No charges for deputy that ran stop sign and injured girl

[Chris0nllyn]

A Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy who police say admitted to running a stop sign will not face criminal charges in a June crash that left a college student in a coma, after prosecutors opted not to follow the recommendation of Delray Beach police that he be charged with two counts of reckless driving with serious injury, according to documents obtained Thursday.

A separate memo said that while D’Avanzo was traveling 53 mph in a 25 mph zone, there’s strong evidence the stop sign was hidden by a tree.

In a six-page memo, Assistant State Attorney Laura Burkhart Laurie said she “cannot show that he (D’Avanzo) acted with a conscious and international indifference to the consequences. He stated he did not see the stop sign and there is competent evidence that he didn’t.” She also said that because of the poor view of the stop sign, “anyone going at or above the speed limit would have been involved in this crash.”

The memo also said Delray Beach police investigators did not conduct a field-sobriety test or draw blood for alcohol from D’Avanzo “as they did not have reasonable suspicion that he was impaired.”

A Delray Beach investigator also told prosecutors he did not “smell, see or hear signs of impairment.” Another investigator said he “detected a very faint odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath but did not believe he was impaired.”

Passengers in D’Avanzo’s SUV told prosecutors the group had gone to a brunch. D’Avanzo told investigators he had a sandwich but neither alcohol nor medications, as he was the designated driver.

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/...-in-delray-crash-that-put-ucf-student-in-coma

 

[GURPS]

OFC Not .... Special Class of Citizens

 

[vraiblonde]

A separate memo said that while D’Avanzo was traveling 53 mph in a 25 mph zone, there’s strong evidence the stop sign was hidden by a tree.

It either was or it wasn't. Any 1st year law student could go take a photo and determine that.

But that's neither here nor there - the cop was speeding AND he ran a stop sign. Um...??

I'm not really sure why local cop shops and legal systems do this. They have to know it's going to go public and make them look like dicks, and they also have to know the family is going to sue the #### out of them. They make it worse by trying to cover their boy's ass.

 

[This_person]

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/...-in-delray-crash-that-put-ucf-student-in-coma

Change it from a cop to the injured "girl" (if we were consistent, we'd refer to her as a "woman" based on her age, but that doesn't generate the same emotion) coming home from brunch to visit her grandma, and the injured person to a black guy who just mugged someone and was driving away from that crime.

Would you want the "girl" in jail?

I'm not asking you, Chris, individually. I'm pointing out that this tears at heart strings because cops seem to get special treatment, especially if they hit innocent "girls". But, to be fair we need to be consistent.

View attachment 126293

 

[glhs837]

It either was or it wasn't. Any 1st year law student could go take a photo and determine that.

But that's neither here nor there - the cop was speeding AND he ran a stop sign. Um...??

I'm not really sure why local cop shops and legal systems do this. They have to know it's going to go public and make them look like dicks, and they also have to know the family is going to sue the #### out of them. They make it worse by trying to cover their boy's ass.

That thin blue line baby......sure, chickies in a coma, but ruining this officers career wont bring her back, and he will save lives and stop bad guys by keeping that blue uniform and not donning County Orange.

So, he was accelerating 46 up to 53 at the moment of impact, never touched the brakes........... report says the investigation says the stop sign was obscured more before the homeowner trimmed the tree. Here's one vie, looking north.........

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.466...4!1sLOyjbNs9ZyVoKQMGj0BTBQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Heres the other...

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.467...4!1srdHstxt8OIDJubQE_adZbw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656



So. Looks like the first view is the one, and that tree over the white car is the one that was obscuring the stop sign. Were he not covering twice the legal amount of ground per second, he would have been able to see the sign. and had time to react. Normal citizen would have hung high and hard. Unless of course it was a motorcyclist that was hit

 

[This_person]

Were he not covering twice the legal amount of ground per second, he would have been able to see the sign. and had time to react. Normal citizen would have hung high and hard. Unless of course it was a motorcyclist that was hit

This is a reasonable assumption.

Do we have data from other people who have been speeding through this intersection (if the sign was occluded that day, certainly it was many other days prior, too) and hit someone?

 

[luvmygdaughters]

Not defending the officer at all, but, I have been at intersections where the stop sign has been almost hidden due to bushes and trees. If its on county or state roads, shouldn't SHA be responsible for trimming bushes and trees.

