Turning Tragedy into Trash

Wednesday night, after watching a movie at a local theater, a young woman and her boyfriend left the theater to cross the street to a bus stop for the return trip home. She was 18 and pregnant, and also the mother of a one-year-old child, not yet married but walking with the father of her children. She died at the scene, the victim of a hit-and-run driver whose car was later impounded at the home of its owner, a woman whose husband works in the district attorney's office.

This is such a tragic story, especially since the woman was so young, already a mother, and due to give birth next week. Her children's father witnessed the accident and now has to learn to accept the death of his future wife and unborn child, along with the images of their death. The woman's family is overcome with grief at this sudden loss of their two loved ones, as well as the actions of the female driver who sped away from the scene.

Can anyone explain to me how this tragic story has devolved into name-calling on the local newspaper's website in an ongoing argument about gay rights? Of course, the racial slurs and stereotypes came first: unwed minority woman with one child at home and another in utero. "Figures," said the bigots who always berate anyone who is not white, hetero, and socially acceptable. But these racial slurs quickly became a pissing contest between gays and non-gays, factions that are besmirching the honesty of the grief of the families of the victims of the original crime by accusing bloggers of bias based on their sexual orientation.

Do people not realize that this is not about their personal agendas, but about the deaths of two people run down in the street by a woman who fled the scene, rather than stopping and call 9-1-1? The driver was located by the description of her vehicle and partial plate provided by witnesses to her crime. Would she have come forward had she not been run to ground by the police? Her car was damaged in the accident and she must have known that she hit "something," so why not stop? You aren't arrested for stopping, but you are arrested for fleeing the scene, especially when your actions result in the deaths of two people. Has her husband become an accessory after the fact, helping her to cover up whether she had been drinking before getting behind the wheel? At best, she has committed involuntary manslaughter and will have to account for her criminal actions before a judge, but none of this has anything to do with anyone's sexual preferences!

The driver is out on $25k bail, which seems inadequate for what she has done and, perhaps, deserves commentary. Does anyone need to read comments posted by gay readers who think this is about violating their rights (http://www.mydesert.com)?