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Dude, the notion that someone irresponsible enough that have 5 DUIs would not get behind the wheel because his license was revoked is just silly. It is not the airline's job to monitor what people do after they get off the plane but certainly the airline/airport could have done more to prevent the accident than taking a little plastic license out of the man's wallet. Come on. (Now if he had been in jail that would have been a different matter but criminals drive without licenses all the time).
if passenger accounts are true, the airline is absolutely on the hook for allowing an intoxicated passenger onboard their aircraft - period.
i do agree with you (first time i think!) that richardson is ducking responsibility by making that statement regarding the implied responsibility of the airline to our state once they've arrived at the destination. gimme a break.
my question is why didn't he have an ignition interlock in his car?
Why is this the Governor's fault? I understand that all this guy's DWIs were in Colorado over 10 years ago. Colorado gave him a regular license after he served time, so New Mexico had to also. And he told the airline he had a ride home.
It's probably hard to tell if a passenger in the confines of an airline seat is impaired before serving them. Should all airline passengers have to prove they are not drunk before being served alcohol? Should someone have followed him to his car and stopped him from driving? How?
Apparently he also drank while driving, which is already illegal in NM. Should someone have searched his car for alcohol before he got in it, or before he left the airport? How much interference will people tolerate to prevent some from behaving badly?
The one who brings the most power to the table and consequently has the greatest responsibility , is never the one held responsible. If anyone is held accountable; it will be the least powerful person in the room.
It's the system, not the people.
Well if the surviving family from Las Vegas is thinking about suing the airline compnay....they may have a huge burden of proof.
First is the time span involved from when the DWI offender left the airplane until the time the actual crash occured. They need to prove that the offender was intoxicated at a level which is inappropriate.
According to news reports, he was served 2 minatures. Now given the DWI offender's weight and since he is a male, it takes quite a bit of alchohol to reach the .34BAC that was in his bloodstream. I HIGHLY doubt the two minatures served by the airline is gonna fly in court...my friends.
I assume he stayed at a bar after his flight for a considerable amount of time. Perhaps he patronized a liquor store to purchase the open containers that was found in the wreekage.
Good luck in trying to put liability on the airline.
I don't agree with suing the deepest pockets no matter how tragic it is that someone you loved died. How is the airline responsible? Random bystanders would be *more* responsible but they don't have as much money. The State? What the man did was *very* illegal even if he didn't kill anyone. Pass another law to make it *more* illegal? Did the man survive? He is responsible for his actions. If there should be a law... drunk driving should be legally defined as intent and charged as something much more seriously than manslaughter. Driving drunk should be charged as attempted *something* because the driver made choices.
Please... Did you not read the news stories? The guy had five previous DWIs in COLORADO, and they were all 15 or more years old. How is the governor responsible for this? Do you really think that a guy who has a serious and chronic alcohol problem is going to stop driving just because he doesn't have a license? (We were recently hit by a drunk driver ourselves... a guy with no license and no insurance... he was driving his wife's car, with no interlock and her insurance didn't cover him... he had just gone down the road to get a bottle of Jack Daniels.)
The governor HAS done a lot for DWI in the state, but baby steps are what it takes. I don't know how much time you've spent observing the legislative process but it it's complicated and slow (and it should be_-- it's important to be deliberative). THey say the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and the Guv has taken many little steps. He should be commended for it.
Your entry here shows a great deal of ignorance about the issue.
Commenting by HaloScan
