I don't think anyone can predict how they would react to seeing two of their children killed in front of them, and having the responsible drunk in front of you, and you have a gun. Not the best set of circumstances for the drunk. I don't think it'll take much of a lawyer to get this father off. If there was ever a crime of passion defense, this is it.

I carry about a dozen flares, which is enough for me to get the vehicle to safety. I've used flares each time I was on the side of the road for more than 2 mins. I even stop, and set flares for other stranded motorists. I am very well aware of the danger of being hit by another car.

The father was really stupid. Having said that, I would probably have a hard time not killing the drunk driver, had I used every precaution first.

Bottom line is some people very safety-conscience and some are not.

This father was not.

It takes a higher level of common sense for this.

Not everyone uses common sense.

Safety is priority one on the highway.

Keeping your kids safe is priority one for a parent.

To most people, common sense is change from a dollar.

I hate to say it, but maybe the father metted out justice as it should have been. This would have been another example of a drunk killing multiple people and receiving a sentence amounting to a slap on the wrist while the family of the kids he killed would be affected for life.

Sadly you are correct, sir.

I'm am ANAL about safety precautions - to the point of being ridiculous!

Got that from my Dad. ;)

Probably so, Marv.

Hey while I have your attention..................

How would you have handled this emergency, were it you and your family?

That's not a residential street, it is a county road, average speed probably 50+, narrow, no shoulder, no lights. No way would I push a truck on that road at night, or in the day. Get truck off the road. Set flashers. Walk family home. Call AAA or a buddy w/ a truck.

Okay, you were stupid and your sons are dead. Now what? Coin flip. The guy is probably not doing jail time for it, so if he is okay with his actions, then there's probably not a huge consequence.

If they were 50 yards from home, I would have gotten them out & away from the truck, lit a flare & put it behind the truck, walked them home & returned to deal with the truck. There have been studies though indicating people are safer staying in the vehicle until help arrives. The last time I had a car stall (on an off ramp from a freeway), I pulled off as far as I could, told everybody to wait in the car while I called AAA. This was before cell phones were common. There were four others in the car & they wll wanted to walk along the side of the road to the end of the onramp, and I nixed that.

It's too easy for someone to sit here and say such things when he's not in the situation. I am not saying that he did the right thing, but I guess you never get mad, never feel frustrated then.

Not just yeah but he11 yeah,

I would have walked back to the house with the whole family and left the truck there with the flashers on...

I really think this is the wrong thing to do. Think about sitting in your vehicle, and taking the impact of another vehicle. I think you are far safer, away from the car, and upstream from where it sits, well off the shoulder, facing oncoming traffic. A coworker just had this scenario happen on a freeway. As he approached a recent solo crash, he slowed to a stop in the fast lane, set his flashers and got out to check the driver of the crashed car. She was still belted in, and dazed. He said he was going to call 911, and he ran back to his car to get his phone. As he dialed, he stepped back against the guardrail, just as another vehicle swerved, just missing him, and his car, only to plow directly into the original car. The girl who was belted in was thrown across the lanes, and cut in half by a semi that came along next. All while he watched from the shoulder. I'll never sit in a disabled vehicle again.

I would have sent the entire family home (50 yds away), thrown some road flares out and called a towtruck, or roadside assistance, or in my case, gone home to get it and dragged the truck home with a tractor. This is still not safe, but removes the hazard from the roadway.

^ I agree with this. I view it as 50/50 that another vehicle will hit yours as you sit belted in. Get the hell out of the car, behind the guardrail, and put some distance between yourself and the roadway. Flares are so that other motorists don't get hurt. You take care of yourself after that.

I'm not saying the study about staying in the car is the conrete right thing to do. I'm just saying I read one of those safety studies & that's what it said. In the case I described where the car I was driving stalled, I managed to get a decent distance away from traffic. Basically it just comes down to using good judgement relative to the situation.

Absolutely agree. Just providing another perspective, no criticism intended.

Fifty yards? My family would have been in the house.

And if a drunk driver had just killed my kids, I'd probably have shot him in the head too.

Just being honest.

Get passengers OUT of a disabled vehicle, and have them move further off the roadway.

^^^^This.

But if the vehicle isn't running, that may not be an option. In that case, get out the right side and walk to the off ramp or whatever and get away from danger.

Question; if the vehicle is a manual, is it still possible to put it in gear and do the old "limp home on the starter" thing? I don't know if that works with today's vehicles with their multi-level bozo safeguards.

Aside from the fact that pushing the truck off the road with the boys on a dark road was not a wise choice, in fact dumb. I don't know that any of the arm chair quarter back answers are right or wrong. There are what iff's in each of the answers that could create a positive out come or negative.

My initial reaction was the house is 50 yards away? F*** the truck flashers on were walking home. What "IF" thr car swerves and to mis the truck and comes down the shoulder now the whole family is there.

