“He [Jeremy Jordan] implies that he is new to the criminal system and that his serious crimes are, at heart, the result of an “accident” fueled by an alcohol problem he did not know he had. This is far from the truth.”
— Michael Schrunk, Multnomah County District Attorney
31-year old Jeremy Jordan, who was sentenced to 70 months in prison after being charged with hit-and-run and DUII in November 2008, is now reaching out to the public and the media to tell his side of the story.
In the early morning hours of May 10th, 2008 an intoxicated Jordan stole beer from a Safeway store clerk (who refused to sell it to him), sped out of a parking lot and struck Eric Davidson, who was biking down NE 69th near Fremont. Jordan did not stop to check on Davidson and was caught by police shortly thereafter.
Davidson — who was more heavily intoxicated than Jordan — sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury from which he will never fully recover (his wife kept a daily blog of his recovery).
Now Jordan and his wife are reaching out to tell their story — and the prosecutor who worked the case has stepped in to tell the state’s version.
Like Davidson’s wife, who maintained a detailed and personal blog account of how the crash impacted their life, Jordan’s wife has also started a blog at 70months.wordpress.com. Jordan has also been busy from his prison cell, writing letters to Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, The Oregonian, Oregon Public Radio, and others.
Implicit in Jordan’s letters is that the incident was just a tragic “accident” and that Jordan himself was also a victim. On the About page of Jordan’s wife’s blog, she writes about Davidson:
(Photo: 70months blog)
The negligence on the part of the bicycle rider–who was found to be even more intoxicated than Jeremy and was not wearing a helmet and only had a bare minimum of lighting–did not deflect blame from Jeremy’s criminal actions in the eyes of the law or in the eyes of the injured man’s family, though I do believe blame is shared to the degree that neither man was valuing his life that night; both were living dangerously and recklessly; and, both were breaking the law by operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
In a letter to Oregonian columnist Susan Nielsen in response to a recent article she published about Oregon’s DUII programs, Jordan wrote:
“…My Assault II conviction was a drunk driving accident, in which I collided head-on with a bicyclist I did not see (also heavily intoxicated) and left the scene. I never realized that I had a problem with alcohol prior to the accident.”
This outreach by Mr. Jordan and his family has not gone unnoticed by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s who handled his case. Yesterday, DA Michael Schrunk sent a four-page letter (download 82KB PDF here — warning: includes graphic description of collision) to Governor Kulongoski where he rebuts many of the contentions made by Jordan in his recent public outreach effort.
Schrunk’s main point to the Governor is that Jordan is not quite the innocent victim he’s making himself out to be. From the opening paragraph:
“He [Jeremy Jordan] implies that he is new to the criminal system and that his serious crimes are, at heart, the result of an “accident” fueled by an alcohol problem he did not know he had. This is far from the truth.”
Schrunk then details what their investigation has found about how the incident occurred. After describing Jordan’s aggressive robbery in the Safeway store and his excessive speed into the roadway, Schrunk also makes it clear that Davidson had his bike light turned on and, “despite his intoxication, was seen on Safeway security video riding legally (close to curb, traveling straight, normal speed, etc).”
Also in the letter, Schrunk debunks Jordan’s assertion that he was unaware he had an alcohol problem:
“Defendant states in his August 2009 letter to Oregonian columnist Susan Nielsen that he was unaware of his “alcohol problem” until after the crash. First, this misses the point. The “problem” is not the alcohol, but instead Mr. Jordan’s violent and reckless acts that night directed at three victims, starting with the robbery and ending with his driving into a vulnerable human being and leaving him lying in the road.”
Jordan wrote in his letter to Governor Kulongoski that he had “no history of violence”, but Schrunk presents facts about Jordan’s criminal history that paints a much different picture. Jordan has a criminal history that includes three felonies committed between 1989 and 1995 while he was still a juvenile.
In concluding his letter, Schrunk writes that in his 20+ career as a prosecutor he has seen plenty of “utterly callous acts, but rarely ones as extreme as Mr. Jordan’s”.
Here’s the final sentence of Schrunk’s letter:
“In 70 months Jordan will emerge and resume his life in society with his family and friends. The victim will not. He will never live independently, never have the children he and his wife were planning, and likely never work. There is unfairness here, but not to Jeremy Jordan.”
