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Guess Who is Facing 21 Years in Prison?

phoenixnewtimes.com — The drunk , rich, white one, or the sober, poor, black one?

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 24, 2008

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1001 Comments

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  • grmclaren, on 01/24/2008, -13/+524It would seem that facts are missing from both sides.
    However, the FACT that the drunk teenager was charged with NOTHING makes my blood boil.
  • unearth, on 01/24/2008, -14/+438I don't agree with the punishment, but the way the article is written pisses me off. They go on forever about how the guy did nothing wrong, and then they say "Oh, by the way, he left the scene of the accident." Why not present the facts straight up instead of trying to agitate the reader? He has a strong enough case without your terrible journalism.
  • abenton, on 01/24/2008, -108/+497This smells of not stating all the facts.
  • Shogi, on 01/24/2008, -8/+366Here's how the charges should lay out:

    Wilkerson: Fleeing the scene
    Varker: Driving without a license, DUI, Underage drinking, involuntary manslaughter
    Varker's non-talking friends: obstruction of justice

    Anything else is simply unjust and more proof of the broken and racist legal system.
  • Zoshchenko, on 01/24/2008, -24/+262There is no justice. Only money.
  • iceman0113, on 01/24/2008, -6/+242FTA: "They'd given Varker's parents their word, they said, that they wouldn't talk."
    Wouldn't that be obstruction of justice?
  • johnvm, on 01/24/2008, -41/+198not a travesty. the dude fled the scene of an accident. while maybe he shouldnt be guilty of manslaughter and facing 21 years, thats crazy illegal and should be. its even noted everyone in his car saw the SUV flipping and flying in the air - obviously people in the SUV are going to be critically wounded and in need of immediate help from paramedics.

    i dont support a 21 year sentence, but this guy is somewhat guilty. who knows if the girl would have lived had EMS arrived immediately b/c they stopped and called 911. people like to stir up racial/class issues when ***** like this happens, but at the end of the day this guy is in trouble b/c he fled the scene of the accident, not b/c hes black and poor.
  • unicronband, on 01/24/2008, -5/+156Charge the guy with fleeing the scene of an accident, something he's certainly guilty of. If they determine he was partly at fault for the accident, charge him with that as well. The travesty is that the girl is clearly guilty of 1) Drunk driving, 2) Underage drinking, 3) Purchasing alcohol underage, 4) Presenting a false ID, 5) Most likely causing the accident to begin with and if so 6) The manslaughter charge he is facing. So far, she isn't facing ANY charges. That, my friend, IS ***** up.
    This hits fairly close to home too. Over the summer, a kid I know was driving home from a bar completely *****-faced (I know, I saw him there that night). On his way home, he hit a kid who was riding his bike home from work. Instead of getting out to see if he was alright, he fled to his parents house down the road. After several hours, the cops were able to follow the trail of radiator fluid to the smashed up truck in the driveway. He was taken in for questioning, but by this point he was no longer drunk. To this day, he has not been charged with ANYTHING. If it matters, he was rich and white, the kid he hit was from a poor immigrant family.
  • EllieElliott, on 01/24/2008, -49/+200travesty
  • bobcaygeon00, on 01/24/2008, -11/+153anyone find the link to her myspace page?
  • DrDragun, on 01/24/2008, -11/+125You smell of not reading the article. Seriously, the full police reports were basically disclosed in the source.
  • hdar3415, on 01/24/2008, -28/+140Can't say I'm surprised about this. It happens far too often.
  • Haidoken, on 01/24/2008, -24/+116horrible. Lawyers don't fight for justice, they fight for any loophole they can use.
  • jmpeagle, on 01/24/2008, -8/+92why read an article when you can smell it?
  • Rysac1, on 01/24/2008, -34/+116Just another example how rich white can get away with almost anything in our justice system.
  • nblsavage, on 01/24/2008, -34/+108"smells of not stating all the facts" = "This disagrees with my skewed worldview"
  • Audacitor, on 01/24/2008, -10/+82Did you read the whole thing?
  • inactive, on 01/24/2008, -25/+95Why is America still so unequal?
  • lydecker, on 01/24/2008, -1/+70The accident could have been avoided if the girl wasn't drunk. It could have been avoided if she wasn't speeding. It could have been avoided if she had paid attention to stopping distance in front of her. It could have been avoided if she was a responsible driver. And it could have been avoided if he didn't make the turn. He should have seen the SUV.

