NY Man facing vehicular manslaughter...for an officer dying while responding to his crash

[Sousuke 1,214]

This case is pretty shocking. I think most people would have assumed that he could not or should not be charged.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ny-man-faces-case-tests-limits-criminal-blame-36359803

A state appeals court later reinstated the charges, saying it was "reasonably foreseeable that the defendant's conduct would cause collisions and that the police would respond and be required to be in the roadway, where they would be exposed to the potentially lethal danger presented by fast-moving traffic."

It also noted Ryan's actions "need not be the sole cause of death and, indeed, the defendant need not have committed the fatal act to be liable."

Leonard R. Stamm, a Maryland attorney and dean of the National College for DUI Defense, did not agree with that ruling.

"It appears that the appellate court took a much broader view," Stamm said in an email. "It is not reasonably foreseeable that driving drunk would cause that kind of fatal accident."

[X Factor 1,113]

Yikes

[ExPatty 503]

At first I was like that's BS but the more I think about it the more it is reasonable.

If I point a realistic looking but completely fake gun at people on the sidewalk, I've committed a crime. If I point it at people going down the road and one person happens to freak out and runs into a pole killing themselves, should I get the same punishment as when I was only pointing it at people, or should I get additional punishment because my action had a high expectation of causing something like a person in a car crashing? I think the latter.

[Expat1 971]

This is more like pointing a gun at someone on the sidewalk and getting charged for a crash a few blocks over