Wednesday, March 30, 2011

This Time, It's Personal...

Once again, someone who had no business behind the wheel takes a life.

Somerville man killed by alleged drunk driver in Springfield

A Somerville man struck by a car Friday night as he stood on a West Springfield street has died, according to a local media report. David Laduzenski, 29, suffered severe head injuries, and succumbed to his wounds Sunday, according to a report published today in the Springfield Republican. Police believe Laduzenski was standing off of Dewey Street about 10:20 p.m. when he was struck a vehicle driven by Daniel Leary, 35, of Southwick, Springfield Police Traffic Sergeant Hubert R. Reef said in the report.
Laduzenski was friends with my brothers- and sisters-in-law, having worked at some of the same companies. Word on the street - and I checked several different news reports and came up empty - was that this was not the drunk driver's first offense. Not only that, but Laduzenski was standing on the lawn in front of the house when he was struck - this guy was significantly impaired. He was also in possession of a "class B" substance (MJ I assume), so it's not out of the realm of possibility that there was additional impairment involved (link here).

29 years old. Newly engaged. Working three jobs to put money aside for his future. And some asshole who had no business being on the road takes that all away from him in an instant. Maybe the grapevine got it wrong, and this really is the guy's first offense - stranger things have happened. It still doesn't change the fact that his actions have irrevocably changed the lives of many other people - including his own, with a wife and children that now have to live with the burden of what his carelessness has caused.

If the person responsible spends more than a month in jail I'll be shocked - I mean, he only drove under the influence and killed someone. It's not like he had a new 12 round magazine or something.

That is all.

4 comments:

ASM826 said...

When the men of the colonies pledged their lives and their scared honor to take on the excesses of the British Crown, how much were they will to risk to be freed from that oppression?

All you have to do is move. Flee Massachusetts. Let it fall under the weight of every good man and woman that paid taxes leaving.

DaddyBear said...

Hopefully you're wrong, and this guy spends the rest of his natural life regretting tipping a few too many back before climbing behind the wheel.

RW said...

The sad thing is that the guy would face stiffer penalties & public outraqe if he killed pets instead of a human being.

Ted Kennedy & Rick Sanchez have shown that you can literally kill someone with your car and get away with it.

I don't know how we put the genie back into the bottle, but the reverence for human life has GOT to be returned.

TOTWTYTR said...

Marijuana is a Class D drug. Cocaine, Oxycontin, Meth, Amphetamines and other drugs.

Vehicular Homicide while under the influence is a felony, the minimum sentence is one year, which is no where near enough. The maximum is 2 1/2 years, which is also way too short.

Back when I was college, a classmate's brother was convicted of this in New York State. He got 5 to 15 years, which still seems short.