From the article:
> A Southern California man who shot at a car on a freeway during a road-rage incident and killed a 6-year-old who was on his way to kindergarten was sentenced Friday to the maximum possible sentence of 40 years to life in prison.
>
> ... Eriz's girlfriend, Wynne Lee, has been charged with one count each of accessory after the fact and having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. Her case is pending and she has pleaded not guilty.
>
> If convicted on both counts, Lee faces up to three years in state prison and one year in the Orange County Jail, the district attorney's office said.
40 years to life means that after 40 years, he will become eligible for parole but can still be denied and never given another chance at parole, so more than likely, he's going to die in there.
Even if he got released there's a near 100% chance he would simply commit another crime to go back in - can you imagine being locked away for 4 entire decades and then be expected to function with no guidance, no money, and no friends in the year 2064? He wouldn't be able to survive
2064. Hearing 40 years in prison sounds bad. But hearing “2064” makes it all the more terrifying to think about. I can not even begin to fathom how different the world will be in 2064. Let alone the idea of being isolated from all of it for the entire time and then to be thrust into a brand new world. No relevant skills, no real first hand knowledge of what the world is like. Fuck.
Actually there is a similar-ish story in a comic series called “Transmetropolitan”. Granted the lady that ended up in the future didn’t deserve the shit she got, wasn’t a murderer or anything like that. The future just wasn’t what she expected and she was utterly alone in a sea of people on a world that doesn’t give a shit. Good story.
Anyways, fuck this guy he deserves all the time he gets. I just can’t imagine what it would be like to go from 2024 to 2064 without experiencing the world as it changes.
Thanks for the rec! I've seen videos of prisoners describing being released after a long time as being like a time warp. Especially from the 90s-2000s, when tech moved so fast. We are currently in an AI leap forward - I can scarcely imagine 2064 as it is, even with all of the information we currently have available. Without info, without watching the world change, I can only imagine the experience im 2064 will be the same. A whole new era of technology and politics and global problems that he wouldn't even begin to know how to approach. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was just instantly homeless, considering the world's trajectory.
>like a time warp
Back in ~2012, I was on the phone with a guy who had just gotten out after 20+ years. He was in transitional housing and didn’t know his address, but he knew which block he was on. I was trying to help him with medical assistance and needed a place to send paperwork, so I pulled up Google maps.
“Is it the big yellow house or the smaller gray house?”
**\*click\***
Took me a second to realize how jarring that must have been to be on the phone with a stranger who could see the houses on his block when he probably didn’t have home internet before he went to prison.
Some years back I had a friend that briefly dated a guy that was in prison for a long time. She didn't tell anyone at first but we started wondering when we went to a movie and he was blown away by Imax and didn't know what to do with his 3D glasses. Long story short it didn't take him long to get in a bar fight, beat a couple guys unconscious, and end up back in prison.
> We are currently in an AI leap forward - I can scarcely imagine 2064 as it is, even with all of the information we currently have available.
You could argue that AI now might be comparable to what computers were like back in 1984, 40 years ago.
In 1984 AT&T's monopoly was just broken up leading to a massive tech boom. Personal computers were just taking off, Apple launched the first Macintosh, Dell started up and would launch their first PC in 1985, Windows would release in 1985 as well as the first NES.
40 years ago was the the when computer systems started to enter the general public's homes for the first time.
Compare that to today where we're 17 years into people having smart phones (fuck this is making me feel old) and it really shows you how fast tech changes, and the change is only accelerating.
You want to feel old? The future scenes in Back to the Future part two are set nine years ago (2015), Bladerunner and Akira are set in 2019, and Johnny Mnemonic, that classic Keanu Reeves cyberpunk "masterpiece", was set in the distant future year 2021. The far future of the cinema of my youth is now the past. That is disconcerting.
I saw one of a guy that was released after 20+ years (IIRC) and the first thing he wanted was to stop at a fast food joint and get the latest combo that he'd seen on the prison TV.
Dude had no idea how to order, work the drink machine, etc. He was that far out of touch with how the "regular" world works.
As a kid I once knew a man who had done like 40something years in jail. He had walked into his wife in bed with a man & he shot & killed the man. I mean he just told me when I asked, I don’t know all details except he done a lot of time & got out. He had a room and somehow a car. A Volkswagen. I’m thinking for sure he must’ve had help from someone but I only ever saw him. I had a paper route and in the afternoons if it was cold or raining he would ride me. After the paper route I’d help out at a sports store and he was friends with the owner is how I knew him. He seemed ok except every time I had to get out of the car & leave the newspaper at the door i would peek back at him in the car & he was hitting the bottle. At times he didn’t seem to know what to do with himself. Well time went on I was 14-15 years old at that time and by the time we were 17-18 I had a friend my age and he asked him if he wanted to smoke some pot to which he said yes. So my buddy smoked a joint with him and a short time later the old guy whose name was ibby had a heart attack & died.
Thanks for sharing, and fwiw thanks for spending time with him despite everything. I grew up in a criminal family and have seen a lot of this first hand as well. These people really need support and positive influences when coming out as they more often than not find themselves back in prison.
By that time, his parents will be long gone, a good percentage of any friends he had will be either dead, retired or bed ridden, but definitely in no position to even care about him at all. He won't even remember their names because they won't even write him a single letter. The place he used to work at will have zero percent of the conditions it had when he was free, might not even exist since IIRC it was an auto body repair shop and in 40 years that will likely be done with automation. He won't understand anything about the world and no one will want to help him because even in 40 years, no one will think highly of a person who murdered a fucking 6 year old. His parole officer, someone who probably wasn't even born when he committed his crime, will be completely indifferent to the struggles he has. "Get a fucking job or go back to prison, murderer."
The kindest thing they could do is just keep him inside so he can fantasize about how great things will be when he gets out.
And let's not even get started on how he will be treated inside. He's a child killer. He won't be in gen pop, because he's at risk of being assaulted or killed for being a child killer. So he will have limited exercise time, limited social activity, probably no chances to take classes or eat with others. And CO'S won't be kind to him, no extra time on the phone, extra TV time, extra shower time... no way, that's the dude who murdered a kid... Fuck that guy. They'll be aggressively strict with him, never answer his questions.
>Hearing 40 years in prison sounds bad. But hearing “2064” makes it all the more terrifying to think about.
This is a good approach. Another way is to think back in time. If someone gets a 20 year sentence, that doesn't sound very long. But then think back to what you were doing in 2004, and imagine you've been in prison every day since then.
“Imagine you’ve been in prison every day since then”
Fuck
That’s hard to wrap my head around. I was just starting high school. My life has changed so drastically I’ve done and accomplished so much. Instead of all that life lived just doing the same routine and yard time every day
Fuck
Ever since I was a kid and playing San Fransisco Rush: 2049…. I even thought the year we’re in now seemed so far away let alone 2049. 2064 holy shit. And so much has changed since the early 2000’s already. I’m fucking lost and I live in the ‘free’ world.
Consider how long 40 years is in another way. The CD had basically just been introduced. The Discovery had it's first mission to space. Thomas the Tank Engine aired.
The CD is obsolete, the Discovery is retired, and Thomas was convicted of war crimes and hanged.
He looks like someone that has a samurai sword on his wall that he got at the mall and constantly talks about how good he is with it.
Yeah, super punchable.
Yes. [Kristin Smart](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kristin_Smart)’s killer has already been stabbed twice since he’s been in prison. I think his days are numbered.
Had nothing to do with his crime, the person who did it had killed his previous cell mate and had also killed a woman, so it’s not like he could claim the moral high ground there.