    Death could have been avoided if a seatbelt was worn.

    Above all, he should NOT receive 21 years in prison for manslaughter.
  • prisoner24601, on 01/24/2008, -3/+67Fleeing the scene is an action that becomes incredibly difficult to counter-balance, even for the best attorney.

    You NEVER EVER leave the scene. People immediately no longer see you as white, black, brown, whatever. You become (instantly) the one that everyone *feels* is responsible even if you weren't.
  • inactive, on 01/24/2008, -3/+67The guy has a lot to answer too. Let's not be so one-sided here. He is guilty of at least one thing too. But the drunk girl should be charged too. If the facts are as stated in the article.
  • soulknowledge, on 01/24/2008, -2/+64So.... how do explain the girl NOT getting in trouble?
  • bcamp1973, on 01/24/2008, -14/+72let's leave "white" out of this. OJ simpson got away with double homicide...he's not white...
  • lydecker, on 01/24/2008, -7/+63Death is also a travesty. Wear a seatbelt, and don't ride in a car with a driver who's been drinking.
  • fictionalOne, on 01/24/2008, -11/+66I was in an outrage reading this article, until I read that the man fled the scene. Although it does suck that the teen girl did not face any charges, leaving the scene of an accident can be just as deadly.
  • Kev585, on 01/24/2008, -2/+51"Varker's lawyers have also hired a retired Phoenix cop, who surveyed the scene and concluded that Wilkerson erred when he slowed down to make the U-turn. By doing so, the former police officer wrote, Wilkerson impeded the flow of traffic, forcing Varker into the center lane."

    She was drunk at the time of this accident and had previously been the party at fault in an accident. She should be charged given that, don't try and spin it.
  • silveravnt, on 01/24/2008, -3/+49FTA:"And that's when, Wilkerson admits, he made a really big mistake. He panicked and took off.
    "I freaked out," he says. "That's no excuse; that's so not me. But I had the people in my car yelling, 'Go, go, go!' and I just freaked out and panicked." Sheriff's deputies caught up with him just 10 minutes later.
    Because he fled the scene, it's understandable that the sheriff's deputies assumed that Wilkerson had something to hide. Their reports note that he smelled heavily of alcohol, that he'd admitted to smoking pot that morning, that he seemed drunk. "
  • soupdawg30, on 01/24/2008, -3/+48This is crap. She should be charged with something.
  • SIRBERUS, on 01/24/2008, -6/+49I agree... I wanted to enjoy that article so much, and feel sorry for the guy... but the article, instead, left me with a feeling of "Well they should both be punished then"

    I mean, I'm not saying the guy should get 21 years... but I absolutely hate people who do ***** and run off...

    Especially in this case where (since he did think he did something wrong) him trying to assist the people in the car may be been the difference between life and death.

    So yeah... the girl is a douche for being unpunished, and the guy is a douche for hit-and-run, or whatever you would like to call it.
  • bbqribs, on 01/24/2008, -3/+43Left the scene of an accident, and had drugs & alcohol present in his system. The 'party girl in Daddy's SUV' as the article so eloquently puts it should also have the book thrown at her. She's 17 and has already been in 2 accidents? Fake IDs? Underage drinking & driving? The little bitch shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel for a VERY long time.
  • korea, on 01/24/2008, -4/+43The girl was charged with nothing. I'm pretty sure race, gender, and class had something to do with that.

