Car Accident in Wellington

[longtimelurker]

[QUOTE=FalseImpression;8472984]
skydy, I really wonder too if you would feel differently if the driver was anonymous…
Two cases here… a drunk woman wiped out a whole family last weekend in Western Canada… parents and two kids… but I am sure she was a wonderful person…
In September, another drunk driver wiped out a van, killing 3 children and their grandfather, seriously injuring the grandmother… also I am sure a wonderful person…
I don’t care WHO the drunk driver is, he/she does not deserve praise and accolades, esp. because he was famous.
I do feel for the remaining families and victims, but for the culprit, not so much.

And if it makes me heartless in your book, so be it. Because he was well known does NOT give him a pass. Period. His friends and the families should realize that. Hopefully, there will be a change of attitude in Wellington and Ocala… but who knows.[/QUOTE]

I guess I like to think people are capable of feeling more than one thing at a time. I can think someone made a poor decision and avoid giving them a “pass,” while still mourning their loss and acknowledging their accomplishments.

[SnicklefritzG]

I’ve only had two occasions when I’ve had to either take someone’s keys away from them or find them another way home.

In the first case, the person was about to drive home saying they felt fine, but they could hardly stand up. Their judgement was so badly impaired that they didn’t realize how drunk they were. They would not have been able to drive without being a danger to themselves and others.

The second time was part of a police training program where volunteers drank and then police measured their BAC using various methods that they were being trained on. Each volunteer “drinker” was paired with a person who wasn’t drinking. This second person monitored what they person drank, when they drank it, recorded their BAC on a handheld meter, and then used that to score the officers on their estimates for various other field tests. The helper then helped drive their “drinker” person home, or helped them get a taxi, etc.

What I remember very vividly is how many drinks my “drinker” had, what their BAC was, but how they did not show very many outward signs of being unfit to drive.They even thought they were perfectly fine to drive, but their BAC suggested otherwise. Naturally they got a ride home.

What it brought home to me is how many people can have a few drinks, look ok at a first glance, but be totally unfit to drive. It is easy to see this when you are sober, but if one is drunk it may be difficult to make realistic and safe decisions.

[MHM]

@FalseImpression;8472984

I do feel for the remaining families and victims, but for the culprit, not so much.

The “culprit” cannot be hurt by thoughtless or heartless comments at this point. The friends and families left behind can be hurt a lot.

Speaking from personal experience, the friends and families may indeed end up reading the comments from anonymous strangers online, and may find them to be very painful.

[SendenHorse]

[QUOTE=MHM;8473353]
The “culprit” cannot be hurt by thoughtless or heartless comments at this point. The friends and families left behind can be hurt a lot.

Speaking from personal experience, the friends and families may indeed end up reading the comments from anonymous strangers online, and may find them to be very painful.[/QUOTE]

What responsibility do I as the poster have to post only “polite things” in light of someone, somewhere, may possibly be offended?

What is “heartless”? I don’t see anything on here as heartless. Many of us get very upset at drunk driving, it’s a serious issue. No one is posting thing that his death was deserved, or glossing over the grief.

How about person/family member NOT involve themselves in reading online comments? Its just the same reason I don’t open political or heated threads. No one is forcing them to do anything.

Making me responsible to predict someone’s reaction is not ok.

[fordtraktor]

Making you responsible for how your actions affect others is quintessentially OK. That is called “life.” You can say whatever you want. And of course you are responsible for how your statements affect others. Totally, completely responsible. If your statements make that family feel bad, that is completely, totally, 100% on you. if you are fine with that, so be it. but don’t for a second think that you aren’t responsible. You are the cause of those feelings.

If you don’t care, then so be it. It’s a free country and you are free to say hurtful things but that does not absolve you from the responsibility from the effects those words have on others.

I find it hard to believe people really think they are not responsible for their actions!!! WTF. Who is responsible, then?

SMH. you can say what you want but take responsibility for it, for goodness sake. I can’t stand when people act like a bull in a china shop and then pretend like it’s the china shop’s fault for being fragile.

[trubandloki]

I personally would rather carry the guilt of the family having a little more pain if they read something here that points a finger of blame on the driver who drove drunk if that is what it takes to point out that it is no more right for someone well known, well liked and high up in the world to get behind the wheel when they have a drink or two or twelve. Being special does not make the laws of physics not apply to you, and this is a perfect, very sad, example of that.

It does no one any good to ignore the fact that driving drunk causes everyone pain.

Edit to add - some posts were removed while I typed this in response to them. Hmmmm…

[MintHillFarm]

I feel terrible for both families. Immeasurable losses that are life changing for them …

[KellyS]

This is a discussion forum…people are allowed to express a variety of opinions.

If these two people had been killed by a drunk driver, can you imagine the outrage we would see on here?

Thankfully they did not kill anyone while driving drunk.

It is okay for members here to discuss this aspect of this senseless loss of life.

Perhaps if people were less afraid to hurt feelings, someone would have intervened before this accident happened.

[APirateLooksAtForty]

Wow. Just wow. There is a word I am thinking of and it’s called decorum. Or maybe class.

ETA: there’s a time and a place for everything.

[SendenHorse]

[QUOTE=APirateLooksAtForty;8473573]
Wow. Just wow. There is a word I am thinking of and it’s called decorum. Or maybe class.