— Download the DA’s letter (82KB PDF)
— 70months.wordpress.com (Blog by Jeremy Jordan’s wife)
— AceAndEric.wordpress.com (Blog by Eric Davidson’s wife)
Thanks for reading.
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Jeeze..is this article even necessary?
(edit in first paragraph “is NOT reaching out”. I assume you mean now?)
This guy’s lack of empathy and humanity are disturbing. Makes you wonder how many such people are in the general population.
Jonathan, thanks for this update. I had seen the recent Oregonian piece which was interesting – I did appreciate that Jeremy said that first-time DUI’s are let off too easy.
However, his wife’s blog makes me a little sick to my stomach. I am not going to make negative comments on it, but it’s hard when she says things like “Jeremy is not being incarcerated for all these years to protect society” and talks about how she & her daughter are being punished, too. Why isn’t she mad at her husband for making these selfish decisions? Instead she is railing against the laws that put him in prison. If anyone should be mad, it’s Eric Davidson’s wife, as he’s basically in a prison for the rest of their lives.
Yes, Eric was drunk, too, but could a sober cyclist have avoided a drunk driver speeding away after stealing beer at Safeway??
Gosh,
Not much empathy there for Eric is there. I get that the prison system needs work. That rehabilitation of prisoners is essentially non-existant and that prisons are factories to create more criminals.
BUT… Nothing in his blog shows that he even understands what he did. He is more concerned with the fact that he can’t take care of his family, that his rights and abilities to care for his family are hampered because he is now a felon. And what is most egregious about the whole thing is that he doesn’t see that his responsibility started while he was sober. He claims that a drunk person can’t reasonably make the decision not to drive, therefore why aren’t there more barriers in place to prevent drunks from driving.
He still hasn’t formulated that he has the power while he is sober to make decisions on how much he should drink, and if he is going to ‘get drunk’ he can make arrangements to not drive.
He claims he never was taught about binge drinking leading to harm of others. Has he been living under a rock and missed how media both fiction and fact often times depict drunk people doing harmful things to themselves and others?
Jordan… I would love to know what you are doing to make amends with the person whose life you took (sure he is still alive) but his life as he knew it was taken.
It is hard to be empathetic with Jordan when he is whining about how his life was effected when you don’t see any effort on his part to help with the challenges that Ace and Eric face with the mounting costs of medical bills, insurance struggles, and not to mention the effect that another person could leave you to die.
You are correct. JJ has never taken responsibility for his actions for as long as I’ve known him. He was a cheat in school and was always willing to point the finger at someone else. He gets what he deserves and Eric and his family are left to pick up the pieces.
It truly sounds like this guy has a had a lifetime full of blame-deflection.
Not to sound like too much of a personal attack but it seems as though he married someone with similar attributes.
I hope both of them realize that the only way for true healing to take place is to accept the responsibility and to be honest with themselves about the situation.
Until then they will truly suffer under the burden of their guilt.
(but then again, that’s better than suffering with a brain injury)
Wow. I also read Mr. Jordan’s other (pathetic) claim that his first DUI wasn’t taken seriously enough in the Oregonian the other week. What, were we supposed to give him 70 months then? Does this fellow really expect to be taken seriously?
Since Mr. Jordan seems to feel he and Mr. Davidson were something of equals in this situation, i.e. both drunk and rolling outside the law, would he like to switch places with Mr. Davidson, who serves a much, much longer and more profound sentence?
I didn’t think so!
Nick #2 – everyone of us given the “right” circumstances…look out there.
lothar:
This article is advance notice of whom Lars & co. will be rooting for when he is made aware of it.
{sarcasm: in the voice of Right Wing Wacko}
This poor down trodden, tax paying, all american hero! He has to pay the price for some wino trying to attack his car! His wife and children are punished for the actions of communist portland bike militia member.
{/sarcams}
Chad #6 pretty much wraps it up.
Until Jeremy and his wife accept that Jeremy is not a victim, they are going to be tortured by the very mental gymnastics they are using to avoid the truth of who is at fault.
It’s pathetic really. I just hope that somehow their daughter is able to grow up with a better sense of responsibility than her parents.
