Driver blames empty Covid streets for deadly accident
At a sentencing hearing this week, a road racer who killed a taxi driver when he burned through a red light on a November 2020 evening blamed the empty pandemic streets for his temptation to speed. Ilias El Azali will be sentenced next month.
Tim S. 10:23 on 2023-05-05 Permalink
1) in a street race scenario, I don’t see why both drivers aren’t charged. It’s pure chance that 1 driver made actual contact, but both were driving recklessly. El Azali clearly knows who the other guy is, it’s unacceptable that he’s not arrested and charged.
2) El Azali had already had his licence suspended for driving 90km/h over the limit, yet the defence claims he is a low-risk to re-offend?
3) I leave it to people more up on the latest ideas about rehabilitation to comment on the appropriate length of a prison sentence, but even the prosecution is only calling for a 7 year suspension of his licence? If you go into a driving test and drive 50 km over the limit through a red light you don’t get a licence, so why are we so reluctant to take one away from people who do that in real life?
Kate 10:48 on 2023-05-05 Permalink
The story is certainly unsatisfactory about the identity and fate of the other racer.
jeather 11:13 on 2023-05-05 Permalink
I’m not sure if they could prove who the other driver was? I don’t really know what kind of other videos are around. I watched that one and holy shit, the taxi was really smashed. (Other articles suggest that Jones-Bynoe was thrown from the car, which presses me to remind everyone to wear a seatbelt in a taxi.)
I can’t see a SECOND huge speeding offense, plus a fatal hit and run, followed by lying to the police that his car was stolen, being a particularly sympathetic defendant. He did plead guilty which probably reduced some of the sentencing, but I also think 7 years is startlingly low to lose his license.
Blork 11:14 on 2023-05-05 Permalink
I echo Tim S’s concerns.
Also; not only were they racing, he ran a red light at more than double the speed limit. The level of recklessness there is mind-boggling. Given that he has a history of speeding, this should lead to a lifetime ban on driving.
Also: HE FLED THE SCENE and claimed his car was stolen. That’s a whole crime in itself. Is there a separate trial for that, or are they just shrugging that one off?
Also: it’s one thing to talk about the pandemic and empty streets, and being goaded by someone to race, etc. as part of your process of reconciling with what you did and as a way of taking responsibility. But I’m not convinced that’s what’s happening here. It sounds like he just cannot fully accept responsibility. But that’s based on me reading this one article so probably not fair.
Meezly 15:57 on 2023-05-05 Permalink
Reminds me of a case in Vancouver several years ago where a speeding driver (140 km/h in a 50 km/h zone) sped through an intersection and slammed into a car killing a beloved doctor who had close ties with the community and his family.
It took three different courts, provincial appeals, and then the Supreme Court of Canada to finally convict the killer with an 18-month jail sentence and being banned from driving for only 5 years.
Let’s hope the sentencing will be appropriate for that road racer, but I won’t be terribly surprised if they go easy on him. I don’t know why the justice system generally tends to go light on drivers who speed and kill.
Kate 16:48 on 2023-05-05 Permalink
I think it’s felt that depriving people of permission to drive is cruel and unusual punishment because it limits how and where they can work, besides the social embarrassment of not being allowed to drive.
I’m not saying it’s fair. Taking someone’s life with your vehicle needs to have serious consequences.
Blork 19:00 on 2023-05-05 Permalink
Well… I agree that taking someone’s life with your vehicle needs to have serious consequences, but there’s a wide range of things that can cause fatal accidents to happen. For example, sometimes it’s just a miscalculation, or a moment of carelessness. Contrast that with wonton disregard for anyone’s safety by speeding excessively on city streets and blowing through red lights, along with a proven history of such recklessness. I can see some wiggle room on those first two things, but not the third.
Kevin 10:52 on 2023-05-06 Permalink
I generally believe in rehabilitation, but not when to comes to driving infractions. I’d be quite content to see dangerous drivers subject to the lash or a stint in the pilory.
Driving is *serious*. Treat it as such.
Meezly 11:00 on 2023-05-06 Permalink
I think that the punishment is heavier if you use a gun unlawfully. And a vehicle is very much a weapon if someone abuses that privilege when they were issued a license to drive.
One can change their life around not being able to drive, ie. take public transit, bike, carpool, even move closer to work. A small price to pay for taking someone’s life away.