ETA: there’s a time and a place for everything.[/QUOTE]

of course there is, but there have been issues with the party scene forever-- where do you think this discussion should take place?

I hope this brings some change and positive out of a very bad situation-- that is why I think it’s valuable.

[APirateLooksAtForty]

Somewhere more than 4 days after the deaths, for
One. For another, it would be preferable to take place without people hiding behind anonymous screen names.

[Andrew]

…they were killed by a drunk driver…

[SnicklefritzG]

[QUOTE=SendenHorse;8473598]
of course there is, but there have been issues with the party scene forever-- where do you think this discussion should take place?

I hope this brings some change and positive out of a very bad situation-- that is why I think it’s valuable.[/QUOTE]

yeah. Sometimes it takes a terrible tragedy for people to sit up and take notice or to take action

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=APirateLooksAtForty;8473606]
Somewhere more than 4 days after the deaths, for One.[/QUOTE]
Five days OK with you? Or does it have to wait until six or seven days? What is the magical time it is OK to talk about how driving drunk kills people and makes everyone sad?

[SendenHorse]

[QUOTE=trubandloki;8473627]
Five days OK with you? Or does it have to wait until six or seven days? What is the magical time it is OK to talk about how driving drunk kills people and makes everyone sad?[/QUOTE]

yeah, I’m not sure what you (APirateLooksatFourty) have a problem with? would you prefer we don’t care about the drinking? overlooking it is why people die.
Its a FACT he was drinking. It would be totally different if people were making things up-- again like why were two married people not with the spouses? When does normal conversation become disrespectful?

otherwise this will be a thread of “so sorry”. what good does that do, really? No one is going to read it from the family.

[HunterGal]

So many people seem to be taking comments regarding sobriety (or lack thereof) personally.

I get that.

It’s a hard conversation to have.

I just want to help present the same that has been said, in a slightly different light.

Facts:
Two people were killed.
Alcohol was a factor.
This is an ongoing issue. (within as well as outside of the hunter/jumper industry)
Sweeping it under the rug won’t help.
Developing a constructive conversation will help.
These deaths can be meaningless or meaningful. We have the power to steer it in one direction or the other based on the quality of the conversation we open up regarding the events leading up to such a horrible tragedy.

At the end of the day, this is a terrible devastation, but I want to make myself clear:
Despite the fact that I believe this was a preventable accident and an conversation must be had, I am NOT suggesting anything regarding the character of the individual at fault.

I do NOT believe Mr. Rodriguez was a bad person.
I DO believe he made a bad decision.
Making bad decisions does NOT make someone a bad person, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a constructive conversation about the catastrophic outcome of said decision as a means of preventing future such tragedies.

I was awake much of the last several nights with a heavy heart as I thought about the widows left behind. I can not imagine living through such devastation, and I am sending a tremendous amount of love and strength in their direction. I hope they are surrounded by friends and family as a means of surviving this unthinkably tragic time.

[absotrue1]

It is not a fact that alcohol is involved yet. So yes a good time to post anything in regards to drunk driving would be after the blood results come back. In the meantime, no one has any idea who is on this forum and who reads these things. Everyone knows the dangers of drunk driving, of touching a hot stove, heck of even riding a horse but no one needs people weighing in, arguing, or speculating on what was an incredibly tragic accident. The people that lost their lives were good, kind, and caring people. They deserve to be remembered as that. And the rest of us need to not vilify them to make a point. Those that need to learn a lesson from their deaths and the alleged cause will most likely do so because of who the victims were not because of some poster on a forum standing on their soap box preaching about how wrong drunk driving is. Everyone already knows that.

[FalseImpression]

Sometimes PC goes too far… sure we wait or we start another thread, but even then, some people would tell it is not the time or the place. Now, when it is fresh and it does hurt, is the time and the place to speak up.
We are not rejoicing because two people died. We are “angry” that it happened because it could have been avoided.
On a private property, where speed limit is 30… thank God, he did not go on public roads.
They both were great equestrians who cared about their spouses, horses, grooms, etc. We are not denying that.
But if nobody speaks up, what then? next week/month… something else happens?
It happens too often unfortunately.

[SendenHorse]

[QUOTE=absotrue1;8473702]
It is not a fact that alcohol is involved yet[/QUOTE][I]

Palm Beach County firefighters pronounced Walker dead at the scene. Rodriguez was taken to Delray Medical Center, where he died several hours later.

Investigators said drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash. [/I]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/wellington/fl-wellington-equestrian-riders-killed-20160105-story.html

[absotrue1]

Where is the confirmation or bac results from either of these news sources we have quoted sedenhorse? There is not confirmation because there are no results yet. Therefore you are reading what is printed in the newspaper as fact. Why? It’s not helping anyone on this forum and it will never help those that need to learn the lesson that yes, this can happen to you by addressing it this way.

Details are still murky on how Rodriguez crashed at about 3:25 a.m. Monday in the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club neighborhood, killing his passenger Sophie Walker, 30. Rodriguez was taken to Delray Medical Center where he died hours later. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies believe alcohol was a factor in the crash.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local/show-jumper-hours-before-his-death-this-year-is-go/npx6r/