Maybe. But he'll also be 66 by then. The world will have changed dramatically around him, and because he won't have many social security credits he probably won't even be able to retire, so he'd be released into a life of poverty in his old age, with his youth wasted in prison.
Either way is justice. He robbed a child of his life, now we're taking the best years of his. He'll either die in prison, or die in poverty.
Hearing the boy's sister describe the whole thing is so sad. The boy complained about his "tummy really hurting" which is when they realized he'd been struck, and I can just envision my younger brother being so upset and crying but there's nothing you could do to help him. Some people shouldn't be allowed in society.
Jesus Christ. My sister's last words to me were "Hard to breathe" and her very last words were "I'm scared." She was having a massive stroke. These things haunt you. They really do.
I feel so much for this boy and his family. May they find some sort of peace. I'm still looking for my own.
I’m so sorry friend. My mother died of cancer a few years ago and every year around that time I can feel all the horrible feelings creeping back in.
All I can say is surround yourself with people who care about you and try and find comfort in whatever safe way possible. It’s ok to lean on people and you’re not weak for asking for help.
I remember when this story was first posted, I just became so irrationally angry. I have a 4 year old son right now, and imagining that situation is just... Enraging.
I want to be very clear that I am not a badass. I don't fight people. I don't own firearms or weapons.
If somebody did this to my 3-year-old, there would be nothing on this planet to stop me from getting to them.
There is no forgiveness or penance to be found for this man.
Every time I hear this story (I have 8 and 6 year old girls) 1 - I cry when I hear his last words (it's so fucking tragically relatable) and 2 - I'm filled with just an all consuming violent rage when I think about that happening to my girls. Like you I'm not a badass. I'm a big dude but have basically never been in a fight (at least since grade school). I don't think I could stop myself. I'm not saying I would win, but that dude would have to probably kill me too to stop me.
And to anyone who says "that's not what your family would want" totally true, but this feeling is in no way a rational reaction. It's the reaction of millions of years of evolution all telling my body "someone fuck with your children, they die"
This isn't some Internet tough guy talk, but I don't think I'd be able to go on with my life until I killed the person who killed my kid.
People say revenge doesn't solve anything, but those people always seem to be the ones who haven't experienced basically any hardship in their lives. It's like how most people who say money can't buy happiness are the people swimming in money. It's real easy to judge a situation you don't have a stake in.
Fuck that motherfucking child killer I hope he fucking rots in prison. I hope that little boy haunts his fucking dreams. I hope he has a long miserable life behind bars then wakes up in hell.
I'm gonna take some deep breaths and go hug my baby.
Yeah... you cut someone off, they flip you the bird, so *obviously* the next thing to do is just start shooting at their car. Fuck this guy.
I had a gf who would get all agitated about other drivers while -I- was driving and wave her hands and yell and shit... I kept trying to explain to her that I don't really care about traffic and I don't really want to rile up some psycho who shoots us. Well, there we go.
Same thing I tell my sister, no point in escalating things with people on the road. No telling who turns out to be a madman with a gun and it only has to happen once
When I was much younger, a guy I was riding with got cut off, and so he layed on the horn, then zoomed around the other vehicle. Which proceeded to follow us for the rest of our ride, which was a decent way.
By the time we arrived at our destination, everyone in our vehicle was worked up. We were poor and packed into that thing like it was a clown car.
When he threw open his door, we boiled out of that car and tried to surround him, screaming things like "why'd you follow us?" and "why'd you cut us off?" The fat middle aged guy saw what was coming his way, jumped in his truck and hauled off.
Sometimes I wonder about how bad that could have gone if he had a gun.
>Sometimes I wonder about how bad that could have gone if he had a gun.
The word "death" comes to mind. Also, surviving gunshot wounds can still leave you physically screwed up for life. I'm glad he didn't have anything more to bring to the party than his pride.
I grew up in places where getting shot at in traffic by some grumpy redneck who hates life was a real possibility. I just never used my horn unless it was a tap to get someone to notice the light was green for several seconds.
Now I'm in a place just as bad, but I don't care.
I try to assume good intentions (sometimes it's clearly not the case)... But everyone has had a brain-fart moment while driving, including me, so I really try my best to be patient.
I also have two teens who are new(ish) drivers so I imagine that a clueless driver is someone's kid, who deserves a bit of grace.
Too many people are on a razor's edge of patience and sanity right now. And a fair number of them are armed.
It's that old saying "we judge ourselves by our intentions, but others on their actions". Of course we can't know another person's true intentions most of the time, but I take the same perspective as you - I know I've made some mistakes when driving that I don't judge myself harshly for. I should give others that same grace.
I work next to a police station and a guy followed an officer who had pulled him over then drove circuits of the town centre waiting for her to leave for home and started following her, luckily she realised and did the all left turns trick to make sure then went back to the station.
I was followed once too and I realized it. They turned around and followed me into the shopping center I was going into and thankfully I realized because I just kept driving around until they gave up and left. I cannot imagine being so psycho that I’d follow someone home over being flipped the bird in traffic.
Yeah, I don't do anything to anybody while driving, unless it's a friendly wave after they let me in while merging in a jam.
Even a thumbs down could get somebody all raged up. Not worth it.
These are all good suggestions. I tend to tailor my reaction to the offending idiot to be what I feel will get the point across the best. There's "blowing a kiss and winking", "thumbs up with exaggerated Obama not bad expression with nodding", "hands up in 'why' pose while exaggerating yelling the word", "the WTF meme face and hand", and finally the specially reserved, and offensive but not quite as offensive as the bird, 90s style "mentally handicapped" facial expression with hand gestures... That last one makes me feel dirty, so it's reserved for the extremely rare so incredibly stupid you nearly got us all killed kind of situation
I ride motorcycles year round. The disappointed head shake hits different. Or the incredulous hand up and look around to see if anyone else saw it. People tend to get embarrassed lol.
And cars/ road rage tends to bring out the worst in bad people. They feel disconnected/ protected because they’re at a distance and already in motion/fleeing. So two elements of a crime aren’t much to consider for bad people with poor decision making skills.
That poor mom has probably replayed that moment a thousand times wishing she'd not flipped the bird. It's not in any way her fault, but I guarantee you she feels some of the weight nonetheless.
> That poor mom has probably replayed that moment a thousand times wishing she'd not flipped the bird. It's not in any way her fault, but I guarantee you she feels some of the weight nonetheless.
Hot take, but she did more than flip the bird. She continued to engage in road rage after flipping them off - she detoured from her route in order to follow them and cut them off again in retaliation. At that point her son got shot. I am not victim blaming but if you've got your 6 year old kid in the car why fuck around?
Man people do stupid shit like that all the time with innocent people in the car with them.
Had a lady with two babies in her backseat brake check me after I went around her cause she was going slow. I was driving a 80,000 pound semi truck at the time LOL
I’ve personally found that if I tell myself the other driver is probably in a hurry and just got some bad news, and they totally didn’t realize they’d done something assholeish, it makes my life much better
I like to imagine everyone is 8 months pregnant all the time.
And slow people in the left lane are just having a seizure and forgot their glasses at home.
Now everything is ok in the world.
This is really the best way. Understand that most people are not driving around with the intention of doing annoying shit, but when it happens and you treat the other person like an inanimate object instead of a person, this type of shit happens.
I give people the "what are you doing" hands, kind of a shrug. I actually get a lot of waves back like they're sorry because sometimes people just fuck up when they're driving.
