australian drag in the usa escapes prison sentence

[bob 351]

aussie drag racer escapes 90 year prison sentence

just heard he got 1 year probation and 1 year suspended sentence

very lucky boy and very tragic accident

[WindsorXR]

Great news! The US legal system isn't as bad as I thought it was.

[bob 351]

Originally Posted by BSSXR8

Great news! The US legal system isn't as bad as I thought it was.

yeah i think so too even though he was driving there should have been a bit more protection for the spectators so realy if there was this tragic accident may never of happened

[Jason[98.EL]]

news report

August 13, 2008 - 6:23AM

Australian drag racer Troy Critchley has negotiated a deal that will keep him out of an American jail.

The Queensland-born, Texas-based Critchley was facing life in prison, but in a plea deal agreed upon with Tennessee prosecutors and supported by families of the victims, he was sentenced to one year of probation and a suspended one year jail sentence.

He will only go to jail if he violates the probation.

It is a huge relief for Critchley.

The 37-year-old generated worldwide headlines last year when his high-powered performance car skidded out of control at a charity event in the town of Selmer, Tennessee, and crashed into the crowd.

Six spectators, aged 15 to 22, died and 22 other people, including a five-year-old boy, were injured.

Critchley was originally charged with six counts of vehicular homicide and 22 counts of reckless aggravated assault that could have sent him to jail for 90 years.

Under the deal, the charges were dropped and replaced with 28 counts of reckless simple assault.

Critchley is expected to enter guilty pleas to the charges in a Tennessee court on Thursday.

Critchley was known as the "Burnout King" for his expertise in performing the stunt at charity events and drag shows.

In an interview with Australian TV news show 60 Minutes earlier this year he said his memories of the crash would forever haunt him, but he does not know how to apologise to the victims.

"I don't know how I can ever say that I am sorry," he said in the Nine Network interview.

"I will be sorry for the rest of my life."

AAP

[blueoval]

I think the nightmares of him killing those innocent people is a sentence in itself. He is lucky to get off as lightly as he did.

[kypez]

Originally Posted by blueoval

He is lucky to get off as lightly as he did.

I think he'd have been very unlucky not to get off. It really is upto the event promoters to ensure the safety of people there.

Good to see that a "fair" outcome was reached.

[gemibabe]

Originally Posted by kypez

I think he'd have been very unlucky not to get off. It really is upto the event promoters to ensure the safety of people there.

Good to see that a "fair" outcome was reached.

^^^ agree.

It was tragic, but he was invited not the organiser.

As the 60min segment showed footage of police allowing spectators down the track and the fire brigade didn't think anything of the position of the crowds either.

some families needed to vent their anger and he was the easy target.

So glad he is not going to jail.

[ILLaViTaR]

Originally Posted by blueoval

I think the nightmares of him killing those innocent people is a sentence in itself. He is lucky to get off as lightly as he did.

How about this:

You a professional drag racer decide to participate in a CHARITY event.
An accident happened which is a possibility in this field.

The stingy charity decided to not put up the appropriate safety.
The only piece of "evidence" I recall was he done a burnout for far longer than the general one, which last time I checked wasn't a law. The charity should be held responsible.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by ILLaViTaR

How about this:

You a professional drag racer decide to participate in a CHARITY event.
An accident happened which is a possibility in this field.

The stingy charity decided to not put up the appropriate safety.
The only piece of "evidence" I recall was he done a burnout for far longer than the general one, which last time I checked wasn't a law. The charity should be held responsible.

You are right in saying the charity should be held responsible, but in saying that, the drag racer who is a professional racer should have had at least alarm bells ringing in his ears at the inspection of the track and lack of barriers prior to getting in the car.

If that was me, regardless if it was an event for the queen, safety must come first.

But I'm not him so can't say on behalf of him what he was thinking. But yes, the charity involved must take a majority of the blame for negligence involved.

[gtxb67]

this is great news for troy - nothing will ever make the events of that day leave his mind

i remember when someone went to jail for causing the death of my friend in a so called street race (certainly high speed cruise). it personally didn't matter to me how long he got, or even if he went to jail and i almost felt sorry for him (considering others doing more got less time). he had to live with it for the rest of his life and no jail term would bring my friend back

[Addz08]

Great news, Glad to hear..

