NSX owners gets 20 month jail time

[POWERED by HONDA]

From:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/08/10/1295746/driver-gets-20-months-in-prison.html

[SIZE=+2]Driver gets 20 months in prison for crash that killed co-worker[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]STACIA GLENN; Staff writer[/SIZE]
A man whose reckless driving killed a co-worker last year was sentenced Monday to 20 months in prison. After listening to the victim’s stepfather describe the family’s loss, a Pierce County Superior Court judge gave Johnny Lee Hadley, 47, the maximum sentence for vehicular homicide.
Prosecutors contended Hadley was speeding and showing off his newly purchased Acura NSX on June 10, 2009. He tried to pass a pickup truck on Highway 167 and lost control near Highway 512, spinning off the road, through a field and into a tree.
Passenger Michael McGowan, a 26-year-old Sumner man who worked with Hadley at Sunset Chevrolet, died in the crash.
“I think the fact that there were no drugs or alcohol involved in (Hadley’s) decision is worse than if something had impaired his judgment,” Sandy Haubrich, McGowan’s aunt, wrote in a victim impact statement. “He made a horribly fatal mistake and was in total control of knowing what he was doing.”
Hadley was not seriously injured in the collision. Investigators said he was driving between 79 and 88 miles per hour when his car left the highway.
Eight of McGowan’s family members appealed to the court to give Hadley the maximum penalty, citing his irresponsible behavior and the tragic loss of the blue-eyed McGowan whose laugh still rings in the ears of those who loved him.
After McGowan’s death, his mother received letters from people she didn’t know who wanted to share their memories of her son. One that came from a girl who worked at the espresso stand McGowan visited described him as always being a gentleman.
“My heart breaks when I think of never seeing him again, never getting to have a grandchild from him or seeing him enjoy life as he grows old like everyone else,” wrote his mother, Colleen Scott.
Stacia Glenn: 253-597-8653
[email protected]

--Conrad

 

[SaleenS7Rs]

Only 20 months? I thought you got more time for this.

 

[shawn110975]

Sad story.

so what have we learned from this?

take the passenger seat out and always drive alone!

 

[4AU4LIFE]

I would figure someone of that age would be wise enough not to do something like that.

 

[CL65 Captain]

Turbo or SC your NSX so that you can pass the pickup truck BEFORE you get to Highway 512.

 

[Dtrigg]

Should be required reading...unfortunately.

 

[N Spec]

I like how they tried to say if drugs or substances were involved, this would have been ok? Lol, so if I ever get into an accident and kill someone, I will just say I was on drugs and go into rehab to avoid jailtime? Lol right...

You have got to be driving the NSX pretty hard to lose control like that, so he probably deserves it.

 

[docjohn]

I think someone on here once asked if anyone had ever died in an nsx, well here is one example:frown:

 

[Big_D]

My condolences to the McGowans. I hate to hear about tragety at such a young age.:frown:

What if it was caused by a blowout??? How do you determine how he was being wreckless? I have no idea what happened but there are always two sides. I would love to see the evidence presented by the Prosecuters.

"Investigators said he was driving between 79 and 88 miles per hour when his car left the highway"

That is nothing for an NSX..give me a break.

 

[H-carWizKid]

This sort of thing happens all the time. I lost a close Fraternity Brother when his uncle took him on a ride to show off his newly purchased Vette- they were going 140mph when the driver lost control skipped across the median, went airborne and augured into a tree on the other side of the road. Dead instantly. A Highway patrolman had just clocked them and witnessed the whole thing. Mike's twin brother told us that the officer figured the driver saw the patrol car and slammed the brakes losing control in the process.

Damn shame, Mike was a great guy and is still missed by many.

Lost another close highschool friend under similar circumstances. Driver was also from my highschool and was showing off in his Mom's Vette, they entered a hill-cresting-left-turn too hot, and the car pushed straight into a telephone pole. Mark was in the passenger seat and he was killed instantly, The driver survived.

Its funny, people ask me how fast the NSX is I always tell them "Faster than me" they think I'm being a dick, but I'm actually remembering my two buddies, and what happens when you push a car too hard on a public road...

P

 

[oscar_driver]

Sad story, but "showing off" can be interpreted in different ways ... perhaps "showing off" means they were going 70 mph? or it was 130mph? ... I mean, I didn't see speeds been posted there.

RIP the poor guy who passed, but I seriously doubt he was screaming inside the car for the driver to stop, or maybe was with a gun pointed on his head?

I think is an accident and sad story, but we shouldn't judge, specially since he wasn't "racing" another car, maybe "showing off" means more of lack of skills than anything ....

How about when people seat in your car and ask you to floor it? then you lose on a patch of dirt control and voila, you are so wrong?

I think 20 months is to harsh, he should be prohibited of driving anything over 160hp and under 3.5000 lb's ... and no RWD .....

Perhaps from now on we can't carry passengers b/c we drive sports cars so if something happens. it doesn't matter, you'll end up in jail ...

Oscar

 

[oscar_driver]

My apologies, I just saw:

"Investigators said he was driving between 79 and 88 miles per hour when his car left the highway. "

Wow .... @ 78 mph you are barely 8 mph over the speed limit in most highways .... and people cruise on the Autobahn @ 90mph on average on the speed free zones ....

From now on, any person seats in my car, I will make sure to make them sign a form so they are responsible for seating on a "loaded gun" = Sports car

 

[Dtrigg]

My apologies, I just saw:

"Investigators said he was driving between 79 and 88 miles per hour when his car left the highway. "

Wow .... @ 78 mph you are barely 8 mph over the speed limit in most highways .... and people cruise on the Autobahn @ 90mph on average on the speed free zones ....