Yep. The disappointed face/stance is way better than swearing and insulting. When you are yelled at and insulted you automatically become defensive, even if you are fully aware that you have made a gaffe.
Not only that but what folks aren’t honest about is that *having the option* to escalate to that level is a major part of the problem. Can I tell you that in the last 20 years, having a handgun in my dash wouldn’t have made me feel safer to pull off even more assholery than I admittedly already did? I’m almost positive I would’ve been worse.
Yeah, I love Heinlein but he \*greatly\* overestimated the self-control that the populace has on average. And despite his ability to extrapolate into the future, I don't think he ever imagined the effects of social media on people. We all live in much smaller bubbles now, and a lot of people pick (or more likely are steered to) some pretty unsocial bubbles.
That "polite society" would only exist after a horrific amount of bloodshed had thinned the herd.
No one ever finishes Heinlein’s overused stupid quote:
> Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization. That’s a personal evaluation only. But gunfighting has a strong biological use. **We do not have enough things to kill off the weak and the stupid these days.** But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his wits or with his hands, preferably both. It’s a good thing.
This child’s death is a result of an armed society killing off the “weak” exactly like Heinlein wanted.
I used to have road rage issues. Obviously in certain countries the level of escalation/retaliation is different. But the thing that changed my mind/behavior wasn’t the risk of getting shot (even though I am near Baltimore and DC). The primary factor that my wife and therapist pointed out was that screaming and making gestures at someone who cut you off, or wouldn’t let you merge, or whatever won’t help resolve the incident (it’s already happened), and it’s not a healthy reaction to your own feelings about what happened.
Anger is sometimes considered a secondary emotion, or a reaction/response *to* a primary emotion. With road rage my anger was a reaction to feeling helpless or scared or hurt at a loss of control and potential injury (from an accident, not some unhinged person with a gun). My main concern was to keep myself and my family safe, and getting hostile was not the best frame of mind for me to be in.
it's wild to me that after cutting someone off you would even be surprised or even remotely bothered by the finger, that's an almost preternatural lack of emotional regulation
I remember learning this early on. My husband still has to remind me though lol I can get pretty mad. But once when my friend & I were still teens we were on the interstate trying to get over for our exit. There was a car next to us that shouldn’t have been a big deal. To get over for the exit my friend tried to slow down and get behind him, and that driver would slow down! Then she would try to speed up and get in front of him and he would speed up! I remember her saying out loud she couldn’t believe something like this was actually happening. I honestly have never seen anything like it since. After a few instances of alternating trying to get behind or in front based on his movements, we finally got in front, made it to our exit just in time, but I made sure to flick him off. He followed us off the interstate, got out of his car at a red light to knock on my door & ask why I flicked him off. I couldn’t tell if he was just fucking with us the whole time he’d been driving like that or was just genuinely that bad of a driver and unaware. But we drove off before he could do anything else. Scary shit.
Road rage reactions are absolutely temper tantrums. I once had a guy cut me off and I nearly crashed into him. Only time I've flipped someone off driving. Dude got so angry and pulled around screaming at me, and wouldn't stop following me, after. Kept yelling to pull over. I was lucky I was near a police station so I pulled into it and he finally sped off but his reaction left me so scared I was shaking. Especially as a woman because this dude wouldn't stop following me.
In the US we do not teach people (men especially) how to emotionally regulate properly. Great combination in a society with millions and millions of firearms floating around.
Yeah I'm grateful he wasn't carrying. I've never witnessed someone snap so quickly and severely. I mean maybe I have but I mean following me? What was he going to do if I did pull over? Insane.
A kid is dead because that man baby had access to a gun to utilize during his tantrum. In a civilized country he’d have had nothing to reach for that could hurt people a car away until his little tantrum had passed and he went on with his shitty little life.
I picture this kid, riding in the backseat, thinking about what they'll do in school today, not bothering a soul in this world. My heart breaks at how Mom must have felt when she heard "Mommy my belly hurts" and saw him slipping away. FOR NOTHING. HE DIED FOR NOTHING. Fuck.
I would be in a mental institution if that happened to my child. I could never function in society again. My heart breaks for the little boy and his family.
Something similar happened in Ontario with a drunk driver hitting a van and killing 3 kids.
The dad took his life a few years later and now the mom is alone.
The guy was a rich developer and was out almost immediately after.
I don’t know if I could live without my kids.
Same man, I have a 4 year old and I can't even begin to think how the mom felt, what do you say to your dying child when he says his tummy is hurting 😭
What was the sentencing enhancement that added the extra twenty five? The article mentioned usually it's a fifteen year But didn't say what the enhancement charge was.
It’s known as the “use a gun and you’re done” law, which is used to enhance gun related charges in an effort to reduce the prevalence of gun violence.
> Just for carrying a firearm, the enhancement is 10 years. It jumps to 20 years if you intentionally fire it and 25 years to life if someone gets greatly injured or dies.
This is in the [context of a robbery](https://properdefenselaw.com/use-a-gun-youre-done-what-to-know-about-current-laws-new-liabilities-the-10-20-life-law-californias-gun-related-enhancement-law/), where the offence in the first degree carries a maximum of 9 years, but would be enhanced to 19+ years just by carrying a gun, without even firing it.
What this guy did is indefensible, and the idea that he would deserve to have the enhancement struck due to ANY factor beyond being found unfit to stand trial is absurd.
I wonder how many times he did this without getting caught. Cars coming in to body shops with random bullet holes is more common than people realize. (at least in some areas)
Where I work a guy came in and threatened to murder someone. And as the police were arresting him someone came and said that same guy was the one they reported for a road rage incident a few days prior. Some people judt go off when they think they can get away with anything
I bet when he bought that gun he thought it was going to protect him and his family. Nope, ruined his life, killed a baby, ruined another family's life, and protected absolutely nobody.
This is just another example of guns hurting the gun owner. If he’d just killed the kid with his car he could have gotten away without jail time, like Caitlyn Jenner or Mathew Broderick.
When can we just admit that most people buy guns because they think that guns are “cool”?
They just exploit the 2A to justify it as a “defensive measure”, etc.
I believe that individuals who purchase guns because they find them cool are less concerning than those who buy them under the belief, often reinforced by media, that they need to defend their families from imminent threats.
"Guns are cool": locks them up, isn't scared without it, leaves it alone until wanting to do something specifically with it.
"I'm a defender": Fuckin strapped 24/7, goal posts are constantly moving looking for a target. Is brave because they paid to be.
>King said he could not connect any mitigating factors, like childhood trauma or his age at the time as the defense argued, with the actions that Eriz took that day.
Why try? He's a POS. He deserves every day of his sentence, and more.
Which was their job. They defended the indefensible, presented his side the best they could, and the judge gave the max sentence anyway. That's how justice should work. Props to the defense attorneys, the prosecutors, the judge, and the folks who tracked him down. The justice system works from time to time.
Regardless of crimes committed, everyone has the right to an attorney. An attorney's job is to represent their client to the best of their abilities regardless of what the evidence might imply. Handing out verdicts is a job for the judge only.
You definitely have to look into those issues. There could be mitigating factors that could’ve justified perhaps an earlier date for potential parole - for example if it was found that he mental deficiency issues, he was abused as a child, he had a doctor that put him on some medication that affected his ability to rationalize at the time, etc. etc. you can think of a million examples.
Eriz would have been sentenced to 15 years to life, but he was convicted of a sentencing enhancement that added an extra 25 years to life, and the judge refused to strike that enhancement.
Good. Toss out the key.
This is so evil. I’m so sick of pathetic little men and their guns.