Reading Mr. Schrunk’s letter, I’m really impressed with the DA’s obvious commitment to justice and humanity. That was a really well-written and sincere letter. I’m glad to know that there are guys like Michael Schrunk out there.
Except that one of these men was operating a vehicle that can do roughly the same amount of damage to another human being as can a hand grenade, or maybe a land mine. A vehicle that can easily mutilate, crush, maim, and kill – someone else. Does the danger one poses to someone else not enter into this line of though?
Carl: agreed, I’m really impressed with the DA’s statement.
Need to send some thanks out to the DA for taking time out of his busy day to set this story straight.
He doesn’t get paid for distribution of the truth to the media but I think it’s important for a criminals to see that they have no one to blame but themselves and that if they want to involve the public and media in their game of self-delusion all their past failures will be thrown up so the public can accurately judge the consequences of criminal acts.
oops there it is: DA[at]mcda.us
Eric Ryberg’s post (tucsonbikelawyer.com, above) totally nails it: any sympathy I might have had for Jordan totally evaporates after about 30 seconds on the 70months blog. Jordan’s not doing himself any favors with his whining and blame-shifting, and seeing his wife pile on just makes it worse
I enjoy how his wife says on their blog that she doesn’t want to assign blame– about 3 sentences after she blames Eric for riding drunk and, apparently, not staying out of her husband’s way!
Yeah. The Jordans made me throw up in my mouth, a little.
Hooray for our DA, though.
I just finished reading the DA’s letter. I didn’t even realize that he went home and told his wife.
She didn’t call the police. Isn’t that against the law?
They are two peas in a pod.
This is really annoying. It is typical of our society these days to not take personal responsibility for our actions and choices. No matter what “alcohol problem he didn’t knew he had”, he CHOSE to drink that night, steel beer at a Safeway and CHOSE to drive while doing these things. All while knowing he had the responsibility of a wife and child at home. While I do think people like him need help and counseling (don’t we all, to a certain extent), I have no sympathy for him. And the fact that his wife is making excuses for him, rather than angry with him for making the choices that made her a “single mother for 70 months” seems a bit odd and, as others have put it, quote pathetic.
I’m sure we’ve all made some not so smart choices in our lives, maybe even some that have put ourselves and possibly others, in danger. But it is simple fact that there are consequences for making those choices, and we might not like them, but tough. If everyone got away with the stupid and dangerous things they did, just because “it was their first time” or “I didn’t know” or “It was a mistake”, there would be no point to having laws or punishment at all.
This story hit a bit of nerve, having a relative who made excuses for another relative who got a DUI and almost killed 2 people. It annoyed me to no end.
i missed it, did the drunk driver make an alternative suggestion?
Much has been written linking addiction and narcissism, characterized by a lack of empathy toward others. Therefore it’s no surprise that Mr. Jordan is deflecting blame for his actions rather than owning up to his responsiblity for getting drunk, stealing, and destroying someone else’s life. All by himself. Until he and his enabling wife get some professional help and come to realize this character defect, he ain’t gonna change his pathetic tune.
Get yourself some Jesus and all will be well. Nothing against Christians, I just question the motivations of folk who are ‘Born Again’ after something like this. No one goes ‘Born Again Muslim’, Christianity resonates with the populous as something of a road sign of rehabilitation. I do have empathy for the wife though, and none of us knows what happens behind closed doors in their relationship. Even our closest friends would never see my wife and I fight (if we ever fought in the first place), so don’t be so quick to make that judgment about her, she’s putting on a supportive public face for her partner, something any of us would do. All that being said, he’s taking responsibility whether he likes it or not, he’s in for the 70 months, that’s a long time to think on something. I’m just happy there was a prosecution for the incident. I have had a number of friends killed in the streets and watched the justice system do nothing.
I think it’s important to remember that as a society our only liaison with prison-life is, well, prisoners. I’m not defending Jordan’s actions that landed him in prison, but I think it’s totally fair to point out that much of what he and his wife are complaining about is in fact the criminal-justice system, and not necessarily that Jordan is innocent.
Justice is a Judeo-Christian concept. Being an atheist, I don’t subscribe. Instead, I like to think our system should solve problems. No problem got solved here. Davidson loses, Jordan loses, both their families lose, and we foot the bill. It’s not even my thing yet I fail to see how this is justice.