[Sprint347]

The sentance bargain allows for the 100mil+ worth of civil suits to proceed immediately, it's not over yet for My Critchely.

Goes to show that the relatives who were pushing for his persecution are more interested in the money, than 'justice'.

In a twist, it was the victims of the crash, who had criticised Critchley and the charity event's organisers in the days after the crash, that relented and called for the lenient plea deal.

District attorney general Michael Dunavant said lawyers representing the victims in the civil suits sent him a written request supporting "an offer to settle" the criminal charges.

The deal will fast-track the civil suits, which reportedly seek $US100 million ($A113 million) plus in damages from Critchley, his race team's owners, sponsors and officials of the city of Selmer.

"The proposed plea agreement would assist in the resolution of our clients' pending civil cases against these individuals and companies, and will help bring closure and healing to our clients, the most seriously injured and damaged victims of the event," the letter signed by the attorneys and victims states.

The plea deal sidesteps many of the obstacles facing the civil suits.

If Critchley was convicted of the original felony charges, he would face possible deportation to Australia, making it difficult to pursue the civil action.

The lesser misdemeanor charges will not place him in jeopardy of deportation.

The plea deal also allows the victims' lawyers expedited access to the case files compiled by Tennessee prosecutors, including witness statements, physical and photographic evidence and a report on the Corvette compiled by an automotive expert.

[GT-P 738]

Originally Posted by nitrane

The sentance bargain allows for the 100mil+ worth of civil suits to proceed immediately, it's not over yet for My Critchely.

Goes to show that the relatives who were pushing for his persecution are more interested in the money, than 'justice'.

Yep,but they were quite happy to sit there and recieve FREE entertainment.

It was a tragic accident and he is no more liable than the people /parties that organised the event.

MAtt

[GS608]

Originally Posted by nitrane

The sentance bargain allows for the 100mil+ worth of civil suits to proceed immediately, it's not over yet for My Critchely.

Goes to show that the relatives who were pushing for his persecution are more interested in the money, than 'justice'.

How the hell does money help their grieving process, i'll never understand Americans (and people in general) These days money seems to be the answer for everything.

So instead of just trying to forgive Troy and forget about the accident they want to ruin his life and send him bankrupt? gees they're worse than the saftey organisers (even though that wasn't on purpose!)

[vztrt]

Are they going to upgrade the safety at these events (charity/non charity) or they gonna let this happen again and ruin people's lives?

[Rodp]

Phew, looking at the thread heading, I thought one of our transvesties narrowly escaped being thrown in the pokey.

[bob 351]

Originally Posted by Rodp

Phew, looking at the thread heading, I thought one of our transvesties narrowly escaped being thrown in the pokey.

what one like this
http://www.rockyarchive.org/img/rhps...rankAisleL.jpg

[uranium_death]

Good...

Not his fault if the organisers didn't put barriers up.
Sometimes accidents happen, and it did...

THe organisers are mostly responsible as their lack of preparation and planning has resulted in my unnecessary deaths.

Only in America...

[[Tonko]]

It's great that he isnt going to jail, after all, i dont believe it was his fault.
That lawsuit business is just BS.

He needs Denny Crane

[ebxr8240]

Easy to say that after the event tho ??

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Easy to say that after the event tho ??

certainly. I guess in my background, I have a tendency to want to cover my own bum against litigation. I have seen too many times people throwing 'common sense' out the window and then blaming others for their behavior.

Perhaps I am being too harsh and Im in affect judging him on my own scale.

I'll step off now.

[gtxb67]

i am obviously the odd one out. while i am very happy he is not going to jail, the driver was responsible for the vehicle moving. the moving motion of the vehicle caused the accident and therefore deaths. it does not matter who should have done what before the event, because one person and one person alone drove the car

i still feel very sorry for him, because the pain he would feel each and every day (probably hour) would be the equal to the victims families' pain

now it is a civil case, everyone else will be considered for fault. the crowd, the organisers, the driver etc.

[OJ_Pursuit]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

i am obviously the odd one out. while i am very happy he is not going to jail, the driver was responsible for the vehicle moving. the moving motion of the vehicle caused the accident and therefore deaths. it does not matter who should have done what before the event, because one person and one person alone drove the car

i still feel very sorry for him, because the pain he would feel each and every day (probably hour) would be the equal to the victims families' pain

now it is a civil case, everyone else will be considered for fault. the crowd, the organisers, the driver etc.

