Morality and criminal law go hand in hand. Recently on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays, we’ve focused on themes including the frailty of human decision-making and what’s behind it.
As a criminal lawyer, I often see clients get into trouble due to alcohol, impulsiveness and sexual desires. This week we cover all these topics, beginning with an unusual impulsive high-speed chase, moving on to an “alcohol-involved” accidental shooting and wrapping up with a gratuitous semi-public sex story.
The Great ATV Escape
Let’s start in Oklahoma.
A hand-cuffed person rarely escapes from police custody. It’s even rarer for a hand-cuffed person to escape using a vehicle. It’s even rarer for a hand-cuffed person to escape on an ATV and lead the police on a chase that goes on and on and very nearly gets away. But that’s what happened when the Edmond police arrested Lucas Strider.
You really need to watch the video to understand how difficult it was to stop him. Apparently, Mr. Strider was hand-cuffed when he managed to then get on the ATV and drive down city streets, the wrong way through a drive-thru, across what appears to be a schoolyard, then onto a gravel road. He circles around cars and goes across lawns.
At some point, I started to want to see him escape. I mean, he had invested so much into this flight that I wasn’t sure whether there would be a happy ending of him being stopped or a happy ending of him getting away.
One could see many missed opportunities to go through fields or some such thing, but I don’t want to give anyone any ideas. From my perspective as a criminal lawyer, I see an impulsive decision. Once he made the decision to run, he didn’t reconsider.
Impulsiveness is a moral failing most of us struggle with to some extent or another.
Curiosity Killed the Human?
Gun stories are always uncomfortable, but this one is better because it involves a kitty, and the kitty wasn’t injured. The cat had fun while a Wisconsin woman shone a laser for the cat to chase. Of course, the woman, not the cat, had been drinking. And the laser was a laser targeting beam from a handgun.
As she recounted to the police, the story was that she was playing with the cat, shining the laser for the cat to follow when she accidentally shot her friend. Oops.
Alcohol and stupidity. A common combination in the realm of human moral failings.
Not So Solitary Confinement
What about sex??
Sexual urges being what they are, can be difficult to control sometimes but control we must.
Then there are those things consenting adults do in private or by themselves. That’s okay.
Then there are the things people do via a virtual feed during a prison visitation. Oh? Tell me more!
Ms. Danielle Ferrero attended the prison to meet Mr. Cody Thomas by way of an internal video link. Once there, she apparently masturbated to the video link and exposed herself to Mr. Thomas. She was arrested.
The arrest was apparently for exposing herself in public. One wonders if this was really what was intended by “public” when the legislation was drafted. It seems surprising that it would be a crime. Indeed, Ms. Ferrero quipped “I can not believe that showing Cody my boobs would get me arrested.”
In any event, it appears Ms. Ferrero couldn’t wait for Mr. Thomas to serve his month in jail. Human frailty, being what it is.
Good point.
