On Sept 2, 2009, former Ontario attorney general Michael Bryant was charged with criminal negligence causing death after a fatal confrontation with cyclist Darcy Sheppard on Bloor St in Toronto. Yesterday those charges were dropped.
Let's look at the defense:
- Sheppard had previous confrontations with other drivers
- Sheppard was drunk and was grabbing onto the car
- Bryant's wife was in the car
- all Bryant wanted was to lose the guy and not get into it
Okay - with you so far, sounds like what any of us would feel -- but that's when things went horribly wrong.
Now, he could have pulled over, gotten out, and bulled buddy away from the car while his wife called the cops. I'm sure that when the ex-Attorney General calls, the cops respond with all due haste. But for some reason Bryant rejected (or never thought of) that idea in favour of something one can only assume he saw in a movie. Oh yeah, he's gonna speed up and knock the fucker loose! With that thought Bryant blasts across 2 lanes of traffic and over the opposite curb, literally driving Sheppard into a mailbox and then a tree.
In the movies being sideswiped into numerous immovable objects only makes you madder.
In the real world it kills you.
At the very least, for his total lapse in judgement, Michael Bryant should face a fine, automatic suspension of his drivers licence and mandatory enrollment in an anger-management program.
But because the cyclist was drunk and poor, while Bryant is rich and connected, he walks away scott free. And that, my friends, is bullshit.
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NOTE: THIS ENTRY WAS EDITED AT 1:04 PM TO ADD A LINK TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT
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