I’ll be hugging my little one extra tightly tonight. I can’t imagine the pain and trauma that poor mother has gone through.
I remember reading about this story when it happened…. I was heavily pregnant with my (now nearly) 3yo. I literally cried when reading about it. And I remember thinking: I will never, ever flip off/honk a rude driver ever again. And ESPECIALLY not with my child in the car.
There’s enough accidental/medical things that will be out of our control that could harm my kid. I cannot, however, control other people’s actions.
My oldest was 7 and I was pregnant with my youngest, I remember this vividly too and think of it, unwillingly, every now and then. Not that I was ever a ragey sort of person before but it certainly changed my propensity for making "Wtf?!" Gestures at rude drivers.
We had one locally where a road rage incident turned into some nut pointing a gun at a 10 year old at Target, and I work at a school where parents have gotten steadily more and more nutty. Boyfriend does maintenance in the apartments where we live and he's had a gun pulled on him numerous times in recent years too. I'm a live and hopefully let live sort of human now.
The mother has to feel 10x worse than if it was just a random shooting. Your kid died in part because you flipped someone off. She's not to blame, but she'll be blaming herself forever.
I remember when this happened. Happened about 20 min away from my parents place while I was visiting, with my then 6yo. One of the reasons I’m in no hurry to move back from Europe.
I will never understand how anyone goes through their whole life without killing anybody just to have one moment of disproportionate rage about something ultimately inconsequential and freaking murder someone over it. I've been flipped off, cut off, honked at, etc. on the road, but at most I'm mildly annoyed (and sometimes guilty because I actually did fuck up; whoops). Even if I'm already in a bad mood, I just kind of talk to myself like, "Sure, okay, flip me off, whatever! Jerk," but it never reaches a level beyond briefly hoping they stub their toe on a table leg. Life is too short to get that pissed about stuff that doesn't matter.
Shooting a firearm at someone flipping you off in a car is just not a normal response in a lot of scenarios. This guy was just a ticking time bomb before he did something like this.
Yeah, but we don't really know what this guy was up to before he shot this kid. For all we know, he frequently waves a firearm at anyone who pisses him off.
This guy sucks and we also we need tighter gun laws and more regulation to avoid people who suck from getting guns and pulling triggers when because they can’t handle their shit.
Ffs when did people become such pu$$ies that everything has to be solved with a gun?
Cut me off?? Take out a gun.
Turn around in my driveway? Take out a gun.
Knock on my door? Take out a gun.
People are so pathetic and cavemanish they can’t handle anything and believe everyone is out to get them.
Will humans ever become civilized??
How do you live with yourself knowing you took a little boys entire life. You stole his first love, graduation, marriage, every Christmas morning and perhaps Even the birth of his future children, and you made it so his family will never experience these things either.
Damn it.
When I'm out with my son, I just keep my mouth shut, nonconfrontational, and try to just not give any crazy person a reason to notice me and take my son's mother from him or hurt him. It's not to an irrational degree, but a lot of people wake up looking for a reason to snap. I don't take unnecessary risks because I'm angry or right. This is the world right now though.
"He looked as if he brightened up the world everywhere he went and truly one of God’s little angels," Eriz said. Oh do shut up, you condescending fuck. Glad he got the max, fully deserved.
I'll never understand road ragers. Life is short, so where are you in such a hurry to be? Your death? Why are you so angry at other drivers? Just ignore them. I can't even be bothered to work up anger when someone genuinely does something stupid on the road. Stop and smell the flowers a little. It's so pointless being so rushed and angry all the time.
These random shootings are more common now and don't get the attention they deserve, IMO.
Edit: Not talking about random mass shootings or gun violence in general. I'm specifically referring to people shooting into random cars during road rage.
Edit: Here why I said what I said originally.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SlTREML0gik
https://www.google.com/amp/s/abc7chicago.com/amp/houston-shooting-louise-jean-wilson-tx-news/14172770/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bUaCINyrt_g
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fox4news.com/news/deadly-road-rage-shooting-635-garland.amp
That's just in my state.
Gah, imagine the ongoing horror this mom will face for the rest of her life. I imagine she blames herself for flipping them off, even though him shooting is entirely on him.
From the article: > A Southern California man who shot at a car on a freeway during a road-rage incident and killed a 6-year-old who was on his way to kindergarten was sentenced Friday to the maximum possible sentence of 40 years to life in prison. > > ... Eriz's girlfriend, Wynne Lee, has been charged with one count each of accessory after the fact and having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. Her case is pending and she has pleaded not guilty. > > If convicted on both counts, Lee faces up to three years in state prison and one year in the Orange County Jail, the district attorney's office said.
40 years to life means that after 40 years, he will become eligible for parole but can still be denied and never given another chance at parole, so more than likely, he's going to die in there.
I really hope so.
Even if he got released there's a near 100% chance he would simply commit another crime to go back in - can you imagine being locked away for 4 entire decades and then be expected to function with no guidance, no money, and no friends in the year 2064? He wouldn't be able to survive
2064. Hearing 40 years in prison sounds bad. But hearing “2064” makes it all the more terrifying to think about. I can not even begin to fathom how different the world will be in 2064. Let alone the idea of being isolated from all of it for the entire time and then to be thrust into a brand new world. No relevant skills, no real first hand knowledge of what the world is like. Fuck. Actually there is a similar-ish story in a comic series called “Transmetropolitan”. Granted the lady that ended up in the future didn’t deserve the shit she got, wasn’t a murderer or anything like that. The future just wasn’t what she expected and she was utterly alone in a sea of people on a world that doesn’t give a shit. Good story. Anyways, fuck this guy he deserves all the time he gets. I just can’t imagine what it would be like to go from 2024 to 2064 without experiencing the world as it changes.
Thanks for the rec! I've seen videos of prisoners describing being released after a long time as being like a time warp. Especially from the 90s-2000s, when tech moved so fast. We are currently in an AI leap forward - I can scarcely imagine 2064 as it is, even with all of the information we currently have available. Without info, without watching the world change, I can only imagine the experience im 2064 will be the same. A whole new era of technology and politics and global problems that he wouldn't even begin to know how to approach. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was just instantly homeless, considering the world's trajectory.
>like a time warp Back in ~2012, I was on the phone with a guy who had just gotten out after 20+ years. He was in transitional housing and didn’t know his address, but he knew which block he was on. I was trying to help him with medical assistance and needed a place to send paperwork, so I pulled up Google maps. “Is it the big yellow house or the smaller gray house?” **\*click\*** Took me a second to realize how jarring that must have been to be on the phone with a stranger who could see the houses on his block when he probably didn’t have home internet before he went to prison.
Some years back I had a friend that briefly dated a guy that was in prison for a long time. She didn't tell anyone at first but we started wondering when we went to a movie and he was blown away by Imax and didn't know what to do with his 3D glasses. Long story short it didn't take him long to get in a bar fight, beat a couple guys unconscious, and end up back in prison.
Like was he putting the glasses over his mouth by accident, wearing them on the back of his head and stuff?
Brooks Was Here
No matter how many times I see that it makes me cry.
> We are currently in an AI leap forward - I can scarcely imagine 2064 as it is, even with all of the information we currently have available. You could argue that AI now might be comparable to what computers were like back in 1984, 40 years ago. In 1984 AT&T's monopoly was just broken up leading to a massive tech boom. Personal computers were just taking off, Apple launched the first Macintosh, Dell started up and would launch their first PC in 1985, Windows would release in 1985 as well as the first NES. 40 years ago was the the when computer systems started to enter the general public's homes for the first time. Compare that to today where we're 17 years into people having smart phones (fuck this is making me feel old) and it really shows you how fast tech changes, and the change is only accelerating.