 

[glhs837]

This is a reasonable assumption.

Do we have data from other people who have been speeding through this intersection (if the sign was occluded that day, certainly it was many other days prior, too) and hit someone?

A search of that local news site for NE First Street crash reveals nothing. And that's the thing. Most folks don't go more than 8-10 over, for a speed of 33-35 in a 25, especially in a residential area.

So, look at it from a Feet Per Second situation.

25 = 36 FPS
35 = 51 FPS
51 (spotting him a couple mph) = 74fps, or more than double the speed limit.

So, a 25 mph speed would mean that if you saw the stop sigh at 35 feet away, you might have hit the brakes just as you are about to hit, given average human reaction times, but not enough to not change the fact that you were going to crash. One thing is that he's carrying a lot more energy into the crash than a 25 or 35. Like this

5,000lbs moving 25mph = 141,638 Joules
5,000lbs moving 35mph = 277,610 Joules
5,000lbs moving 50mph = 566,550 Joules

So, dispassionately speaking, the impact was more than three times as bad as it should have been. Or twice if he was going only 10 over like most folks.

But not matter how bad the tree was, there are those 35-45 feet between the tree and the intersection. But here's the thing..... see that big fat line? That's called a stop line, where you are supposed to stop for the stop sign you cant see. An expert, highly aware driver should see that. This guy was cut every possible slack, and then some because of what he wears to work.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

I'm not asking you, Chris, individually. I'm pointing out that this tears at heart strings because cops seem to get special treatment, especially if they hit innocent "girls". But, to be fair we need to be consistent.

Would "teen" have been better?

 

[vraiblonde]

Not defending the officer at all, but, I have been at intersections where the stop sign has been almost hidden due to bushes and trees. If its on county or state roads, shouldn't SHA be responsible for trimming bushes and trees.

Him doing twice the speed limit is enough for me.

If the speed limit is 25, that usually means residential area. He was doing 53. Strap him to the chair.

 

[vraiblonde]

Change it from a cop to the injured "girl" (if we were consistent, we'd refer to her as a "woman" based on her age, but that doesn't generate the same emotion) coming home from brunch to visit her grandma, and the injured person to a black guy who just mugged someone and was driving away from that crime.

Would you want the "girl" in jail?

I'm not asking you, Chris, individually. I'm pointing out that this tears at heart strings because cops seem to get special treatment, especially if they hit innocent "girls". But, to be fair we need to be consistent.

What more do you need to know besides "53 in a 25 and blew a stop sign"?

Victim could be a middle aged man and my reaction would be the same.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

What more do you need to know besides "53 in a 25 and blew a stop sign"?

Victim could be a middle aged man and my reaction would be the same.

Unless he was on a call there is no way he should have been going that fast in what looks like a residential area.

 

[This_person]

This guy was cut every possible slack, and then some because of what he wears to work.

That's an assumption - a reasonable one at that. My question was on data to back up the assumption. You said you looked for local news and there was none. I have no reason to doubt that.

The fact is, dispassionately, we have no idea if the same deal would be made to anyone who does not wear the uniform. We can assume it would not, because we have no data to show that someone else got that kind of deal. They can say, no one else was denied that kind of deal. Both sides would be correct.

It is the appearance of impropriety. HUGE appearance, but still just an appearance, not proof.

 

[This_person]

Would "teen" have been better?

We all bitched and moaned when Michael Brown was called a "black teen" when the AP rules for labeling people says 18 and above is "man/woman". We all said, "he ain't a good boi, he's a full-grown man who just held up a grocery store!!!" And, we were right.

She isn't a "girl", but a full-grown woman past her first year of college in engineering (if I remember correctly, I'm not pulling up the link again) of some kind. She's a woman, recovering from a car crash, not a "girl". If it was wrong to mislabel Michael Brown (and it was), it is wrong to mislabel this woman (and it is).

 

[This_person]

What more do you need to know besides "53 in a 25 and blew a stop sign"?

Victim could be a middle aged man and my reaction would be the same.

As it should be. So, why do they pull the heart strings by calling this woman a "girl", conjuring up the protective juices in men and women alike? What difference does it make that this guy is a cop in that the lack of charges are wrong?

Every time a Sailor on base does something wrong, we all know it was a Sailor. Every time a plumber does the same thing, the plumber is just a resident of (insert township here). There's a reason they do that.