Bryant’s story shocking and sobering – but also far too common
Michael Bryant charged in cyclist’s death
Bike courier and car driver clash. Bike courier is killed, run over by the car. Car driver is charged with only “criminal negligence causing death” and “dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death”. Fuck that. If he’d met the guy on a sidewalk and shot him with a gun, the victim would have been just as dead, but the charge would have been manslaughter, 2nd degree murder, or similar.
Why the fuck are car drivers privileged above other homicidal fuckwits? How is it that “road rage” ending in homicide is treated differently than other sorts of more pedestrian rage ending in homicide?
Christie Blatchford in the first story I link to above talks about “The reaction was a bit of there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I mixed with sheer terror.” and talks about the “bubble” that car drivers are able to surround themselves with. Why the hell does this protective, insulating bubble extend into the judicial realm, too?
If you wish to commit homicide (or found that you have done so in the heat of the moment), you’d better hope you used a motor vehicle as your murder weapon, as former Ontario attorney-general Michael Bryant has done. You’ve got an much better chance of getting away with it — and that fucking sucks.
