Sophia Akimi Troetel, 21, Josiah Patrick Santos, 22, and Katya Rosaura Castillo Mendoza, 21, are all dead and they have no one to blame but themselves. On Thursday night, they were killed when Louis John Artal, 19, allegedly plowed through a crosswalk in Tucson, Arizona, while operating his Porsche. Artal is further accused of running away into the night like a coward would do.
If the accusations are true, then Artal is in the wrong, clearly, but those who died weren’t completely innocent. See, when you’re crossing a crosswalk, even on the walk signal, you still need to be on top of your game. You need to be constantly looking to your left and to your right, because, hey, no one ever runs a red light, right?
While Artal is facing second-degree murder charges (talk about an overcharge!), the three are staring up at the roof of the church. The preacher’s telling the truth and it hurts. Yes, Artal should be held accountable, if he in fact did what he’s accused of doing. But murder charges seem to be quite excessive.
Yes, Artal stands accused of driving while under the influence of drugs an alcohol, so he should absolutely be held accountable. If the accusations are true, then he should not have been driving. But we can’t hold the dead three blameless.
They should have been more alert and aware of their surroundings. I practice what I preach. Between my house and my parish, there is a major Albany street that I need to cross. While most people are risking their lives by cutting into traffic by running across the street away from the signal, I am busy waiting for the walk signal. You know, like an intelligent person would do.
Now, while I’m crossing, I am constantly sweeping my head left to right, looking for vehicles that don’t seem to be stopping. At all times, I am prepared to dive for cover. I am never comfortable with just blindly walking. To do so would be ignorant, and these three were absolutely ignorant.
While crossing this street, I have always made it to the other side free of injury. I’ve seen first hand what can happen when you don’t pay attention. A couple of years ago, I was waiting for the walk signal on my way to my parish, which is right around the corner from my place. A girl was next to me, waiting. And I do mean girl. She was probably 16 or 17, tops. And I do mean “was.”
Just like me, she did wait for the walk signal. The very second that it went white, she bounded into the crosswalk with her head down, intent on her smartphone. I was busy constantly looking both ways. She wasn’t. I saw a truck just slamming down the road, coming in hot. Because I saw it, I jumped backwards and fled back to the curb. The truck then sped right past me.
What about the girl? Well, she wasn’t so lucky. The truck sped right into the crosswalk, right into the girl. She got tossed up into the air like a rag doll and what goes up must come down. While the driver continued to speed away without even trying to stop, she went splat right onto the pavement. It was a sickening thud and her phone and a shoe went flying.
As you might imagine, traffic came to an immediate halt. A couple of people got out of their cars to come to her aid. Me? After watching for a bit, I kept walking towards the parish on the other side of the street. I kept on going until I hit the crosswalk that is right across from the church. Why I don’t just go that way regularly, I don’t know.
I am not ashamed to admit that I left the scene as I had nothing to do with the situation. Yeah, yeah, I should have stopped to give a statement to the police, but I was intent on getting to Mass early so that I could get a good seat. It was a weekday Mass, so my regular seat was always open. I simply didn’t want to stop because I didn’t want to get involved, even though I did grab a good look at the truck and I grabbed a partial on his plates before he fled. I remember that information even to this day and as far as I am aware, the guy is still in the wind.
There were plenty of witnesses, so the police didn’t really need my help. And anyway, I wouldn’t ever help the Albany Police Department, even if that refusal to help meant a bad guy got away. Which he did. And he’s still in the wind, because apparently, no one thought to even glance at his plate.
Just as an aside, I am so intent on never helping any APD officer or detective, I would never assist them in any way, even if I witnessed someone snatching a kid and shoving said kid into a car trunk or back seat. That’s saying a lot as people who do anything physical or sexual to a kid nauseate me to no end.
The point to all that is this: because her phone was more important to her than her life, she slammed her head onto the pavement, killing her instantly, with her phone and shoe flying. Yes, I stood by and watched it all for a minute before proceeding down the street to the next crosswalk. Do I feel bad that a bad guy got away? No. Her death was on her.
I’m going to say the same for these three idiots. They clearly weren’t paying attention. Had they been doing so, they would have been able to jump out of the way. I paid attention and I lived. See where I’m going with this?
I did find it amusing to hear the friends and family of the three dead fools whine and cry in court. No one seemed to be willing to accept the fact that the three deceased persons were partially responsible for their own deaths.
If Artal did do what he’s accused of, then he should absolutely be held accountable. I am not excusing his actions. However, those three morons were forced to accept the ultimate form of accountability, and as such, there are three less retards walking the streets in Tucson.
“My client got scared and didn’t know what to do,” his attorney told the judge on Friday. Of course that’s not an excuse. Everyone knows the right thing to do in a situation like that is to stop, even if you’re at fault. Artal made the decision to flee, and that’s probably why he’s facing murder charges, among other charges.
No, Artal has no excuse for what he allegedly did. But those three had no excuse for being such idiots, and that must be taken into account. Even a child knows to look both ways and knows to stay aware. Why three grown adults couldn’t do something as simple as that is beyond me. I feel no sympathy for them nor their families.