What Happened in Vegas Didn't Stay in Vegas...

Back on September 14, FireGeezer ran a post about a traffic crash in Vegas that killed 4 and injured 8. The driver of the car was identified as 23-year-old Gary Lee Hosey, who apparently has a long history with Clark County law enforcement agencies. He also apparently has no drivers license.

Reports indicate Hosey was travelling about 100 miles per hour (as estimated by a cop gassing up his cruiser moments before the accident occured). The car hit a pole and went airborne before crashing into a bus stop shelter, where the four vitims were waiting for their bus. Three pedestrians were also critically injured, as were the five occupants in Hosey's vehicle (well, his girlfriend's vehicle, to be precise).

Blood and breath tests indicated Hosey had been drinking (his BAC was well above the 0.08 limit) and also showed marijuana in his system. Unlike every other drunk driver with JACOB Syndrome (Just A Couple Of Beers), Hosey claimed to have only had one.

In just the last two years, Hosey had racked up charges of marijuana possession, obstructing a public officer, lewd conduct, and larceny. Now he can add four counts of felony DUI causing death.

Now, what makes this sorry case blogworthy, other than the death of four innocents?

It seems to me that the system in Clark County failed. It failed the dead, it failed the injured, it even fail Hosey.

I suspect we'll find that Hosey came from a broken home, might very well have been abused as a child, and just generally had a crappy life. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't excuse what Hosey did, and it certainly doesn't justify it, but -- assuming that's the case -- the poor kid didn't have a chance in life. But, that said, once it became obvious that Hosey was a lost cause, somebody should have locked him up. Even a few months might have been able to get him help. If nothing else, if his little butt had been in the slammer in mid-September, four folks would still be alive, eight others wouldn't be injured.

And there wouldn't be two little girls asking, "when's Gramma coming back home?"

It was his choice to smoke a blunt, pop "a" Bud (yeah, one, sure...) and get behind the wheel, especially without a license.

On the other hand, now maybe we can lock his ass up.