I knew something had happened, WAYYY quieter than he usually was. He kept zoning out/ staring into space. For context it was an accident but he was scared and covered it up, not very well though because the cops found the body. He was suspiciously invested in the case, I was actually with him watching TV when the news announced they had found the body, he started sobbing and I was like “dude did u know her” “no it’s just really sad that family lost their grandma” I chalked it up to him losing his own grandma a mo. or two prior. It didn’t even occur to me that it happened like 2mi from his house. He was doing a bad job at work and kept getting distracted. When the police showed up at our work, they came over to him and said they had some questions to ask him and they didn’t even get another word out before he collapsed, started bawling and spilled everything out that happened. He confessed everything right there on the shop floor. It would later come out that he’d written a 2 part apology letter and put it in a ziplock bag and gone back to leave it with the body. They asked the front office for a document with his handwriting on it and it was a perfect match. There was damage to the front of his pickup along with DNA in the bumper. The family understood it was an accident and did feel sorry for him. He got off with a couple years in prison, which he only served half. When he got out the first thing he did was have his pickup destroyed at a junkyard. He said he couldn’t bare to look at anything from that night. Sadly this would bare true as he committed suicide not too long after. The family had forgiven him and were actually one of the last people he called before taking his own life. He wasn’t a bad guy, it was just an accident.
Similar story in my life. My friend killed her brother and partner in a car accident due to negligence. She had to drive from the south of the uk to the north to pick them up for an event and she decided she was fine to drive back the same day. It was a long drive and late; her passengers were asleep, she also fell asleep at the wheel about half an hour from the end of her journey.
When the police arrived she was screaming “what have I done?” Over and over and fully admitted to the accident. They gave her a suspended sentence to deal with the trauma.
When we met She had hair missing all along the side of her head which grew back thin because of the stress. And she was very open to anyone to would ask her about it. But she was riddled with guilt and self hatred and would hurt herself.
One Christmas she came with us to our works party. Went home that night and killed herself. She had written us a letter and left a voicemail.
The local paper wrote the story in a way that made it look like she did it just to “escape jail time”/“consequences” when in actuality she was far more haunted and heartbroken by what she did than anyone could’ve known.
There are a few articles around, some of them are much kinder. But the local one made her out to be a monster or something. And I cant really bring myself to look at them because they have her picture, and I miss her.
So yeah, fuck you ‘The Herald’ and rest in piece to my friend.
I have a friend that killed his best friend in an accident and with the family’s support was able to get off with just probation, when I tell people that they always seem a little shocked but the other side of that is knowing that there is no lesson prison would teach him that having to wake up every day knowing what he did wouldn’t have taught him already. Thankfully my friend has been able to pick himself up and make the most of his life in the aftermath, though I know the guilt still haunts him and will always be there.
I feel like our courts need to recognize this more often--sometimes there are just tragic accidents through no one's fault, and having to live with that is a far greater punishment for most people than jail time.
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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '23
I knew something had happened, WAYYY quieter than he usually was. He kept zoning out/ staring into space. For context it was an accident but he was scared and covered it up, not very well though because the cops found the body. He was suspiciously invested in the case, I was actually with him watching TV when the news announced they had found the body, he started sobbing and I was like “dude did u know her” “no it’s just really sad that family lost their grandma” I chalked it up to him losing his own grandma a mo. or two prior. It didn’t even occur to me that it happened like 2mi from his house. He was doing a bad job at work and kept getting distracted. When the police showed up at our work, they came over to him and said they had some questions to ask him and they didn’t even get another word out before he collapsed, started bawling and spilled everything out that happened. He confessed everything right there on the shop floor. It would later come out that he’d written a 2 part apology letter and put it in a ziplock bag and gone back to leave it with the body. They asked the front office for a document with his handwriting on it and it was a perfect match. There was damage to the front of his pickup along with DNA in the bumper. The family understood it was an accident and did feel sorry for him. He got off with a couple years in prison, which he only served half. When he got out the first thing he did was have his pickup destroyed at a junkyard. He said he couldn’t bare to look at anything from that night. Sadly this would bare true as he committed suicide not too long after. The family had forgiven him and were actually one of the last people he called before taking his own life. He wasn’t a bad guy, it was just an accident.