manslaughter charge for nsx modifications

[riffraff]

I just saw this in the san francisco chonicle. If the facts are true on why he was charged with manslaugher... this is scary.



The Redwood City Office of the California Highway Patrol arrested Robert Rienecker, of Pompano Beach, Fla., for felony vehicular manslaughter Monday.
According to the CHP, Rienecker was arrested because of the incident that occurred April 12, at 2:35 p.m., on state Highway 84, just east of La Honda, when his black Acura NSX, crossed over the highway and collided head-on with an older model Volkswagen driven by 55-year-old La Honda resident Charles Cutten. The force of the collision caused the VW to be pushed back more than 10 feet from the point of impact, the CHP reports.

Both men were transported to the Stanford University Medical Center, the CHP reports, where Rienecker was admitted with major injuries and Cutten was pronounced dead.

After investigating, CHP officers determined that Rienecker had allegedly made extensive modifications to his vehicle, with items usually found on racing cars, and had made statements to a stranger regarding his driving ability and speed of his car.

Upon his release from the hospital, Rienecker was booked into San Mateo County Jail, the CHP reports.

 

[Yellow Rose]

Only In California.....

.....gotta love the left-wing liberals.

What if the offending vehicle was a stock NSX or a stock Camaro or a stock Volkswagen?

 

[Spinner]

Is it someone on this board?

 

[RSO 34]

He was at NSXPO 2003 and "won" the Concours award for Best '96 coupe.

 

[SagaSupra]

whoa, that sucks and kinda unbelievable....what modifications done to his car can cause the vehicle to lose control. It may possibly be a malfunction in any part of the car, stock or modified. Even research has proven that many accidents are not related to the driver but to random automotive parts that made it passed inspection and into consumers hands.

 

[Tom239]

Nowhere in the article does it say that the modifications caused the accident, or entered into to the decision to file a manslaughter charge.

There may have been more information in the police report, and the newspaper chose to mention the points it thought were the most attention-getting.

 

[mikec]

Holy cow! I can't believe people feel sorry for the 'poor nsx driver'. Because of his driving decisions/abilities, or whatever, he lost control of his car and caused the death of another person. That is a burden that I don't know if I could live with, and I hope to God I never find out.

 

[nkb]

Holy cow! I can't believe people feel sorry for the 'poor nsx driver'. Because of his driving decisions/abilities, or whatever, he lost control of his car and caused the death of another person. That is a burden that I don't know if I could live with, and I hope to God I never find out.

Mike,
I don't think anyone said they felt sorry for him, you are reading into people's comments. However, not knowing the details about the accident, I think it is premature to automatically condemn the NSX guy.

I agree with you though, whether through negligence or just plain bad luck, living with the knowledge that you caused a death is something I hope I never have to experience.

 

[Ponyboy]

Because of his driving decisions/abilities, or whatever, he lost control of his car and caused the death of another person. That is a burden that I don't know if I could live with, and I hope to God I never find out.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[Brian2by2]

Ummm......is anyone here at all suprised that he hit the car head on and hit it hard enough to send it back 10 feet and killed the VW driver, yet, the NSX driver walked away with "minor injuries"???? I always used the quote someone made on here "I figure in my NSX, I'm only slightly safer than I am on a motorcycle." I'm impressed at the fact that he made it out alive! I feel sorry for the VW drivers family and the NSX driver who has to live with that forever...whether it was his fault or not.

And to charge a guy with Vehicular manslaughter and base it on the fact that his car was "modified" is bull$#!t. There's more to it if they are charging him with that. In that case, you could goto jail for switching tire brands from the recommended stock set, eh?

Holy cow! I can't believe people feel sorry for the 'poor nsx driver'. Because of his driving decisions/abilities, or whatever, he lost control of his car and caused the death of another person. That is a burden that I don't know if I could live with, and I hope to God I never find out.

 

[mikec]

Yes.. I believe there is probably more to it than just that.

 

[Andrie Hartanto]

After investigating, CHP officers determined that Rienecker had allegedly made extensive modifications to his vehicle, with items usually found on racing cars, and had made statements to a stranger regarding his driving ability and speed of his car.

How did they know about his statements? Has the police been watching him for a while? Don't let that sentiment get lost in my post here, but vehicular manslaughter because of performance modification....

 

[MJK]

What irritates me in the article above is that it is written is such a way that it makes you think that it is another 'Gumball' type event, or that some rich person with no respect for the rest of society went out and decided to drive 150MPH through a school zone. There are NO facts that one can draw a relevant conclusion about what happened.

Why did the car jump lanes? Was it raining? Did he swerve to avoid something on the road? What else was involved here? At 2:35pm I doubt most California roads are deserted save for an NSX and a VW.

How did he hit a VW with an NSX to knock it 'back' 10' and kill the driver? How fast was the volkwagon moving? What type of volkwagon? How fast was the NSX going? Was the driver of the VW wearing his seat belt? Is this 'old car' roadworthy? my mother got in a minor accident years ago in a VW bug, and they are not exactly safe or heavy. I don't know how fast an NSX has to be going to move a VW 10', do you?

