

I wouldnt mind but it is the truth

[Thumper]

I was banned from a site in less tha 5 minutes because of the following user name:

 

MY_HEADS_WARMER_THAN_TEDs

 

No Sense of humor...like its my fault.. lighten the fk up

I wouldnt mind but it is the truth

 

That stuff's too morbid for me. I wouldn't make fun of a dead person like that. Especially Ted Williams. I don't see how people CAN find humor in it? Like Letterman's bit on Ted after his death bugged me. It's not right.

[chacha]

That stuff's too morbid for me. I wouldn't make fun of a dead person like that. Especially Ted Williams. I don't see how people CAN find humor in it? Like Letterman's bit on Ted after his death bugged me. It's not right.

 

Your entitled to feel that way. Does it bother you when people dump on Munson?

 

I don't hold Ted in high regards as some people do. As matter of fact I don't have high regards for most athletes.

 

I respect the dead, but I didn't put him there, his family did.

 

I respect your opinion and feelings, but I am also entitled to mine.

[Thumper]

Your entitled to feel that way. Does it bother you when people dump on Munson?

 

I don't hold Ted in high regards as some people do. As matter of fact I don't have high regards for most athletes.

 

I respect the dead, but I didn't put him there, his family did.

 

I respect your opinion and feelings, but I am also entitled to mine.

 

Oh don't get me wrong, you're entitled to those thoughts and feeling by all means. I'm just not one for morbid things. Atheltes or not.

[HeadOfSoxNation]

thumper brings up a good point and i support his get tough stance on dui's

theres really no excuse

 

heres a few more that should be put to death due to selfishness and stupidity

 

(1)anyone commiting an accident while talking on a cell phone should be flogged publically

(2)anyone trying to text or read a text message and causes an accident should be blinded

(3)anyone over 75 who mistakes the gas for the brake should be shot in front of their children and grandchildren within 24 hours of conviction to ensure justice gets done before the grim reaper delivers..

 

happy new year

 

I can't decide how you mean all this stuff. Obviously you're being facetious with the penalties that you're calling for, but are you pointing this stuff out in an effort to "lessen" the severity of drunk driving? Are you putting it on par with reading a txt or talking on a cell phone? I'm unclear.

[Mr Crunchy]

no

i am making a point that cell phones soon will overtake dui's as the biggest threat on the highway yet the punishments arent nearly in the same ball park but im also not comfortable with the way the law and justice is handed out either...

also

why in Gods green earth do you lose your license to drive by refusing a breathalyzer?

isnt that akin to self incrimination?

""YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT"" also means you dont have to admit or submit to any oral written or physical requests from the police department.

 

last i understood you didnt have to incriminate yourself under the constitution.

i guess the constitution doesnt apply to suspects in dui's

it does to people accused of raping children or an old lady in ft lauderdale who refuses to acknowledge shes too f***ing senile to drive after she wiped out a 16 year old girl cutting hair on commercial blvd by mistaking the gas for the brake.....or the lady in framingham who drove thru whole foods and took down a sheet of glass that chopped the legs of a women who was buying baking goods for my daughters softball league..

no,the women who commited these heinous offenses were given a quilt and a glass of water for their ""accidents""....******** i say,string their asses up just like the pimple faced kid who kills his date on prom nite....f*** all of them....

i had a cousin killed new years eve in the late 80s drving home at 6pm after getting his chinese food...""paul why are going home so early"".....I REFUSE TO BE OUT ON THE ROAD WITH ALL THE DRUNKS TONITE...good reason paulie,happy new year....

of course it didnt stop the woman with ford bronco from rear ending him and sending him into the bridge abutment under route 140 killing him before his food hit the floor....

dead is dead is dead as far as im concerned

the method of death is certainly an issue but when your mind is altered with booze or a joint or senility or other distractions you are just as guilty of manslaughter as far as im concerned...isnt this common sense?

when you take the keys to a 2000 lb machine theres a binding contract with society that you accept before you turn the key...once you turn that key youre telling the world you're capable of driving safely...

 

anyone from my area remember matty fino?

driving home from a steak house with his girl when a guy came over the yellow line and shellacked him.....the guy and his wife and her 8month old fetus killed on the spot....

the guy was drunk

so was matty

matty got 30 f***ing years,10 for each heartbeat,beacause this guy hit him...

the law read something to the effect that if youre on the road drunk its your fault no matter what the circumstances....is this justice as well??

 

its easy to point fingers at drunk drivers but everyone who is impaired should fall under the same umbrella

[Jayhawk Bill]

its easy to point fingers at drunk drivers but everyone who is impaired should fall under the same umbrella

 

Good point.

 

I previously posted in this thread that I couldn't understand why a man as affluent as Leyritz couldn't have called a taxi after drinking vodka tonics all night. I stand by that.

 

At the same time, our society has gone overboard, IMO, in its pursuit of drunk drivers. The original standard of 0.10 BAC was set back before random drunk driving check points to ensure that drunk drivers were convicted. Police could tell that drivers were intoxicated at BACs around 0.12 to 0.16, so a legal limit of 0.10 ensured that all impaired drivers were convicted of DUI once test results were in.

