@BillRM,
Quote:However if seems nothing matter but his BAC level and that he let the scene and in any sane society it would matter how must or how little the driver BAC level factor into the accident occurring compare to other factors such as the cyclist not being lit up and if the only way to contact the authorities in a timely manner was to leave the scene or not.
You don't understand the law--try reading it. At a BAC level of .o8 or above, the ability to drive is impaired, and that has been well established, it does not have to be proved in each case, it can be assumed, and that is the way the law reads.
Even if other factors contributed to the accident, one's ability to avoid accidents is impaired at a BAC level above .08. The impaired state cannot be removed from the equation in this particular case given the few available facts.
You, and everyone you know, must be binge drinkers or heavy drinkers if you consider a BAC level of .08 "ridiculously low"--and you don't know how much above .08 Swift's BAC level was, it may well have been at least double that amount.
He wasn't drinking "standard sized drinks", he was drinking Long Island Iced Tea--drinks which are considerably larger, and considerably more potent, than the average mixed drink.
This business of the cyclist "not being lit up" is nonsense--he was hit from behind, he should have been visible by the illumination of street lights and the car's headlights in time to avoid hitting him. For all you know, Swift momentarily dozed off, or failed to have his headlights on, or had his night vision, depth perception, reaction time, and judgment impaired by alcohol--all of which are the known effects of alcohol on the central nervous system.
You are overlooking the fact that Swift was ticketed for careless driving, in addition to the DUI manslaughter charge. The fault for the accident seems to be falling squarely on him.
And Swift didn't just "leave the scene", he never stopped his car. He never looked at the person he hit even though the man's body was thrown up against his windshield. He left the man dying in the street, where he could have been hit by other cars. This has absolutely nothing to do with whether he had "a working cell phone" (which he probably did have). To not even stop your car, is a rather callous indifference for the welfare of someone you just hit with your car, and, if Swift wasn't even sure of what he hit, he was pretty damn drunk.
Stop playing arm-chair defense attorney, the man has a more than adequate defense attorney. The problem may be that his actions are not defensible--there is no excuse for driving in an impaired and intoxicated state, there is no excuse for failing to stop your car after hitting someone to see what kind of assistance the person requires and to try to divert traffic around him if he is in the road.
People who tend to spend hours sitting and drinking in bars several nights a week are likely to be heavy drinkers who routinely drive while impaired, and, on that particular night, Swift's luck ran out and the odds caught up with him. And his friends, and drinking buddies, at that bar, would be wise to learn something from this tragedy. Everyone thinks it won't happen to him--and I'm sure Swift thought that way too, if he bothered to think about it at all. His situation should be a wake-up call to everyone else who routinely gathers at that watering-hole--it can happen to you.
If people want to drink, and spend entire evenings drinking, they have to be responsible enough to arrange alternate transportation. Trying to find excuses, or loop-holes in the law or police procedures, after the fact of driving DUI and hitting and killing someone is a little too late to do anyone much good--particularly the victim who's dead. The time to understand the ramifications and consequences of drunk driving is before you put your keys in the ignition. If Swift hadn't been driving drunk, he wouldn't be in the situation he faces now.