@Vance/22
“Justice is a Judeo-Christian concept.”
Huh? I’m sure a quick Google search would provide plenty of evidence to refute this claim–unless you are speaking of a specific notion of justice.
That being said, I do agree that our criminal [in]justice system is borked–goes along with our borked (so-called democratic) political system.
Epic fail; I don’t even know where to begin.
I have no sympathy for drunk drivers, they have killed way to many of my friends.
Anyone causing an “accident” while willfully under the influence should be charged with attempted murder.
This guy Jeremy literally makes me sick to my stomach.
He was able to get a reduced sentence for pleading guilty. Considering Jordan’s ongoing, unrelenting self-absorbed attitude, that’s starting to look like a big mistake. When 70 months have passed, the public will again have to risk what looks at present to be a significant possibility that Mr. Jordan will hurt someone again.
Jordan’s behavior has already resulted in an extraordinary and unreasonable expense to many people besides the obvious victims; Eric Davidson and his family…Jordan’s family. Keeping someone in prison is expensive to the taxpayer and not such a healthy place for the convicted to live. For a person such as Jordan, it’s looking like money spent to keep him there is money well spent.
I read a bit of his wife’s blog. She comes across as articulate and intelligent. Accordingly, obvious questions come to mind.
His wife should be in jail for not calling the police. How could she not see the blood stains all over the vehicle?
As for this whining, this POS just eliminated any chance (if any) of parole. I bet the DA is having second thoughts now of not going for the full 169 month prison sentence.
To rub salt in the wound, this guy tried to repeal his plea bargain just prior to sentencing.
I will enjoy my 3 years of not having to deal with a person like that on the streets of portland.
Peter Noone – Wha..? Hehe. My bad, these are some of the things they used to teach in school. I couldn’t find a source I liked a whole bunch, but even Wiki backs me up.
This just isn’t taught anymore. So much of the Jehovah cultists’ dogma has seeped into western culture that people forget that’s where it came from. Concepts like love, monogamy, and justice are straight outta the scriptures man.
Oh, and wsbob – I think it says in the article that the charge Jordan pleaded to was reduced, not the sentence. His sentence was the maximum, and since it’s a measure 11, no time off for good behavior.
I think I hear you though. Up-thread there too somebody is saying this is murder. It’s not, and I think a statement like that comes from a desire to see a more severe punishment meted out. I only make the distinctions myself because, like many others, I believe murder to be a most heinous crime.
Vance and everyone else in regards to what Jordan was charged with, what he pled to, and the corresponding sentence for each…From DA Schrunk’s letter:
“The Multnomah County Grand Jury charged defendant with Robbery III, two counts;
Assault II, Felony Hit and Run, two counts (leaving a seriously injured victim); Driving
Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII); Recklessly Endangering Another Person; and
Reckless Driving. After lengthy negotiations assisted by a judge, he pled guilty to Assault
II and DUII, receiving the prescribed Measure 11 sentence of 70 months, receiving no
added time beyond the Assault II, and obtaining dismissal of the remaining six charges.
Had he gone to trial and lost, which was almost certain, he could have received more than
twice that amount of time (his exposure was up to 196 months).” DA Michael Schrunk letter to Gov Kunlongoski and others
Schrunk believes Jordan would have wound up serving a lot more time if he’d stood trial for all the charges. Everyone went out of their way to cut Jordan some slack…give him a second…another chance… . When someone responds to such efforts the way Jordan has so far, there’s reason for serious concern about his chances for rehabilitation.
It’s very unfortunate that Jordan has a child and a wife that can’t rely on him to be a productive member of the family. There’s certainly a downside for the family to have one of its members locked up where they can’t be helping out. Jordan hurts people. At least where he is now, in prison, members of the public have some certainty that he wont be hurting them again, at least not for the duration of time he’s in there.
I’m not sure what Jordan and his wife hope to gain with their blog, his letters to reporters and what-not. Early release? So he can pad around the house with his ankle bracelet, watching tv and having the good life?
Even if he wanted to, Jordan could never, ever fully pay or make up for what he has done to so many people, first and foremost, Eric Davidson and his family. It’s looking like Jordan’s not even inclined to make an effort in that regard.