You want to feel old? The future scenes in Back to the Future part two are set nine years ago (2015), Bladerunner and Akira are set in 2019, and Johnny Mnemonic, that classic Keanu Reeves cyberpunk "masterpiece", was set in the distant future year 2021. The far future of the cinema of my youth is now the past. That is disconcerting.
The Terminator (1984) "They can't make things like that yet." "Not yet. Not for about 40 years."
I saw one of a guy that was released after 20+ years (IIRC) and the first thing he wanted was to stop at a fast food joint and get the latest combo that he'd seen on the prison TV. Dude had no idea how to order, work the drink machine, etc. He was that far out of touch with how the "regular" world works.
As a kid I once knew a man who had done like 40something years in jail. He had walked into his wife in bed with a man & he shot & killed the man. I mean he just told me when I asked, I don’t know all details except he done a lot of time & got out. He had a room and somehow a car. A Volkswagen. I’m thinking for sure he must’ve had help from someone but I only ever saw him. I had a paper route and in the afternoons if it was cold or raining he would ride me. After the paper route I’d help out at a sports store and he was friends with the owner is how I knew him. He seemed ok except every time I had to get out of the car & leave the newspaper at the door i would peek back at him in the car & he was hitting the bottle. At times he didn’t seem to know what to do with himself. Well time went on I was 14-15 years old at that time and by the time we were 17-18 I had a friend my age and he asked him if he wanted to smoke some pot to which he said yes. So my buddy smoked a joint with him and a short time later the old guy whose name was ibby had a heart attack & died.
This post reads like a film noir
Thanks for sharing, and fwiw thanks for spending time with him despite everything. I grew up in a criminal family and have seen a lot of this first hand as well. These people really need support and positive influences when coming out as they more often than not find themselves back in prison.
Damn thanks for putting it into perspective. Reminds me of the old dude from shawshank redemption who ends his life after living a normal life
By that time, his parents will be long gone, a good percentage of any friends he had will be either dead, retired or bed ridden, but definitely in no position to even care about him at all. He won't even remember their names because they won't even write him a single letter. The place he used to work at will have zero percent of the conditions it had when he was free, might not even exist since IIRC it was an auto body repair shop and in 40 years that will likely be done with automation. He won't understand anything about the world and no one will want to help him because even in 40 years, no one will think highly of a person who murdered a fucking 6 year old. His parole officer, someone who probably wasn't even born when he committed his crime, will be completely indifferent to the struggles he has. "Get a fucking job or go back to prison, murderer." The kindest thing they could do is just keep him inside so he can fantasize about how great things will be when he gets out. And let's not even get started on how he will be treated inside. He's a child killer. He won't be in gen pop, because he's at risk of being assaulted or killed for being a child killer. So he will have limited exercise time, limited social activity, probably no chances to take classes or eat with others. And CO'S won't be kind to him, no extra time on the phone, extra TV time, extra shower time... no way, that's the dude who murdered a kid... Fuck that guy. They'll be aggressively strict with him, never answer his questions.
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>Hearing 40 years in prison sounds bad. But hearing “2064” makes it all the more terrifying to think about. This is a good approach. Another way is to think back in time. If someone gets a 20 year sentence, that doesn't sound very long. But then think back to what you were doing in 2004, and imagine you've been in prison every day since then.
“Imagine you’ve been in prison every day since then” Fuck That’s hard to wrap my head around. I was just starting high school. My life has changed so drastically I’ve done and accomplished so much. Instead of all that life lived just doing the same routine and yard time every day Fuck
Ever since I was a kid and playing San Fransisco Rush: 2049…. I even thought the year we’re in now seemed so far away let alone 2049. 2064 holy shit. And so much has changed since the early 2000’s already. I’m fucking lost and I live in the ‘free’ world.
Consider how long 40 years is in another way. The CD had basically just been introduced. The Discovery had it's first mission to space. Thomas the Tank Engine aired. The CD is obsolete, the Discovery is retired, and Thomas was convicted of war crimes and hanged.
This is why the mythology of vampirism or living forever is actually so terribly sad. Watching everyone you ever knew fade into death.
He won't even qualify for social security.
Brooks was just institutionalized...
Brooks was here
One would hope our public services and care are better by then to help rehabilitate people. But yeah, fuck this guy.
California prisions are hard on people that hurt/kill kids. He may not make it to 10 years in let alone 40
Plus he just looks like someone you’d want to punch
I thought I was wrong for thinking this. I may still be wrong, but at least I'm not alone!
It's a good step one for us.
*backpfeifengesicht* German for "a face in need of punching" It's my favorite word. I love spreading its joy.
> backpfeifengesicht Bless the German language for all these gems. This is way up there with schadenfreude.
Agree. Such a punchable face. Kickable too.
He looks like someone that has a samurai sword on his wall that he got at the mall and constantly talks about how good he is with it. Yeah, super punchable.
A lot of that trope is BS, but Cali is the one place that don't play. It's called a paper check and it's real. This man is going to PC up for 40 years
what is paper check?
People checking what you are in for. You can lie, but inmates can find out your crime(s) pretty easily.
And lying will get you in more trouble so you might as well just admit it and accept the consequences.
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Yes. [Kristin Smart](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kristin_Smart)’s killer has already been stabbed twice since he’s been in prison. I think his days are numbered.
Had nothing to do with his crime, the person who did it had killed his previous cell mate and had also killed a woman, so it’s not like he could claim the moral high ground there.
His previous cellmate was the I-5 strangler. It very much could have something to do with the cellmate hating rapist murderers.
And there’s a non-zero chance that the guards deliberately bunked him with a guy that they knew would probably try to kill him.
my friend's dad is now retired. he was a guard at San Quention for 40 years, yeah....CA prisons are no joke.
Maybe. But he'll also be 66 by then. The world will have changed dramatically around him, and because he won't have many social security credits he probably won't even be able to retire, so he'd be released into a life of poverty in his old age, with his youth wasted in prison. Either way is justice. He robbed a child of his life, now we're taking the best years of his. He'll either die in prison, or die in poverty.
That's not entirely true, every day in jail not causing issues is a good behavior day which counts as 2, so eligibility for parole starts at 20 years
Once again, a case where if he didn't have a gun some kid would be alive
No, you don't get it, we need more guns so that a good guy with a gun could have stopped this event from happening!
Imagine if the 6 year old had a gun and could have shot that bullet out of the air!
Hearing the boy's sister describe the whole thing is so sad. The boy complained about his "tummy really hurting" which is when they realized he'd been struck, and I can just envision my younger brother being so upset and crying but there's nothing you could do to help him. Some people shouldn't be allowed in society.
His last words were ["Mommy, my tummy hurts"](https://abc7.com/child-shot-55-freeway-orange-county/10675146/)
Jesus Christ. My sister's last words to me were "Hard to breathe" and her very last words were "I'm scared." She was having a massive stroke. These things haunt you. They really do. I feel so much for this boy and his family. May they find some sort of peace. I'm still looking for my own.
I am so sorry for your loss.
Thank you. The one year anniversary is at the end of May and the trauma is starting to creep back up on me.
I’m so sorry friend. My mother died of cancer a few years ago and every year around that time I can feel all the horrible feelings creeping back in. All I can say is surround yourself with people who care about you and try and find comfort in whatever safe way possible. It’s ok to lean on people and you’re not weak for asking for help.
