The jury trial of a Newton driver accused of losing control of his vehicle in the 2016 Sweet Tomatoes crash has been scheduled to begin on Oct. 15, Julie Cohen reports for Wicked Local Newton
Trial date set for driver in the Sweet Tomatoes crash
by Greg Reibman | Aug 30, 2018 | West Newton | 4 comments
He is not “accused of losing control of his car.” That is, in fact, the defense’s statement in regard to the incident, and a component of Brad Casler’s overall defense strategy.
He is accused of reckless driving resulting in multiple deaths and injuries. He has been charged with two counts of motor vehicle homicide (NECN, October 2, 2017: “Hearing Set to Decide Fate of Driver in Deadly Sweet Tomatoes Crash”).
Most of the evidence of the case indicates that he was fully in control of his actions, and that his recklessness and utter disregard of the safe use of the public way was the direct reason for the multiple deaths and injuries he caused.
If I may editorialize, Mr. Casler is revealing himself to be among the most parasitic of humans.
Unless any further evidence can be presented, (unlikely after two years of finding and discussing evidence), the conclusion is inevitable that Mr. Casler – for reasons only he is familiar with – deliberately drove recklessly and with disregard to human life and safety, and thus caused multiple deaths and injury.
It is quite bad enough for a person to deny his role and his responsibility in such an act – and to understand this act in its proper context, consider the last time a violent shooting occurred in which two people were killed, and several others left with life-altering, debilitating injuries. Senseless and horrifying.
What separates Mr. Casler from the work-a-day “not a good person,” and marks his life as parasitic, is his choice of defense: multiple sclerosis.
To be clear: were his condition to have any role in this incident whatsoever, I would not be making these arguments. Loss of control from a medical emergency is different from deliberate and cogent reckless driving.
But it didn’t. And he is literally using every MS patient as his scape-goat.
Mr. Casler, what shall we do if we determine that your MS and your disability was the cause of the incident? Shall we review every victim of MS in the state for their current physical status?
After all, if MS can render a driver so suddenly disabled that they represent an unacceptable risk on a public way, should we be allowing those diagnosed with MS to operate vehicles?
Consider epileptics, people suffering vision impairment, and people whose consciousness or perceptions may be altered due to medical therapy or treatment: we restrict these individuals from operating vehicles on the public way, because of the danger they represent to themselves and others.
In your attempt to defeat these charges, are you willing – truly willing – to convict every person unfortunate enough to share a medical diagnosis with you?
Parasitic.
The driver was found guilty today. Thank you to the jurors who understood that a person is responsible for realizing he’s not able to drive safely, whether or not his doctors have told him not to drive. This horrific crash should never have happened.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/10/29/jury-sweet-tomatoes-fatal-crash-due-resume/KvbzuFzDc1lkGVAoQoJs9J/story.html
Thank you for providing the update, Meredith. It sounds like justice will be served in this case.