Test: Driver in crash 4x limit (repeat offender 1 x for each bikers life)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100916/NEWS97/709169835/143#test-driver-in-crash-4x-limit

Published Thursday September 16, 2010

By Andrew J. Nelson
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Photo: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20100916&Category=NEWS97&ArtNo=709169835&Ref=AR&maxw=600&maxh=400
Schlichtemeier


Andrew Schlichtemeier, the motorist who drove the pickup truck in the crash that killed four motorcyclists on Interstate 29 in August, had a blood-alcohol level more than four-and-a-half times the legal limit, a blood test conducted that night showed.

His blood-alcohol level was .373, according to a copy of the accident report obtained by The World-Herald on Thursday morning. Experts said the level was potentially fatal for a nondrinker but not necessarily so for one who drinks regularly. (The legal limit in Nebraska and Iowa is .08.)

“Obviously he had tolerance ... there's no question (this) is a person who drinks alcohol regularly,” said Dr. Mark Mailliard, a University of Nebraska Medical Center expert on alcoholic liver disease.

Photo: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20100916&Category=NEWS97&ArtNo=709169835&Ref=V1&maxw=600&maxh=400
Dale E. Aspedon

Schlichtemeier not only faces the likelihood of criminal charges in the deaths of four motorcyclists on I-29 on Aug. 9, he faces a civil lawsuit.

Cathryn Zanker, the widow of motorcyclist Dale Aspedon of Glenwood, Iowa, filed suit in Harrison County Court earlier this week against Schlichtemeier, alleging his negligence was the primary cause of the collision that killed Aspedon and three others.

The crash occurred in a construction zone near the Little Sioux's Interstate 29 interchange where the freeway had been narrowed to two lanes.

FULL story at link.

[Ikonoklast]

1. He should be charged with Murder 1.

And never have a free day for the rest of his life.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

2. He should be sentenced the same as someone caught drink-driving without killing anyone*.

Schlichtemeier's crime was that he chose to gamble with the lives of others by driving while drunk; not that he lost that gamble.

It would do far more to stop drink-driving to punish even those drink-drivers who get away with it that time moderately harshly than to make whether or not you get punished depend on how lucky you get.



*He may well be also of separate "driving dangerously" offences, which might carry far harsher sentences. But the punishment for drink-driving should be kept separate from the punishment for killing people, and it should be significantly harsher than it is even for those who get away with it (although it should depend on how drunk - someone slightly over should not be punished anywhere near as harshly as someone four and a half times over).

[Obamanaut]

3. The people that "someone slightly over" kill are just as dead as those killed

by someone who is blotto.

The punishment should be equally harsh for both sets of offender. They choose to drink, and then they choose to drive.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. But they gambolled at different odds.

If it comes to that, someone who chooses to drive with some alchohol but under the legal limit, or while stone cold sober, is putting other people's lives at risk, just not as much.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

8. I've just spotted the homophone in my last post, but I'm going to leave it. N.T.

[rocktivity]

4. Loyola Marymount University Blood Alcohol Content Chart

http://www.lmu.edu/PageFactory.aspx?PageID=25066

.020 Light to moderate drinkers begin to feel some effects.
.040 Most people begin to feel relaxed.
.060 Judgment is somewhat impaired.
.080 Definite impairment of muscle coordination and driving skills. This is the legal intoxication level in most states (including California).
.100 Clear deterioration of reaction time and control. This is legally drunk in all states.
.120 Vomiting usually occurs (unless this level is reached slowly or a person has developed a tolerance to alcohol).
.150 Balance and movement are impaired. At this BAC. level an equivalent of 1/2 pint of whiskey is circulating in the blood stream.
.150 - .250 Most people begin to experience blackouts.
.300 Many people lose consciousness.
.400 Most people lose consciousness and some die.
.450 Breathing stops. This is a fatal dose for most people.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Omaha Steve]

5. UNL student involved in fatal crash had DUI in 2008

http://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_9df56c78-a709-11df-9eff-001cc4c002e0.html

By CORY MATTESON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, August 13, 2010 1:32 pm

When Andrew Schlichtemeier was stopped in downtown Lincoln at about 4 on a game day afternoon in 2008, the police officer who spoke with him smelled alcohol on his breath.

A formal breath test at Cornhusker Place showed Schlichtemeier, then 19, had a .308 percent blood alcohol content -- nearly four times the legal limit.

He had been stopped about two hours before the Sept. 13, 2008, Nebraska-New Mexico State game for driving the wrong way on 10th Street, according to the Lincoln police report.

He was charged with first-offense driving under the influence, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and negligent driving.

The marijuana and negligent driving charges were dropped after he pleaded guilty to DUI. He was sentenced to two days of house arrest and one year of probation.

FULL story at link.

[Hippo_Tron]

7. How does one even find their keys with a BAC of .373

I'd be passed out long before that.