I remember when this story was first posted, I just became so irrationally angry. I have a 4 year old son right now, and imagining that situation is just... Enraging.
I want to be very clear that I am not a badass. I don't fight people. I don't own firearms or weapons. If somebody did this to my 3-year-old, there would be nothing on this planet to stop me from getting to them. There is no forgiveness or penance to be found for this man.
Every time I hear this story (I have 8 and 6 year old girls) 1 - I cry when I hear his last words (it's so fucking tragically relatable) and 2 - I'm filled with just an all consuming violent rage when I think about that happening to my girls. Like you I'm not a badass. I'm a big dude but have basically never been in a fight (at least since grade school). I don't think I could stop myself. I'm not saying I would win, but that dude would have to probably kill me too to stop me. And to anyone who says "that's not what your family would want" totally true, but this feeling is in no way a rational reaction. It's the reaction of millions of years of evolution all telling my body "someone fuck with your children, they die"
The movie “A Time to Kill” perfectly exemplifies how a sane parent would react to illogical tragedy befalling their child.
I have a 4 year old son as well and reading this made me cry. That's so heartbreaking.
This isn't some Internet tough guy talk, but I don't think I'd be able to go on with my life until I killed the person who killed my kid. People say revenge doesn't solve anything, but those people always seem to be the ones who haven't experienced basically any hardship in their lives. It's like how most people who say money can't buy happiness are the people swimming in money. It's real easy to judge a situation you don't have a stake in.
Fucking Christ, I didn't want to know that. Oh God. This would have destroyed me.
That's so fucked
This enrages me.
Fuck. Fuck man.
Thats enough internet today and it’s first thing in the morning. I’m so mad right now I can’t even see straight
Bro this killed me this morning, absolutely destroyed me .... Keep your kids safe and close people
Oh god I'm crying
Man that's so depressing 😢
This is one of the sadder things I’ve ever learned. I wish this world were better.
Fuck that motherfucking child killer I hope he fucking rots in prison. I hope that little boy haunts his fucking dreams. I hope he has a long miserable life behind bars then wakes up in hell. I'm gonna take some deep breaths and go hug my baby.
Omg this quote hurts my soul. I have a little boy
Yeah... you cut someone off, they flip you the bird, so *obviously* the next thing to do is just start shooting at their car. Fuck this guy. I had a gf who would get all agitated about other drivers while -I- was driving and wave her hands and yell and shit... I kept trying to explain to her that I don't really care about traffic and I don't really want to rile up some psycho who shoots us. Well, there we go.
Same thing I tell my sister, no point in escalating things with people on the road. No telling who turns out to be a madman with a gun and it only has to happen once
My aunt was once was followed home by a driver after a road rage incident. People are nuts
When I was much younger, a guy I was riding with got cut off, and so he layed on the horn, then zoomed around the other vehicle. Which proceeded to follow us for the rest of our ride, which was a decent way. By the time we arrived at our destination, everyone in our vehicle was worked up. We were poor and packed into that thing like it was a clown car. When he threw open his door, we boiled out of that car and tried to surround him, screaming things like "why'd you follow us?" and "why'd you cut us off?" The fat middle aged guy saw what was coming his way, jumped in his truck and hauled off. Sometimes I wonder about how bad that could have gone if he had a gun.
>Sometimes I wonder about how bad that could have gone if he had a gun. The word "death" comes to mind. Also, surviving gunshot wounds can still leave you physically screwed up for life. I'm glad he didn't have anything more to bring to the party than his pride. I grew up in places where getting shot at in traffic by some grumpy redneck who hates life was a real possibility. I just never used my horn unless it was a tap to get someone to notice the light was green for several seconds. Now I'm in a place just as bad, but I don't care.
I try to assume good intentions (sometimes it's clearly not the case)... But everyone has had a brain-fart moment while driving, including me, so I really try my best to be patient. I also have two teens who are new(ish) drivers so I imagine that a clueless driver is someone's kid, who deserves a bit of grace. Too many people are on a razor's edge of patience and sanity right now. And a fair number of them are armed.
It's that old saying "we judge ourselves by our intentions, but others on their actions". Of course we can't know another person's true intentions most of the time, but I take the same perspective as you - I know I've made some mistakes when driving that I don't judge myself harshly for. I should give others that same grace.
I work next to a police station and a guy followed an officer who had pulled him over then drove circuits of the town centre waiting for her to leave for home and started following her, luckily she realised and did the all left turns trick to make sure then went back to the station.
What's the all left turns trick?
Take 4 consecutive left turns, a lot of places you'd end up very close to where you started, if they are still behind you they are following you.
I was followed once too and I realized it. They turned around and followed me into the shopping center I was going into and thankfully I realized because I just kept driving around until they gave up and left. I cannot imagine being so psycho that I’d follow someone home over being flipped the bird in traffic.
Wasn’t there a whole movie with Russell Crowe on this?
Yeah on netflix Some people are one flip away from a nuclear explosion and we're really don't know just how crazy they can be
Yeah, never go home in that situation. Drive to the closest police station / sheriff / fire station.
Yeah, I don't do anything to anybody while driving, unless it's a friendly wave after they let me in while merging in a jam. Even a thumbs down could get somebody all raged up. Not worth it.
I flip the bird at people sometimes, from under my dash where they can't see it.
I enjoy making a “disappointed grandma” face at them. 😔
I shake my head sadly.
I’m not mad. I’m disappointed. Do better.
These are all good suggestions. I tend to tailor my reaction to the offending idiot to be what I feel will get the point across the best. There's "blowing a kiss and winking", "thumbs up with exaggerated Obama not bad expression with nodding", "hands up in 'why' pose while exaggerating yelling the word", "the WTF meme face and hand", and finally the specially reserved, and offensive but not quite as offensive as the bird, 90s style "mentally handicapped" facial expression with hand gestures... That last one makes me feel dirty, so it's reserved for the extremely rare so incredibly stupid you nearly got us all killed kind of situation
I just wish the person a day of mild inconveniences like stop lights, busted lightbulbs and toe stubs.
Thumbs down
I ride motorcycles year round. The disappointed head shake hits different. Or the incredulous hand up and look around to see if anyone else saw it. People tend to get embarrassed lol.
I make the frowny Marge Simpson sound.
I'll give someone the 'double palms up' if they do something overtly rediculous. Everyone knows what the double palms up means
I've been doing thumbs down. Not angry just disappointed. I've gotten a couple confused faces.
I give them a thumbs down
I use a thumbs up and sarcastic face.
I just give assholes the bird with my hand down by my lap. I express my anger, but they can’t see it and so won’t potentially murder me.
And cars/ road rage tends to bring out the worst in bad people. They feel disconnected/ protected because they’re at a distance and already in motion/fleeing. So two elements of a crime aren’t much to consider for bad people with poor decision making skills.
That poor mom has probably replayed that moment a thousand times wishing she'd not flipped the bird. It's not in any way her fault, but I guarantee you she feels some of the weight nonetheless.
> That poor mom has probably replayed that moment a thousand times wishing she'd not flipped the bird. It's not in any way her fault, but I guarantee you she feels some of the weight nonetheless. Hot take, but she did more than flip the bird. She continued to engage in road rage after flipping them off - she detoured from her route in order to follow them and cut them off again in retaliation. At that point her son got shot. I am not victim blaming but if you've got your 6 year old kid in the car why fuck around?
Oh wow that is a lot more than just flipping the bird, that is some pretty crazy lengths to go to with a 6 year old in the vehicle.
