No charges against Bill Gates' dad in hit-and-run

[Liberal_in_LA]

favorite comment following the article: "it's good to be rich"

No charges against Bill Gates' dad in hit-and-run

Associated Press November 8, 2010

The Seattle City Attorney's Office has decided not to press charges against Bill Gates' father after the community leader apologized for a hit-and-run collision and paid for damages.

According to documents obtained by KIRO-TV, the incident happened in August.

Investigators say they found Bill Gates Sr.'s Mercedes near Seattle Center, wedged against another car, with the engine running and the keys in the ignition.

The police report says the owner of the other car called 911 and Gates' vehicle was towed. When he and a friend returned, the 84-year-old Gates was given a citation for a hit-and-run incident. No one was injured in the incident.

Gates' friend said at the time that Gates may have had a "senior moment" and didn't know he was so close to the other vehicle.

A Gates family spokesman told KIRO-TV this week that Bill Gates Sr. was unaware of the incident until he returned to his car.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/11/08/financial/f172552S48.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz14kUzBlrC

[Dappleganger]

1. That's actually happened to me--hit by a senior

who seriously misjudged distances. He didn't run but pulled over and I honestly felt quite sorry for him. He was afraid of getting into trouble with his wife over it. Turns out we had the same insurance agent so no problems getting the minivan fixed (and thankfully nobody was hurt). The cop also let him off with a warning. I can easily see a senior having a "moment" and panicking, which is yet another reason why many of them at that age shouldn't be driving on the road.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

7. Which leads us to

another reason to have some sort of mass transit system. Many seniors don't want to give up their cars because if the loss if independence. If our culture was such that giving up your car wasn't that big a deal, old timers would have stopped driving years ago.....

[Dappleganger]

14. My thoughts exactly.

Our specific area doesn't even have buses to take them to the grocery store.

[Freetradesucks]

2. A 90 year old man plowed into a pedestran

in a parking lot here in my town. Nearly killed him. The old man couldn't understand what the big deal was because, "it's not like I've ever done this before".

In my state if you don't pass the eye exam, you can get a doctors note and retain your license.....:crazy:

[Angry Dragon]

3. Time to take his license away if he has "senior moments"

He "maybe" had a senior moment.
The guy in Colorado "maybe" had sleep apnea

It must be nice to "maybe" have something happening
only if you have enough money for people to notice

[NC_Nurse]

4. Time to hire Dad a driver.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. can they afford it?

[unkachuck]

6. why are all these rich fucks....

....getting off the 'hit and run' hook?....I bet if I 'hit and run' some slob, I'd end up in prison....

....I'd like to see old-man gates behind bars where he belongs....

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Because nobody was hurt

usually hit and runs go to the judge when people are hurt or killed.

[Ilsa]

9. I wonder if unkachuck is also referring to the Colorado case

where a bond trader got off after putting a thoracic surgeon permanently in a wheel after a hit and run. The DA decided not to throw him in the slammer because he would lose his high-paying job.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. We had a "local" (In LA) case where people were killed

and the DA did not file since the person responsible (88) could not stand trial. It is not just about money. This older man lived on SS and drove a VERY OLD car, and yes, he was deemed incapable of standing trial and he did die within six months iirc.

But from the facts presented from Colorado, I'd say that Colorado DA didn't do his job.

And yes, access to Justice in the US has declined to ... third world levels.

[tsparker78]

10. If your rich enough...

you can get away with anything.

[MichiganVote]

11. I'm sorry but 84 is too old to drive in todays world of crazy auto wreckage

[Man_with_a_plan]

13. If you have to ask...

You can't afford it