 

Fewer drunks now drive. DUI arrests have stayed roughly constant thanks to three changes:

 

1) DUI arrests weren't pursued for drivers trying to reach home safely a couple of decades back. Now any apparently impaired drivers are pulled over, even if they're obeying traffic laws, and all legally drunk drivers are prosecuted;

 

2) Random checkpoints are used to collect scads of drunk drivers, often from a particular demographic group such as college students. (My favorite example of this was in Lawrence, KS, where the local newspaper was read only by long-term residents, while college students read the student newspaper and the Kansas City Star. The police advertised the locations and times of upcoming random checkpoints in the local newspaper, maximizing the ratio of out-of-towners and college students arrested in contrast to local residents and taxpayers.)

 

3) The legal limit has been reduced to 0.08 in all US municipalities.

 

Is a driver at a 0.08 BAC less capable than one at 0.00? Probably; usually. Is a driver at 0.08 BAC too impaired to drive? I don't know; I do believe that most drivers over age 70 are more impaired as drivers than young adults at 0.08 (or 0.12) BAC are. I know that attentive drivers at 0.08 BAC are probably safer than sober drivers engaged in cell phone calls or texting.

 

I also know that angry or rowdy drivers emerging from bars after last call with BACs in the 0.20 range are killers.

 

Japan has almost eliminated drunk driving. The laws are Draconian; the BAC limits are excruciatingly low (0.015%); the driver, the passengers and the owner of the vehicle are all guilty. They still face a serious highway safety problem: aged drivers. A majority of fatal accidents are the result of older drivers' actions. Japan could restrict seniors' rights to drive, but it's not politically accepted...just as it wouldn't be here.

 

That leads to different standards of justice.

 

Jim Leyritz killed a mother of two driving after drinking, driving on a license suspended in New York for failure to answer a court summons and soon to be suspended in Florida as well, awaiting administrative procedure. I've yet to see results of Leyritz's blood test, but the results of the field sobriety test suggest gross impairment of judgment, coordination, or both. The results of the Medical Examiner's testing on Ms. Veitch are unambiguous: she is dead. IMO Leyritz should do very significant prison time for his actions.

 

The standard, though, should be degree of impairment and degree of injury caused. Drivers unable to perform for whatever reason should be held criminally responsible, and witch hunts for drivers performing well but slightly over an arbitrary BAC should be replaced with harsh penalties for unsafe driving, worsened for unsafe driving under the influence of any legal or illegal drug that impairs performance.

 

 

***

 

That's my brief way of saying that I think Mr. Crunchy is right.

[Taliesin]

Interesting JHB. Your comment that drivers over 70 are more impaired than someone w/ a BAC of 0.08 withstands the evidence. My game at the time so to speak is Human Factors in Traffic Crashes. The 0.08 argument was only about Federal money. Anyone who does this for a living finds that a weak panacea amongst many others including open container. Virginia is one of the only states holding out on that one. MADD is an organization of zealots who have done more harm than good. I have to listen to their prohibition message at every legislative meeting I attend. The majority of alcohol involved fatal crashes consist of drivers w/ extremely high BAC's in the 16 plus range. The usual suspects males between 19-35 year old and the habituals. I'm working on a study now about older drivers. The issue becomes the politics. Are you going to take granny's drivers license away? Is the DMV? Is the AARP? They are very dangerous. More fatal accidents occur and are caused by older drivers than by any other demographic. I've been stuck on a committee studying motorcycle crashes. I keep saying..Ya..there are more motorcyclists out there...that's why there are more deaths. Crickets. Not that complex. Meanwhile we have a commission. 8 million dollars later. This is the conclusion. There are more bikers because of gas prices and the lot and that's why we have more deaths. Ya think?

 

I think in common sense terms. I don't need the stats because I see them in plain English.

 

Meanwhile..old people keep killing the rest of us. I ride bikes, I ride in cars, I'm not rich. I wear a helmet, seatbelt and would call a Taxi and have done none of these things at some point in my life when I was younger and would take the consequences and the guilt forever if I harmed anyone for my actions. Some 37 year old boob w/ coin to spare has zero sympathy from me and should be charged w/ voluntary manslaughter at the least and take the consequences as I would if I was that dumb.

[jacksonianmarch]

the alcohol level debate is laughable. The only reason we have a set limit is because the damn lawyers would tear apart a jugdement call.

 

For reference, I saw a guy on New Yrs whose BAC was 8 times the legal limit and he was still talking. He was clinically sober at 5 times the legal limit. Now that is some serious hardcore, long term drinking. But it goes to show how useless a BAC of 0.08 is. I have actually seen patients come in who claim they are drunk and have a 0.06 or so. It is all relative.

[Gom]

This isn't about Yankees guys. It's about a family losing their mother, wife, etc.

 

The uniform he wore years ago has nothing to do with this.

[YAZMAN]

BLANK Man Hits BLANK

[Jayhawk Bill]

This isn't about Yankees guys. It's about a family losing their mother, wife, etc.

 

The uniform he wore years ago has nothing to do with this.

 

Leyritz played for the Red Sox, too.

 

***

 

Taliesin, I'm glad that we could find common ground on an issue. Thanks for the comments.