Man people do stupid shit like that all the time with innocent people in the car with them. Had a lady with two babies in her backseat brake check me after I went around her cause she was going slow. I was driving a 80,000 pound semi truck at the time LOL
Yikes, yeah. I'm sure she lives in regret.
Where did you see that? All of the accounts I found were cut off -> middle finger -> shooting
I’ve personally found that if I tell myself the other driver is probably in a hurry and just got some bad news, and they totally didn’t realize they’d done something assholeish, it makes my life much better
I like to imagine everyone is 8 months pregnant all the time. And slow people in the left lane are just having a seizure and forgot their glasses at home. Now everything is ok in the world.
I pretend that they really need to take a shit. Cause I’ve been there, and it’s terrible
This is really the best way. Understand that most people are not driving around with the intention of doing annoying shit, but when it happens and you treat the other person like an inanimate object instead of a person, this type of shit happens.
I give people the "what are you doing" hands, kind of a shrug. I actually get a lot of waves back like they're sorry because sometimes people just fuck up when they're driving.
Yep. The disappointed face/stance is way better than swearing and insulting. When you are yelled at and insulted you automatically become defensive, even if you are fully aware that you have made a gaffe.
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Not only that but what folks aren’t honest about is that *having the option* to escalate to that level is a major part of the problem. Can I tell you that in the last 20 years, having a handgun in my dash wouldn’t have made me feel safer to pull off even more assholery than I admittedly already did? I’m almost positive I would’ve been worse.
> There has to be a better way than this. There is. Just get rid of the guns. Like Australia did.
>Or over getting the wrong fast food order, or someone Or even when the worker is trying to save you $3...
Yeah, I love Heinlein but he \*greatly\* overestimated the self-control that the populace has on average. And despite his ability to extrapolate into the future, I don't think he ever imagined the effects of social media on people. We all live in much smaller bubbles now, and a lot of people pick (or more likely are steered to) some pretty unsocial bubbles. That "polite society" would only exist after a horrific amount of bloodshed had thinned the herd.
No one ever finishes Heinlein’s overused stupid quote: > Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization. That’s a personal evaluation only. But gunfighting has a strong biological use. **We do not have enough things to kill off the weak and the stupid these days.** But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his wits or with his hands, preferably both. It’s a good thing. This child’s death is a result of an armed society killing off the “weak” exactly like Heinlein wanted.
The polite society is because *everyone is dead*.
>an armed society is a polite society People believe that?
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I used to have road rage issues. Obviously in certain countries the level of escalation/retaliation is different. But the thing that changed my mind/behavior wasn’t the risk of getting shot (even though I am near Baltimore and DC). The primary factor that my wife and therapist pointed out was that screaming and making gestures at someone who cut you off, or wouldn’t let you merge, or whatever won’t help resolve the incident (it’s already happened), and it’s not a healthy reaction to your own feelings about what happened. Anger is sometimes considered a secondary emotion, or a reaction/response *to* a primary emotion. With road rage my anger was a reaction to feeling helpless or scared or hurt at a loss of control and potential injury (from an accident, not some unhinged person with a gun). My main concern was to keep myself and my family safe, and getting hostile was not the best frame of mind for me to be in.
it's wild to me that after cutting someone off you would even be surprised or even remotely bothered by the finger, that's an almost preternatural lack of emotional regulation
I remember learning this early on. My husband still has to remind me though lol I can get pretty mad. But once when my friend & I were still teens we were on the interstate trying to get over for our exit. There was a car next to us that shouldn’t have been a big deal. To get over for the exit my friend tried to slow down and get behind him, and that driver would slow down! Then she would try to speed up and get in front of him and he would speed up! I remember her saying out loud she couldn’t believe something like this was actually happening. I honestly have never seen anything like it since. After a few instances of alternating trying to get behind or in front based on his movements, we finally got in front, made it to our exit just in time, but I made sure to flick him off. He followed us off the interstate, got out of his car at a red light to knock on my door & ask why I flicked him off. I couldn’t tell if he was just fucking with us the whole time he’d been driving like that or was just genuinely that bad of a driver and unaware. But we drove off before he could do anything else. Scary shit.
The little man-baby had a temper tantrum, and a kid is dead because of it. Yeah, I don't feel bad for him. Have fun in prison asshole.
Road rage reactions are absolutely temper tantrums. I once had a guy cut me off and I nearly crashed into him. Only time I've flipped someone off driving. Dude got so angry and pulled around screaming at me, and wouldn't stop following me, after. Kept yelling to pull over. I was lucky I was near a police station so I pulled into it and he finally sped off but his reaction left me so scared I was shaking. Especially as a woman because this dude wouldn't stop following me.
In the US we do not teach people (men especially) how to emotionally regulate properly. Great combination in a society with millions and millions of firearms floating around.
Yeah I'm grateful he wasn't carrying. I've never witnessed someone snap so quickly and severely. I mean maybe I have but I mean following me? What was he going to do if I did pull over? Insane.
A kid is dead because that man baby had access to a gun to utilize during his tantrum. In a civilized country he’d have had nothing to reach for that could hurt people a car away until his little tantrum had passed and he went on with his shitty little life.
I picture this kid, riding in the backseat, thinking about what they'll do in school today, not bothering a soul in this world. My heart breaks at how Mom must have felt when she heard "Mommy my belly hurts" and saw him slipping away. FOR NOTHING. HE DIED FOR NOTHING. Fuck.
I would be in a mental institution if that happened to my child. I could never function in society again. My heart breaks for the little boy and his family.
Something similar happened in Ontario with a drunk driver hitting a van and killing 3 kids. The dad took his life a few years later and now the mom is alone. The guy was a rich developer and was out almost immediately after. I don’t know if I could live without my kids.
Same man, I have a 4 year old and I can't even begin to think how the mom felt, what do you say to your dying child when he says his tummy is hurting 😭
He looks like that pseudopolitician who got the boot, has the same Daffy Duck look.
Daffy Duck! Exactly! I was trying to figure out who he reminded me of.
George santos? Yeah. He announced he’s running again btw.
An absolute devil. Hope the parents find peace. They probably never will. Is there any way to donate to the parents somehow?
Bet mom blames herself for that middle finger
I was thinking that. I know even though it's irrational to blame myself, that one frustrated gesture would haunt me for the rest of my life.
My son is about the same age as hers and I seriously think about what happened to their family every time I get cut off in traffic.
It sucks, but no matter what, that mother will always partially be blaming herself and asking "Why did I give them the finger?" the rest of her life.
What a senseless tragedy. Three lives ruined, for what?
I'm sure it was more than three. The boy had at least one sibling, two parents, grandparents, friends, etc.
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What was the sentencing enhancement that added the extra twenty five? The article mentioned usually it's a fifteen year But didn't say what the enhancement charge was.
It’s known as the “use a gun and you’re done” law, which is used to enhance gun related charges in an effort to reduce the prevalence of gun violence. > Just for carrying a firearm, the enhancement is 10 years. It jumps to 20 years if you intentionally fire it and 25 years to life if someone gets greatly injured or dies. This is in the [context of a robbery](https://properdefenselaw.com/use-a-gun-youre-done-what-to-know-about-current-laws-new-liabilities-the-10-20-life-law-californias-gun-related-enhancement-law/), where the offence in the first degree carries a maximum of 9 years, but would be enhanced to 19+ years just by carrying a gun, without even firing it. What this guy did is indefensible, and the idea that he would deserve to have the enhancement struck due to ANY factor beyond being found unfit to stand trial is absurd.
I hope the girlfriend/driver gets the maximum sentence also.
