Ted Wheeler's spokesman kills a guy
Oregon Treasury Department p.r. flack James Sinks is accused of running a red light and hitting and killing a pedestrian in a crosswalk near the Salem Costco on the evening of July 16. So far the Marion County DA's office has written him a couple of traffic tickets with $520 in fines. If that's the only action taken against Sinks in the criminal justice system, many people will likely conclude that he was given favorable treatment because of his position in state government.
| Posted at 8:41 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (9)
Distracted while driving?
TXTNG KLLS
http://www.distraction.gov/
Posted by Mojo | July 28, 2012 9:37 AM
Sadly, in Oregon (and a lot of other states), fatal crashes often result in nothing more than tickets. I wish it did take special treatment to avoid more serious sanctions.
Posted by Chris Smith | July 28, 2012 10:59 AM
Sinks was a more-than-competent reporter for the Bulletin before fleeing to state safety.
Posted by niceoldguy | July 28, 2012 1:41 PM
Chris Smith is right about this. The authorities seem unwilling to enforce the "vulnerable road users" law as wwritten, and Oregon has nothing like a "negligent homicide" law. So it's basically open season on pedestrians and people on bikes.
Posted by Allan L. | July 28, 2012 3:41 PM
If it had been a bicyclist that ran down a pedestrian in a crosswalk, the bicyclist would have likely only received a slap on the wrist.
Posted by TR | July 28, 2012 8:12 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/16/us/san-francisco-cyclist-charged-with-manslaughter.html
Posted by Chris Smith | July 28, 2012 9:10 PM
Grossly negligent homicide is a crime. Maybe that's what happened here.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 28, 2012 9:57 PM
There was a kid texting while driving a pickup and trailer in Bend. The person he was texting to was his front seat passenger. The kid he killed was on a bike in a bike lane. The police pulled his phone records.
Why can't they do that hear? Should be standard procedure in all accidents, or would that be "profiling"?
Posted by Harry | July 28, 2012 11:42 PM
TR, $520 in fines IS a slap on the wrist, and probably about what a cyclist would have received in a similar situation.
Posted by zach | July 30, 2012 7:43 AM