When Words Collide, Sentences Form

This pisses me off...

The father of Josh Hancock, the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher who died when he drove his SUV into the back of a tow truck while completely plowed, has filed a lawsuit against the restaurant that served him beer, the driver of the tow truck that Hancock hit, and the driver of the stalled car that was being helped by the tow truck driver. He is NOT suing the Cardinals or MLB - at least at this point in time.

Spare me.

Here's the rationale for each part of the lawsuit (taken directly from above article).

VS. Mike Shannon's (Restaurant)
"Mokwa [police chief] said Hancock went to Mike Shannon's not long after the Cardinals played a day game against the Chicago Cubs on April 28. The lawsuit claimed that Hancock was a regular at the restaurant bar and was there for more than 3½ hours.
'It's understood that for the entire 3½ hours that Josh Hancock was there that he was handed drinks,' Keith Kantack, a lawyer for Dean Hancock, said. 'It's our understanding that from the moment Josh Hancock entered Mike Shannon's that night that he was never without a drink.'"

VS. Driver of Stalled Car
"The lawsuit claimed Tolar [driver of stalled car] was negligent in allowing his vehicle to reach the point where it stalled on the highway and for failing to move it out of the way of oncoming traffic. A police report said the car became stalled when it spun out after being cut off by another vehicle."

VS. Tow Truck Company
"Police said Hargrove [drive of tow truck] noticed the stalled vehicle and stopped to help. The report said he told officers he was there five to seven minutes before his truck was hit by Hancock's SUV. But Kantack [lawyer for Hancock's *&^%$* father] said the tow truck may have been there up to 15 minutes, yet failed to get the stalled vehicle out of the way.
'Were the police contacted?' Kantack asked. 'Why weren't flares put out? Why was the tow truck there for an exorbitant amount of time?'"

The article also points out that Hancock "had a blood alcohol content of nearly twice the legal limit when he crashed into the back of the tow truck. He was also speeding and using a cell phone and wasn't wearing a seat belt, police chief Joe Mokwa said after the accident. Marijuana was also found in the SUV."

Here is my list of questions and observations:
1) Hancock was a 29-year old adult. He could have rejected drinks, slowed down, traded them in for soda. I know everyone will say the same crap about the pressure of the social situation, everyone is giving him drinks, etc. But you know what, he's a 29-year old adult, still. And especially taking all of that into consideration, did Hancock's dad think about the fact that his son may never have even spoken to an employee at Mike Shannon's? I would bet that other people bought all of those drinks and brought them over to him...he probably never actually ordered himself a drink - therefore never giving a server the chance to say, "You're cut off."

2) Well, obviously when 1 car is cut off by another and crashes and stalls on the highway, it's his own fault for letting that happen. Sometimes bad accidents happen to good people...sometimes accidents are really just accidents - not loaded, drunk morons talking on a cell phone slamming into tow trucks on a highway.

3) Much better for the tow truck not to stop and for the stalled car to just get slammed into by Hancock's SUV - therefore probably killing the innocent stalled car driver while Hancock walks away with 6 stitches in his eyebrow.

4) 5-7 minutes as "an exorbitant amount of time?" Seriously? And calling the police would have probably SLOWED DOWN the clean-up process. Therefore endangering at least 3-5 moronic drunk, high idiots on cell phones.

5) I suppose the fact that Hancock "had a blood alcohol content of nearly twice the legal limit when he crashed into the back of the tow truck...was also speeding and using a cell phone and wasn't wearing a seat belt...[and] (m)arijuana was also found in the SUV" had absolutely NOTHING to do with the accident. As far as I'm concerned, Papa Hancock should also sue Budweiser, the car manufacturer and the seat belt manufacturer because the seat belt didn't automatically close around his son, the cell phone company for allowing it to operate in a moving vehicle, the girl that Hancock was chatting with and his pot dealer.

6) I hope that the judge throws this frivolous suit out. And then sues Papa Hancock for wasting his time. And when the suit is thrown out, I may sue Papa Hancock for wasting my time since I had to write this blog about it.

posted by Steph @ 11:17 AM