What are these 'racing car' modifications? Better brakes? A fire extinguisher? A roll cage? Maybe they saved the NSX driver's life, they very likely did not cost the VW driver his.

His driving should be the source of any criminal charges, if it was obviously stupid or intentional. WE DON'T KNOW THAT. If the car is street legal, the modifications are irrelevant. If the accident was not clearly his fault based on the above, the type of car he was driving is equally irrelevant.

Sorry for the rant, maybe I have been pulled over by a redneck cop one too many times solely because I was young and driving a nice (unmodified) car.

My condolences certainly go out to all involved for the loss and heartache associated with this tragic event.

 

[ChrisK]

I don't want to speculate why the NSX driver was arrested but I'm willing to bet he probably would have been arrested even if his NSX was stock or even if it was another type of car. The speed he was travelling at (Although I don't know what it was) probably was one factor.

As to arresting someone with modifications on their car it really can depend on the states laws. For example, here in Hawaii it is illegal to do almost any sort of modification to your car even if it is 50 state carb legal without a proper reconstruction permit. We here call it RECON. A few things that require RECON would be lowering of the vehicle, rims 1.5" larger than stock (What is on the door jam), after market exhaust, and engine modificatins or any other suspension modifications and brke modification (Not brake pads). Without this RECON the car is technically illegal for street use and technically if you get involved in a fatal accident without RECON you could be charge and looked at more harshley since you are driving a NON street legal car.I know Most other states don't have this type of modification laws though. Within the last few years we have at many high profile fatal steet racing and high speed accidents that involed cars with these so called illegal (For off road use) modifications and correctly or not if the drivers survived (many did not) they were charged with manslaughter. In the local poilce's defence all those drivers were racing other cars or travelling at speeds around 100+ MPH so manslaughter really was the correct charge I think.

 

[nsxbuilder]

Andy,

You're a mechanical engineer, or you play one on tv, so if my remedial college physics doesn't fail me wouldn't two bodies traveling about the same mass and velocity in opposite directions pretty much stop if they collided? That said, how much more weight or speed would allow a 10' reverse in direction for one of the bodies? 10' ain't very much. As the rest of the overblown facts of the article are represented, I think that's a pretty small point, if not meaningless.

Not knowing the details, does anyone know CA Hwy 84 just east of La Honda (somewhat fitting) where this occurred? How easy is it to cross into oncoming lanes?

We all drive around in these land-based rockets and through no fault of our own we don't kill ourselves and nobody kills us - most of the time.

Check this:
Highway crashes claimed a total of 42,815 lives in 2002, up from 42,196 in 2001. (US Gov #s)

Sometimes we screw up, drink, avert our eyes, get caught off guard by weather, etc. and suddenly it gets ugly. I've had 3 close friends die in car wrecks, and its a terrible thing, but there's no getting away from those laws of physics when things go really bad. We can just try to do our best and avoid screwing up.

Oh, and I agree that some commie lib cry baby wrote that report.

-Ed
www.nsxbuilder.com

 

[mc-ca]

FYI - Hwy 84 near La Honda is a 2 lane road at the crest of the Santa Cruz mountains (between San Jose and Santa Cruz). It's frequently used by motocycles to race at much >100mph, lots of curves and lots of very fast cars. Cops around there are usually sick of these type of accidents.

 

[Soichiro]

WAKE UP CALL

Helloooooooooooo - anyone actually bother to read the report posted? Nowhere in the report does it say the guy was charged with manslaughter because of his vehicles mods. Sheesh.

Let's look at another (fictional) report: "XXX crashed his red NSX on road YYY, killing two people in an oncoming car. He has been charged with reckless driving."

I guess people on this board would conclude the he was charged with reckless driving because he drove a red car. WAKE UP PEOPLE.

 

[Soichiro]

>>NSX driver walked away with "minor injuries"?
You may wish to read the report. It says major injuries.

>>research has proven that many accidents are <caused by> random automotive parts that made it passed inspection and into consumers hands.

Please post this research. I have research that says most accidents are caused by driver error.

 

[MJK]

You're a mechanical engineer, or you play one on tv, so if my remedial college physics doesn't fail me wouldn't two bodies traveling about the same mass and velocity in opposite directions pretty much stop if they collided? That said, how much more weight or speed would allow a 10' reverse in direction for one of the bodies? 10' ain't very much. As the rest of the overblown facts of the article are represented, I think that's a pretty small point, if not meaningless.

I am too, and just to illustrate the concept further lets assume the 'old volkswagon' was a beetle. They weigh 1633 lbs (in '57 anyways), while a 94 NSX (coupe) weighs 3020 lbs . Momentum is mass * velocity. So, in order to bring an equal amount of energy to the party the NSX must be traveling at 54% of the speed of the beetle. At the same speed as the beetle, the NSX brings 85% more momentum.