Stay in the truck call for help? On a highway where I can get well off the road this is what I would normally do. Better in the vehicle with some substance around you than out on the should in just my jeans and shirt. However, in this case from what I read the vehicle was in the road on a dark strech. How long do I sit there and wait for help? Do I have a phone? Now this guy comes along and hits my vehicle from the rear? Do people die? I don't know. Is everyone hurt? I don't know. What "IF" the vehicle is a fully loaded semi that hits us at 70MPH?

I'm not so sure I would have just sat there in the road waiting to see if a vehicle came along. I would assume he tried to restart it and get it off the road but it wouldnt run. Maybe he thought I'll get the truck off the road so no one hits it and gets hurt then walk everyone home. I think that thought would go through any caring reasonable persons mind. I can even see where he thought to use the boys. This will only take a second we only need to move the vehicle 15 feet to get it out of the lane. It's not what II would do but I again can not fault him for that.

I don't see a right or wrong answer. In some circumsatnce it will work out fine. In others it won't. The problem was a drunk driver. But, could it have happened if the driver wasn't drunk? The answer is yes. It's been proven the risk is less but it could still happen.

Had he broken down 1 minute sooner or later we might not be having this discussion. Or had he decided to take evryone out of the vehicle and walk home. The article might read father, mother, two sons and daughter killed 50 yards from their home after vehicle swerves to avoid disabled family truck in the road.

Who knows. Try and use commons scense, a reasonable amount of safety and make a decision based on the situation.

^^^
This Plain and simple

Maybe he or his family was illegal. He sees the truck as a cop magnet and wants it off the road so he does not get deported. Rural area, he may work for a rancher and live on property, would not be uncommon. Not everyone has AAA, and in an area like this there are not motorist assistance trucks driving around looking for tires to change.

Tough to say a sad story for all involved.

this

The father would be the lookout - if he hears/sees a vehicle approaching he alerts his family members to (temporarily) get WAY AWAY AND OFF the roadside - where a vehicle cannot possible get to them.

Easy peasey - but only if the father places safety of his family as a priority over all else and has enough common sense to realize what has to be done.

My observations while spending a LOT of my life the highway is safety measures and common sense take a backseat to many other 'distractions'.

In a perfect world a PSA would be a by-product of every traffic fatality until highways accidents are reduced. But then that would require common sense. Back to square one...

But we aren't in this situation so we are all making assumptions on how we'd react without ever knowing how we'd really act. I would be mad and frustrated but losing ones cool with no thought of consequences for oneself and remaining family is a lose lose.

It seems society(USA) has decided that DWI is not that big of a deal. We are willing to allow a certain number of deaths from DWIs and I see no solution until someone like Obama's kids are killed by a repeat offender.

If this father were to be let off the hook due to public pressure then others would feel they could also take such matters into their own hands. Dangerous ground IMO.

Oh you could be gaurenteed if Obama's kids were the ones killed by a repeat offender, sweeping changes and new laws would be passed to make alcohol illegal, rather than addressing the court/punishment system for deadbeat drunk repeat DWI offenders.

I'm not going to read every comment in this 4 pages, but my impression is that the entire blood bath is on the father. Of course he did not mean to get his kids killed, but he put them in grave danger and the predictable happened. I'm not saying that it was absolutely predictable that they would be killed that night but rather that his utter lack of common sense and good judgement meant that people around him would always be in danger.

I've met people like this in my life. They are usually missing limbs or other vital body parts and have lots of tragedy in their life involving family members killed in bizarre accidents. Being stupid is hella dangerous, particularly when it comes to broken down cars on highways and freeways. BTW, does anyone know why his vehicle stopped making forward progress? Couldn't have been out of gas, now could it? Nah...he wouldn't put his ever-growing brood in danger by driving them around in a 6000 lb. vehicle with no precious liquid in the tank. That would expose them to being stationary on a road or highway with no way to protect his family from oncoming traffic.

A sober person could have hit them. It happens everyday. I live in Koreatown in L.A., there are constant collisions where you would swear that one or both parties had to be schit house drunk but then they get out and exchange info just as sober as a nun. People run into stopped vehicles where they are not supposed to be. This is 100% on the father, drunk drivers will always exist and your job is to not put your kids out in the street in the dark. HTF could a couple of 10 year olds push a PU truck anyways?? They probably would have been in danger for hours. :rolleyes:

Some people were just born w/o good judgement. It does not mean that they deserve tragedy, but they usually get it. He continued to exhibit his flawless judgement when he went to his house to get the gun that he kept around just for times like this and murdered the other driver. A guy who might or might not have been judged guilty of a driving offense if he was not (slightly) drunk. It may have been considered a tragic accident with no malice. Bad visibilty, a hazard in the road that he did not see until too late, tired at the wheel after a long day of work, etc... Now a 20 year old is also dead that might have been a much better person than this genius father of 4 who is now going to Texas state prison for 20 years and then most likely back to Mexico on the donkey express. Good job, dude!! Way to provide!

Some people just should not reproduce. A hell of a lot of people, actually. I fell very bad for his kids. :(

That's a well thought-out statement there, Ohio. :rolleyes:

Reports mentioned that it was a Ford P/U. Seems like a reasonable explanation to me.

Tragic loss of four lives.