The Anne Sacoolas situation
Discussion
I am pleased that the whole thing has now come to an end.
Obviously poor Harry won’t be ‘getting on with his life’ and Harry’s poor parents will live with this terrible tragedy for the rest of theirs. No parent expects to bury their own children, it’s a heartbreaking story.
From my perspective and I know this probably won’t be shared by a lot of people, I also have some sympathy/empathy to Anne and her family.
I have lived abroad in different countries for 10 years, 7 of which as a parent with my wife and kids who joined me on a foreign assignment. Some of the countries I have lived (China) I would be very worried if any of my family were arrested there.
Nothing in the reports I read seemed to suggest it was anything other than a terrible accident, and I myself have on a few occasions gotten confused on which side of the road I was driving due to a complicated junction, tiredness or confusion. Just the other week, I went up a one way street the wrong way due to bad signage (and my stupidity!)
If I had been in China, and the mother of my young kids got involved in a fatal car accident and my employer/embassy offered the whole family an immediate exit by plane, I think it would be very difficult not to accept.
Of course I have no idea how I would react if I had been the parent of someone killed on the road by a negligent driver, but it seemed to me that the desire to prosecute Anne and some of the media’s reaction was a bit over the top.
I hope Harry’s parents can find some sort of bearable life in the future and the pain dissipates somewhat. I also imagine that Anne has serious trauma and I hope she too can have a normal life going forward.
Obviously poor Harry won’t be ‘getting on with his life’ and Harry’s poor parents will live with this terrible tragedy for the rest of theirs. No parent expects to bury their own children, it’s a heartbreaking story.
From my perspective and I know this probably won’t be shared by a lot of people, I also have some sympathy/empathy to Anne and her family.
I have lived abroad in different countries for 10 years, 7 of which as a parent with my wife and kids who joined me on a foreign assignment. Some of the countries I have lived (China) I would be very worried if any of my family were arrested there.
Nothing in the reports I read seemed to suggest it was anything other than a terrible accident, and I myself have on a few occasions gotten confused on which side of the road I was driving due to a complicated junction, tiredness or confusion. Just the other week, I went up a one way street the wrong way due to bad signage (and my stupidity!)
If I had been in China, and the mother of my young kids got involved in a fatal car accident and my employer/embassy offered the whole family an immediate exit by plane, I think it would be very difficult not to accept.
Of course I have no idea how I would react if I had been the parent of someone killed on the road by a negligent driver, but it seemed to me that the desire to prosecute Anne and some of the media’s reaction was a bit over the top.
I hope Harry’s parents can find some sort of bearable life in the future and the pain dissipates somewhat. I also imagine that Anne has serious trauma and I hope she too can have a normal life going forward.
As you might imagine, there's a thread already running.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
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