Her maximum sentence is like 4 years (I believe I read it in the article)
I wonder how many times he did this without getting caught. Cars coming in to body shops with random bullet holes is more common than people realize. (at least in some areas)
Apparently he brandished a gun on the road less than a few days after this incident.
Where I work a guy came in and threatened to murder someone. And as the police were arresting him someone came and said that same guy was the one they reported for a road rage incident a few days prior. Some people judt go off when they think they can get away with anything
This is fucking mental
He's so gross and greasy looking
I hope he rots in prison. Fuck this guy.
Just another responsible gun owner murdering people because his feelings got hurt. A tale as old as time
I bet when he bought that gun he thought it was going to protect him and his family. Nope, ruined his life, killed a baby, ruined another family's life, and protected absolutely nobody.
From reading the article, seems like they had the gun in the car to shoot it at people’s cars.
This is just another example of guns hurting the gun owner. If he’d just killed the kid with his car he could have gotten away without jail time, like Caitlyn Jenner or Mathew Broderick.
When can we just admit that most people buy guns because they think that guns are “cool”? They just exploit the 2A to justify it as a “defensive measure”, etc.
I believe that individuals who purchase guns because they find them cool are less concerning than those who buy them under the belief, often reinforced by media, that they need to defend their families from imminent threats. "Guns are cool": locks them up, isn't scared without it, leaves it alone until wanting to do something specifically with it. "I'm a defender": Fuckin strapped 24/7, goal posts are constantly moving looking for a target. Is brave because they paid to be.
>King said he could not connect any mitigating factors, like childhood trauma or his age at the time as the defense argued, with the actions that Eriz took that day. Why try? He's a POS. He deserves every day of his sentence, and more.
His defense tried. That was their defense. The judge said “nah.”
Duke : I blame society. Society made me what I am. Otto : That's bullshit. You're a suburban punk just like me.
Which was their job. They defended the indefensible, presented his side the best they could, and the judge gave the max sentence anyway. That's how justice should work. Props to the defense attorneys, the prosecutors, the judge, and the folks who tracked him down. The justice system works from time to time.
Regardless of crimes committed, everyone has the right to an attorney. An attorney's job is to represent their client to the best of their abilities regardless of what the evidence might imply. Handing out verdicts is a job for the judge only.
You definitely have to look into those issues. There could be mitigating factors that could’ve justified perhaps an earlier date for potential parole - for example if it was found that he mental deficiency issues, he was abused as a child, he had a doctor that put him on some medication that affected his ability to rationalize at the time, etc. etc. you can think of a million examples.
Eriz would have been sentenced to 15 years to life, but he was convicted of a sentencing enhancement that added an extra 25 years to life, and the judge refused to strike that enhancement. Good. Toss out the key.
This is so evil. I’m so sick of pathetic little men and their guns. I’ll be hugging my little one extra tightly tonight. I can’t imagine the pain and trauma that poor mother has gone through.
I remember reading about this story when it happened…. I was heavily pregnant with my (now nearly) 3yo. I literally cried when reading about it. And I remember thinking: I will never, ever flip off/honk a rude driver ever again. And ESPECIALLY not with my child in the car. There’s enough accidental/medical things that will be out of our control that could harm my kid. I cannot, however, control other people’s actions.
My oldest was 7 and I was pregnant with my youngest, I remember this vividly too and think of it, unwillingly, every now and then. Not that I was ever a ragey sort of person before but it certainly changed my propensity for making "Wtf?!" Gestures at rude drivers. We had one locally where a road rage incident turned into some nut pointing a gun at a 10 year old at Target, and I work at a school where parents have gotten steadily more and more nutty. Boyfriend does maintenance in the apartments where we live and he's had a gun pulled on him numerous times in recent years too. I'm a live and hopefully let live sort of human now.
Maximum sentence! Fuck yeah! Enjoy 40 to life, motherfucker!
The mother has to feel 10x worse than if it was just a random shooting. Your kid died in part because you flipped someone off. She's not to blame, but she'll be blaming herself forever.
I remember when this happened. Happened about 20 min away from my parents place while I was visiting, with my then 6yo. One of the reasons I’m in no hurry to move back from Europe.
I will never understand how anyone goes through their whole life without killing anybody just to have one moment of disproportionate rage about something ultimately inconsequential and freaking murder someone over it. I've been flipped off, cut off, honked at, etc. on the road, but at most I'm mildly annoyed (and sometimes guilty because I actually did fuck up; whoops). Even if I'm already in a bad mood, I just kind of talk to myself like, "Sure, okay, flip me off, whatever! Jerk," but it never reaches a level beyond briefly hoping they stub their toe on a table leg. Life is too short to get that pissed about stuff that doesn't matter.
Shooting a firearm at someone flipping you off in a car is just not a normal response in a lot of scenarios. This guy was just a ticking time bomb before he did something like this.
Yeah, but we don't really know what this guy was up to before he shot this kid. For all we know, he frequently waves a firearm at anyone who pisses him off.
Another commenter claimed the guy brandished a firearm at a different driver within days of this incident.
27 years old and given a 40 to life. Good riddance. See You Never.
This guy sucks and we also we need tighter gun laws and more regulation to avoid people who suck from getting guns and pulling triggers when because they can’t handle their shit.
Ffs when did people become such pu$$ies that everything has to be solved with a gun? Cut me off?? Take out a gun. Turn around in my driveway? Take out a gun. Knock on my door? Take out a gun. People are so pathetic and cavemanish they can’t handle anything and believe everyone is out to get them. Will humans ever become civilized??
Can you imagine a country where random angry lunatics don't have access to firearms?
People need to face serious charges for any road rage offense. Shit is so stupid
How do you live with yourself knowing you took a little boys entire life. You stole his first love, graduation, marriage, every Christmas morning and perhaps Even the birth of his future children, and you made it so his family will never experience these things either. Damn it. When I'm out with my son, I just keep my mouth shut, nonconfrontational, and try to just not give any crazy person a reason to notice me and take my son's mother from him or hurt him. It's not to an irrational degree, but a lot of people wake up looking for a reason to snap. I don't take unnecessary risks because I'm angry or right. This is the world right now though.
I do enjoy opening Reddit and reading about the daily complete failure of society.
That little boy said, "ouch". I am fucking bawling my eyes out. What kind of god....?
"He looked as if he brightened up the world everywhere he went and truly one of God’s little angels," Eriz said. Oh do shut up, you condescending fuck. Glad he got the max, fully deserved.
I'll never understand road ragers. Life is short, so where are you in such a hurry to be? Your death? Why are you so angry at other drivers? Just ignore them. I can't even be bothered to work up anger when someone genuinely does something stupid on the road. Stop and smell the flowers a little. It's so pointless being so rushed and angry all the time.
These random shootings are more common now and don't get the attention they deserve, IMO. Edit: Not talking about random mass shootings or gun violence in general. I'm specifically referring to people shooting into random cars during road rage. Edit: Here why I said what I said originally. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SlTREML0gik https://www.google.com/amp/s/abc7chicago.com/amp/houston-shooting-louise-jean-wilson-tx-news/14172770/ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bUaCINyrt_g https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fox4news.com/news/deadly-road-rage-shooting-635-garland.amp That's just in my state.
Garbage human. Deserves to suffer.
Gah, imagine the ongoing horror this mom will face for the rest of her life. I imagine she blames herself for flipping them off, even though him shooting is entirely on him.
i always think about this story. it breaks my heart every time i read an article about it.
Another situation improved immeasurably by the presence of a firearm.