WTF??

People never cease to amaze me. Never. Denise pointed out an article to me (thanks, Denise!) which is on KSDK.com’s website. It is enough to somewhat anger me. The title reads simply:

“Hancock’s Father Sues Shannon’s, Others”

What the fuck??? I read the entire lawsuit, from beginning to end and felt I had to put in my two sense. (To know specifically what I’m talking about, open up the lawsuit from ksdk's website; it opens in a pdf format.)

(9.) “…Josh…was a “regular” at…Mike Shannon’s Restaurant and regularly became visibly intoxicated…” (I can bear witness to that; I saw him there the night before he died, and he was very intoxicated.)

(10.) “…by and through its employees, continued to knowingly serve intoxicating liquor to Josh…even though he was visibly intoxicated. The intoxication…was involuntary.” (Involuntary??? I can honestly say that, at almost 26 years old, I have never been “involuntarily” drunk. Was alcohol being forced down his throat? Was he fighting people off who were offering to buy him drinks, shots, etc? I wasn’t there the night the accident happened, but from the night before, I can say that I’m sure that wasn’t the case.)

(11.) “Patricia [Shannon’s daughter]…was aware that Josh…was visibly intoxicated…knowingly allowed the…staff to continue to serve alcoholic beverages…” (So you mean to tell me that, just because the manager says “Stop serving him”, a bunch of hot little 20-something year olds are going to listen and REFUSE a Cardinal player what he wants? I highly doubt it. Even so, Pat shouldn’t have to play “mommy” or “keeper” to a grown man; hell, SHE is the one who told him he needed a cab…which he REFUSED!)

(13.) “...Tolar [driver of the car that stalled on the highway prior to Josh’s wreck]…negligently allowed the vehicle to crash into the concrete median…Due to his negligence, the Geo Prism became stalled, and stopped in and blocking the left lane…” (So they’re trying to say this man “allowed” his car to crash into the median? Last I checked, no sane person WANTS to wreck their car. And could he really freakin’ help it where / when his car stalled??? I hate to break it to you, but if your car is going to stall, it’s going to stall—it doesn’t care where you are or what time it is.)

In the essence of space, I’ll sum up a bit of the rest. The driver of the tow truck is being sued for negligently blocking the lane of traffic when he stopped to assist Tolar. They claim he also negligently failed to provide adequate notice and warning to approaching motorists…even though the police report and witness accounts CLEARLY STATE his emergency flashers / tow lights were on, and he laid on the horn when he saw Hancock approaching. Not to mention this: the tow druck driver was “negligent”, according to the lawsuit, because he stopped directly behind the disable vehicle. Isn’t that what they are supposed to do? And, had the tow truck driver pulled farther to the left, so that he wasn’t directly behind the disabled vehicle, that would have left open the possibility of the driver of that vehicle being killed.

“The aforedescribed conduct and actions of the defendants, and each of them, directly caused or directly contributed to cause the death of Joshua Morgan Hancock.” Yet this lawsuit that his father so “wittingly” (and I use that term VERY lightly) put together, mentions NO actions that Josh himself, a grown adult, took that night that led to this horrible tragedy. It doesn’t mention the fact that a 29 year old man was incapable of knowing and understanding his own alcoholic intake limit. It doesn’t recognize that he REFUSED a cab when it was offered and suggested to him. It doesn’t mention anything about marijuana, which was found in the vehicle Josh was driving. And it doesn’t mention the fact that he is a grown adult who made some very bad choices that night that led to something horrible and tragic—his own death.

You know, I’m very sorry that this happened. All of St. Louis mourned and continues to mourn the loss of a life cut short by bad decisions. However, I am not a proponent of blaming someone else for your mistakes. Especially mistakes of this caliber. I think people need to realize that Josh MADE those choices that night. No one forced him to drink to the point of intoxication, and no one forced him to attempt to drive his own vehicle.

Like Christy said, “so sad...........they need to pray or focus their energies on drunk driving prevention--do something positive in his memory.” I agree. That’s the way to deal with this—positively. Not by blaming other people.