    Where in this article does it mention that the u-turn was unsafe? The most unsafe part about it is doing it in front of a drunken idiot driver.

    It seems the mood of comments at Digg are dictated by mob-mentality. You will occasionally see a large flock of "there's no such thing as racism in America today!" folk with a small sprinkling of with some people with a grasp of reality here and there. Or you see a large group of people that recognize lingering institutional racism and randomly interspersed interjections by the clueless.
  • Kajico, on 01/24/2008, -3/+42I like how the guy really is taking responsibility for panicking and fleeing the scene of the accident, he wants to be charged for that. But he's being charge for manslaughter because he was too slow in making a u-turn. That's *****, the girl was drunk, the girl was speeding and her friend was not wearing her seat belt. There are so many charges against that girl that aren't being brought up because they have already found their scapegoat. That girl deserves to be in jail as much as that man does. That would be justice.
  • Thread6, on 01/24/2008, -11/+48Yeah, Wilkerson fled the scene of a fatal car accident. That's a felony in most states. The real question is why Varker wasn't charged.

    No clue why somebody made this into a race issue.
  • neocognitism, on 01/24/2008, -4/+39She was behind, end of story. In a rear-ending, it's the car that was behind which is liable. This is truly a travesty of justice and the little girl deserves to spend a couple years behind bars.
  • cablemodemguy, on 01/24/2008, -5/+39Now he's in the hands of the wonderful Sheriff Joe Arpaio
  • glasnostic, on 01/24/2008, -1/+34a legal u-turn does not cause an accident. he left the scene of an accident in which he was the victim. still a crime, but not worthy of 21 years.
  • pahoehoe, on 01/24/2008, -4/+37travesty: to translate, imitate, or represent, so as to render ridiculous or ludicrous.
    travesty != tragedy.
  • kmckanna, on 01/24/2008, -10/+43The story is intriguing, however, I am not surprised that he is being treated unfairly. I don't care how many different Amendments there are, there will always be some type of racial discrimination. Though he made a mistake, the "young white, believed to be (by this article) somewhat upper class girl" is not charged with anything? That's completely unfair and I feel really bad for this guy, also the family who lost their daughter. For the drunk driver, ***** you, YOU killed your friend, not him.
  • unicronband, on 01/24/2008, -4/+36Oh, I forgot to mention the kid on the bike died.
  • jmpeagle, on 01/24/2008, -7/+38they both deserve time
  • wonderchemist, on 01/24/2008, -12/+43It's time like these I hope karma gets the DA who does not decide to press charges... Maybe the same drunk killing his/her entire family.
  • blindhammer, on 01/24/2008, -33/+62Ironic considering that the accident occurred on the "Bush Highway."

    I don't know how a prosecutor could pursue this case in good conscious given what was stated in the article.
  • deuceswilde, on 01/24/2008, -5/+33You seem to be the one missing the point. She was coming up behind him, moving to fast and tried to avoid him by going over the center line. It has nothing to do with yielding to oncoming traffic.
  • MaynardJK, on 01/24/2008, -2/+30The u-turn was legal according to the article. There also wasn't any oncoming traffic mentioned. She tried to pass him in the suicide lane while he was turning. At least that is what I understood from it.
  • pintomp3, on 01/24/2008, -0/+27out of curiosity, what were you commenting on?
  • AnEmpress, on 01/24/2008, -4/+30But of the two people involved who had been drinking, the one who was ABOVE the legal limit was not charged with a damn thing. Both should have been charged, period.
  • troye, on 01/24/2008, -4/+29She is white and rich - that's how she didn't get in trouble.
  • wolfzombie, on 01/24/2008, -1/+26When I saw the title I thought the answer would be OJ.
  • bfdhud, on 01/24/2008, -3/+27I would almost be willing to bet money that she blamed the black guy for her friends death. I'm also willing to bet she has convinced herself she was in no way responsible.
  • elhaf, on 01/24/2008, -5/+29DWB
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