Tag: drunk driving

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News Round-Up: April 11, 2021

Sebastian Lletget (image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • Pink News: Major League Soccer has launched an investigation into LA Galaxy’s Sebastian Lletget (above) over a homophobic slur in a video he posted to Instagram. • Washington Blade: President Biden called for ramping up funds in the first year of his administration to beat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. In his initial budget request to Congress, he signaled he would continue the PrEP-centric initiative that began in the previous administration. • Metrosource: The new hardcover book, On Fire: The Firefighters of France, is a curated collection of the best portraits and smoking shots from the wildly popular French firefighter calendars, personally selected by creator Fred Goudon. https://www.instagram.com/p/CL2IgpiM8g5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • AP News: After promoting doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine made using the previously experimental messenger RNA, or mRNA, process, a top Chinese health official publicly admitted Chinese COVID-19 vaccines aren’t very effective saying they “don’t have very high protection rates.” • Wichita Eagle: Kansas Senate Republicans ousted Sen. Gene Suellentrop as majority leader Friday after he was charged with leading police on a drunken 90 mile an hour, wrong-way chase down Interstate 70. • HIVPlus Mag: A potential HIV vaccine is showing very promising results in Phase I human trials. The vaccine works by stimulating the production of rare immune cells that generate HIV-resistant antibodies. Such a result was found in 97 percent of human participants administered the potential vaccine.

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“Affluenza” Teen Gets Two Years In Prison After Violating Parole

Ethan Couch – the “Affluenza” teen whose drunk driving caused the death of four people in June of 2013 – has been ordered to spend the next two years behind bars after attempting to flee the country and violating his parole.

“You’re not getting out of jail today,” Fort Worth Judge Wayne Salvant told Couch, who turned 19 on Monday.

A judge ordered Couch to serve four consecutive 180-day jail sentences for each of four counts of intoxication manslaughter under a separate part of Texas code.

The teen has been held in Texas since January, when he was flown back to the U.S. following his arrest in Mexico. The Wednesday appearance was his first in adult court; he was transferred out of the juvenile system and into an adult jail in February.

The teen and his mother were arrested in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta, after a call for a pizza delivery tipped authorities to their whereabouts. They had left the country in hopes of avoiding any jail time for Ethan after he had apparently violated his parole by drinking at a party.

His mother, Tonya Couch, was brought back to the U.S. from Mexico, while her son hired a Mexican attorney and fought deportation for a month. He was finally returned to Texas in January.

The teen’s mom is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon for the pair’s great escape. She faces a sentence of 2 to 10 years in prison if convicted, and is currently under house arrest.

Couch avoided prison time two years ago after his attorneys successfully argued the brat suffered from “affluenza,” and his spoiled upbringing meant he didn’t understand the consequences of his actions. He needed rehabilitation, not a stiff jail sentence, his legal team said.

(source)

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Father tries to stop daughter from driving drunk; she runs over him in driveway

A sixty-nine year old man tried to stop his daughter from driving while intoxicated by blocking the driveway. Apparently, she attempted to leave anyway, striking her father and killing him in the process.

Riverside police Sgt. Dan Reeves said Saturday that 37-year-old Soukvilay Barton ignored her father’s pleas not to drive and backed her BMW convertible out of the garage, striking him.

Bounmy Rajsombath was rushed to a Riverside hospital, where he was pronounced dead Friday night.

Barton was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Witnesses say Barton had been drinking and arguing with family members. She stopped the car after seeing that her father was injured and sat sobbing before being taken into custody.

(via Huffington Post)

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“Affluenza” teen drunk driver may get jail time after all

The Daily Beast is reporting that “affluenza teen” Ethan Crouch, who killed four people while drunk driving might get jail time after all”

Prosecutors in Texas on Wednesday announced they would ask a juvenile judge to sentence the 16-year-old drunk driver on two cases of intoxication assault.

Crouch received 10 years’ probation for killing four people but was not sentenced for injuring two.

The probation sentence handed down last week following Crouch’s “affluenza” defense, ignited a national firestorm.

If prosecutors are successful this time, Crouch could serve three years in juvenile prison.

In addition to killing four people that fateful night, Crouch seriously injured two people riding in the back of his pickup truck. Sergio Molina, as a result of those injuries, is paralyzed and can communicate only by blinking, according to testimony in last week’s trial.