You would be the odd one out, As from what I've seen of the footage it was purely a freak accident.
Yes they should have had better measures in place, barracades etc, but even then people would have been injured still.
They had ambulances and emergency staff on the scene as a precaution anyway, so maybe they should be to blame for not making sure that the people weren't in any danger??
We don't run burnout contests in australia without some form of barrier, or any other kind of motorsport event for that matter. Motor racing is dangerous...
I, for one, hope Troy pleads not guilty and fights it to the very end, I would even donate my own money to the cause, and I think the australian government ought to as well.

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by OJ_Pursuit

We don't run burnout contests in australia without some form of barrier, or any other kind of motorsport event for that matter. Motor racing is dangerous...

that is my point, over the last couple of years we have had situations in car events where a car has gone out of the alloted area and injured someone

i cannot agree entirely with freak accident, as it was an all out drag/race car. i do not watch much drag racing, but in what i have seen, time and time again a car while completing a scintilating pass will veer from one side of its lane to the other. it is a beast of a car, where not much needs to go wrong to make it deadly

i would think the risk was much too great to drive that car in that situation

i do hope he does not get anymore additional grief from it though - the amount he has already suffered has been monumental

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

i am obviously the odd one out. while i am very happy he is not going to jail, the driver was responsible for the vehicle moving. the moving motion of the vehicle caused the accident and therefore deaths. it does not matter who should have done what before the event, because one person and one person alone drove the car

i still feel very sorry for him, because the pain he would feel each and every day (probably hour) would be the equal to the victims families' pain

now it is a civil case, everyone else will be considered for fault. the crowd, the organisers, the driver etc.

I tend to agree with you. Tragic as it may be, surely the driver knew there was a risk involved with no apparent safety precautions made. I don't believe jail time would have been the answer as it was obviously an accident but one that absolutely should have been avoided.

[ILLaViTaR]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

i am obviously the odd one out. while i am very happy he is not going to jail, the driver was responsible for the vehicle moving. the moving motion of the vehicle caused the accident and therefore deaths. it does not matter who should have done what before the event, because one person and one person alone drove the car

i still feel very sorry for him, because the pain he would feel each and every day (probably hour) would be the equal to the victims families' pain

now it is a civil case, everyone else will be considered for fault. the crowd, the organisers, the driver etc.

It's a risky job, mistakes are known to happen in those industries which is why they have appropriate safety to make sure those mistakes are harmless.

Eg. Somebody accidentally starts a chemical fire, there's no chemical extinguisher and the place burns down killing 4 workers. Do they fine him or the company? He was responsible for starting the fire.

If you think about it, it really is the same thing.

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by ILLaViTaR

It's a risky job, mistakes are known to happen in those industries which is why they have appropriate safety to make sure those mistakes are harmless.

Eg. Somebody accidentally starts a chemical fire, there's no chemical extinguisher and the place burns down killing 4 workers. Do they fine him or the company? He was responsible for starting the fire.

If you think about it, it really is the same thing.

you are quite correct
if that worker had been given a proper induction and had the appropriate training, knew there was no extinguishers and used an open flame within an unsafe distance from the chemicals - then that is the same thing

just out of curiosity - if it was a young bogan, baseball cap on backwards, in a commode dore with shiny wheels on front, black stockies on the rear doing a burnout for a group of local kids and the driver lost control and killed some, what would your thoughts be

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

just out of curiosity - if it was a young bogan, baseball cap on backwards, in a commode dore with shiny wheels on front, black stockies on the rear doing a burnout for a group of local kids and the driver lost control and killed some, what would your thoughts be

...well that's the thing...

You'd think the professional drag racer would appreciate the risks involved and know what would be considered a safe environment to do a burnout over some bogan in a back street. You can't condemn one and feel relief for the other.

[TUF_302]

Im glad he didnt go to prison, not his fault that there was no saftey barriers, and people could stand bloody close to the action, was the orgainsers fault more than anything i say, i hope he wins the court case to, he dont owe any of them anything, he will be paying for it the rest of his life the poor bloke!

[gozza]

I wonder if he knew the extent/lack of barriers there was .