From now on, any person seats in my car, I will make sure to make them sign a form so they are responsible for seating on a "loaded gun" = Sports car

I think your comparison of the Autobahn and highways 176 and 512 is a stretch at the least. Have you driven on the Audubon? I have. I've also driven on State routes that have a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. Seventy miles per hour in the United States is usually limited to Interstate Highways.

Point is some kid died because the driver was an idiot.

 

[oscar_driver]

I think your comparison of the Autobahn and highways 176 and 512 is a stretch at the least. Have you driven on the Audubon? I have. I've also driven on State routes that have a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. Seventy miles per hour in the United States is usually limited to Interstate Highways.

Point is some kid died because the driver was an idiot.

How do you know he (the driver) was an idiot? .... maybe he was the nicest guy in the world and got excited and wasn't ready for a car such the NSX, we are human so we have a tendency to fail, 78 mph you know is so easy in our cars since they are designed to reach 170, it is a sad story, but once again SOMEONE ELSE is responsible for it's own actions, the guy who passed (RIP) made a terrible decision to get into the car, that was HIS decision, he is also responsible.

The guy @ the wheel was not ready for this.

Point is that a kid died on a ACCIDENT YES, but we can't judge.

 

[mlambert890]

If it had been a Hyundai, I'd be very curious to see how it went. I had an acquaintance who was tragically killed as a passenger in a 75 mph highway accident. An SUV was involved. There was no criminal trial and no jail time. How does anyone know there was "showing off"? What does that even mean really? Seems a damn subjective term for a criminal trial unless the driver used it in which case he was demonstrating some real remorse. Tragic accidents are horrific, but I'd bet the family of the deceased would have been less enraged had some "damn fancy car" not been involved, hate to say it.

 

[NSXclear]

He was trying to pass a truck. Who here hasn't speed up in their cars to pass a truck.....

Plus, it is possibility that the younger passengers told him to speed up and pass that truck. Tons of possibility here.

I'm not trying to say what he did is okay, but we shouldn't judge. Plus the news tends to get a lot of information wrong.

My condolences goes out to the family. Just a sad story.

 

[UberNSX]

Plus the news tends to get a lot of information wrong.

I have no comment on the incident other than to offer prayers for all involved but...

I'm old enough to remember when news articles weren't reported like they were being read on Entertainment Tonight. This article is full of speculation. Please, just give me facts, and let me make sense of them. Leave the opinions for the editorials.

Has anyone else noticed the trend of "killer SUV's" in news articles over the last decade? Google "SUV kills" and you get over 1,000,000 hits. What do reporters have against SUV's? It's not like they start themselves up and go off hunting like Christine.

 

[Juice]

I'm old enough to remember when news articles weren't reported like they were being read on Entertainment Tonight. This article is full of speculation. Please, just give me facts, and let me make sense of them. Leave the opinions for the editorials.

Thank you for being the first to share this observation; I feel the same way. This article is written so biased that it is ludacris. The speed involved here is NOTHING! While I'm sure that the gentleman involved was, "showing off his new NSX", I can't imagine being imprisoned the max term for the speeds involved here. If the car involved was an Accord, I think the results would have been different.

I don't excuse or condone any of his actions. But the "reporting" here is a joke.

 

[BATMANs]

Turbo or SC your NSX so that you can pass the pickup truck BEFORE you get to Highway 512.

Took the words right outta my mouth.

 

[nbuch001]

This article, I assume, leaves out many details as to what caused the accident. It would be nice to know those facts rather than how the victim had "blue eyes." Never the less it is a tragic loss. However, looking at it from a less emotional perspective the passenger chose to enter a car that not only looks fast but is fast. There must have been some sort of assumtion of risk in other words. There is a difference between hopping on the bus to go home and expecting nothing to happen versus gettig into an NSX that your friend intends to "show" you how it runs. The point is this entire story is very conclusory. Basically it says, a car that is capable of going fast automatically makes you more guilty than a car with less capable speed. This exact thing could have happened in any car. The real tragedy here is the NSX is a very safe and responsive car but is demonized in the article. The article should read "man shows off new car and crashes, killing friend." Period. Any idiot can crash any car at 80mph, it doesn't take an NSX to do it.

 

[FogCityNSX]

I have legally gone 75 mph on roads that look JUST like SR167 in other states. Actually, I've seen Semi trucks pulling doubles doing 75 mph legally on similar roads. And actually, most everyone is going faster than 75 mph.

But he still was speeding considering SR167 has a speed limit of 60 mph.

The nail that nailed the coffin (no pun intended) was the nsx, not the speed.

 

[Cozmo]

Yeah that doesn't really seem that fast. The limit on that road is 60 but everybody goes nearly 70. Very sad.

 

[ss_md]

Here is a question. Did the kid get in the car willingly? If so, he is at fault just as much as the driver because he made the choice to be in that vehicle. And as stated, we do not know if he egged the driver to try to pass. There are too many unknowns in this story. But, if people would take responsibility for theirs actions and stop blaming others for the $#!+ that happens to them/us this world would start to be a better place.

Just my 2 sense. (play on words, not a typo)

 

[EAC]

This reminds me of the incident with Hulk Hogans son in the Supra.

 

[nsxpilot]

hmmmm......what nsx owner hasnt hit 80+ passing something?......the driver may have been an idiot, he may have been incompetent.....or he may have just been unlucky......insufficient info to say.....