Yes, momentum transfer is not superelastic as with the steel ball desktop thingamajiggy. In fact newer cars are designed with crumple zones specificaly to absorb the energy in a collision. Older cars are worse at this.

If I sound like I am defending the NSXer here, I am not. It COULD be anything. What pisses me off is the fact that the media automatically condems him, and if an 85 year old grandma did the same thing in a Ford Explorer it wouldn't get any play at all even though more mass = more damage to the other guy.

 

[NSX-Racer]

It really seems to be a Beetle according to this article.

 

[Tom239]

I am too, and just to illustrate the concept further lets assume the 'old volkswagon' was a beetle. They weigh 1633 lbs (in '57 anyways), while a 94 NSX (coupe) weighs 3020 lbs . Momentum is mass * velocity. So, in order to bring an equal amount of energy to the party the NSX must be traveling at 54% of the speed of the beetle. At the same speed as the beetle, the NSX brings 85% more momentum.

Be careful with the word "energy". Energy is not momentum.

Kinetic energy is one half * mass * velocity squared. To have the same momentum as the Beetle, the NSX needs to be traveling at 54% of the Beetle's speed. To have the same kinetic energy, it needs to be going at 74% of the Beetle's speed.

 

[Jim]

Ummm......is anyone here at all suprised that he hit the car head on and hit it hard enough to send it back 10 feet and killed the VW driver, yet, the NSX driver walked away with "minor injuries"???? I always used the quote someone made on here "I figure in my NSX, I'm only slightly safer than I am on a motorcycle." I'm impressed at the fact that he made it out alive! I feel sorry for the VW drivers family and the NSX driver who has to live with that forever...whether it was his fault or not.

And to charge a guy with Vehicular manslaughter and base it on the fact that his car was "modified" is bull$#!t. There's more to it if they are charging him with that. In that case, you could goto jail for switching tire brands from the recommended stock set, eh?

The above article said the NSX driver had major injuries, not minor.

 

[xsn]

From the Alamanac News link above --

Publication Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Driver charged in fatal Highway 84 accident

One man is dead and another faces charges of vehicular manslaughter in connection with an accident that occurred April 12 on Highway 84 just east of La Honda.

Robert Rienecker, of Pompano Beach, Florida, was arrested on April 19 and booked into San Mateo County Jail after being released from Stanford Medical Center, where he was treated for injuries suffered when the Acura he was driving crossed into the eastbound lane of 84 and collided with a Volkswagen Beetle driven by Charles Cutton, 55, of La Honda, according to Sgt. Paul McCarthy of the California Highway Patrol.

Mr. Cutton was pronounced dead at Stanford Medical Center.

The CHP is asking anyone with information to call Sgt. McCarthy at 369-6261.

LA HONDA

Coroner identifies man in fatal crash

The San Mateo County coroner's office identified a man who died in a La Honda crash Monday as Charles Cutten, 55.

Cutten, a La Honda resident, was driving on Highway 84 near Entrada Way when his Volkswagen collided head-on with an Acura.

Cutten later died at Stanford University Medical Center. The driver of the Acura suffered major injuries.

-- Mercury News

6:00 am PT, Tuesday, Apr 13, 2004
Update: Victim Of Fatal Hwy 84 Accident Identified E-Mail a Friend
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By Bay City News Service


LA HONDA, CA - The victim of a fatal head-on collision on state Highway 84 Monday afternoon has been identified as 55-year-old La Honda resident Charles Cutten, according to the San Mateo County Coroner's Office.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the incident occurred at 2:35 p.m., near Entrada Way, when a black Acura NSX driven by Robert Rienecker, of Pompano Beach, Fl., crossed over the highway and collided with an older model Volkswagen driven by Cutten. The cause of the accident is unknown, according to the CHP.

Both men were transported to the Stanford University Medical Center, the CHP reports, where Rienecker was admitted with major injuries and Cutten was pronounced dead.

Copyright © 2004 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

It also looks like the late Mr. Cutten's mother passed away last year -- http://www.clcid.org/betty-cutten.html -- isn't google amazing?

Mr. Rob Rienecker looks to be a 767 captain with American out of Miami -- http://www.apapdp.org/supporters.php

 

[Brian2by2]

I don't think it says the beetle or VW was moving either. That is a whole different formula and completely changes things. He could have been stopped at a light or stop sign or traveling dirt ass slow.

Soichiro: It never says he was arrested for that but it doesn't say that he was arrested for anything else either. The statement before leads you to believe he was arrested based on previous accusations and statements he made as well as the modifications to his car, which leads officials to conclude he was racing. Its irrelevant either way...no one knows why he swerved or jumped lanes. Maybe one of the firestones blew out and caused him to jump lanes!

And, once again, no one is suprised this guy walked away with minor injuries???

 

[Ponyboy]

And, once again, no one is suprised this guy walked away with minor injuries???

Prolly b/c it says he was taken away with major injuries.