@Vance Longwell #22
Can’t agree with you that “justice is a Judeo-Christian concept.” What about countries like China and Japan, where judicial systems were created without Judeo-Christian influence? In China, Jordan probably would have been executed with no ceremony (a penalty that may be over-applied there).
In Japan, the legal BAC to drive is 0.00 — you’re not allowed to drive after even one drink. Not sure what the penalty would be there in this case , but it would not be a slap on the wrist.
whoa, so I went a read some of the 70months blog.
it is amazing how little responsibility some people take for their actions. Jordan’s writing is all about how the devil did this and alcohol did that and texas hold em caused these problems.
Hey, Jeremy, YOU did that stuff. Now, YOU have to make it right. Serving a 70 month prison sentence for almost killing someone is not an unfair start.
it will be interesting to see how Christian and Righteous you are after your mandated confinement. if you are any sort of decent person, you will immediately begin to contribute to the care of the man that you almost killed that night. we will see.
I trust that if this guy comes up for parole, that it is posted on this site?
vance. it is true there is a sense of distributive justice in which you could have avoided me is a partial defense to you hit me pay up is distinctively western, but almost everywhere I think it is not really a defense to he hit me get him off the street, except perhaps in places where no one gets anyone off the street.
Agreed, agreed. I’m feeling misunderstood here. Perhaps my fault. Justice as a concept, not the court system in general, is a Judeo-Christian concept. For instance, treating Jordan for a drug problem, assigning him restitution in the form of services performed for the victim, and then forgiving and forgetting, would solve a lot of problems in this circumstance. However, and in my opinion only, I think the community would feel, “Justice”, is not served here because there’s no punishment. There is no emotional, “Settling of accounts.”. I mean, what is Justice really?
In my opinion Justice is just the Jehovah’s cultists word for revenge. Of which, I know no eastern equivalent. They’re just out with it and call it revenge. Oh, and don’t forget, Christians especially believe only God can met-out justice. And Christian is a decidedly western thing at this point, don’t you think?
Oh, and just ’cause it’s religious doesn’t make it wrong. I’m just usually suspicious when society views religious concepts as anything but.
While the statement that both men were acting with a certain amount of disregard for their own safety is true as far as it goes (and I did comment on Mr. Davidson’s share of responsibility in a comment on the original story), there is a very important difference. By operating a two-ton vehicle on the public roads while heavily intoxicated, Mr. Jordan was also acting with extreme disregard for the safety of everyone else in the community. To just say “well this was an accident and besides the other guy was drunk too” strikes me as evidence that Mr Jordan still does not realize the full consequences of his actions.
If Davidson was more intoxicated than Jordan, maybe we should put drunks on bikes? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Forget it.
No justice here. A bunch of peoples’ lives are wrecked because of irresponsibility. I don’t have sympathy for Jordan, but, honestly, what difference will this punishment make for us, the people, or for the Davidsons?
The system that encourages this type of behavior remains unchanged, and the individual is being punished, as usual.
Justice may be an inherent part of judeo-christian or any other established theology, but I don’t believe justice began with their creation. Someone had the idea for justice long before that.
Justice is partly an encounter with one’s own conscience and hopefully, a resulting willingness to change personal attitudes and actions that are fundamentally destructive.
A lot of times we hear that certain people have a better chance of making improvements in a structured environment. Jordan has that now, and will have it to a certain extent once he’s released. That alone though, won’t work without him recognizing from within, the destructive path he’s on.
Vance,
Read up a bit. Just because we are bathed in the foolishness of Christianity, is no cause to project those delusions onto ancient history.
Here is a place to start.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi
The 70 months blog is one of the most shameful and disgusting things I have ever read. I weep for the Jordan’s child, as no creature should be forced to experience the ignorance and misdirection that they are clearly feeding her.
As a taxpayer and homeowner, I am thrilled to contribute to the upkeep and isolation of Jeremy Jordan.
Thank you DA Michael Schrunk!
Thank you Michael Schrunk. I hope Jeremy Jordan is never considered eligible for shortened prison term. He seems completely incapable of taking any personal responsibility for his actions, ever. His wife is veering dangerously in the same direction.
And in stark contrast to Jeremy Jordan…
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/driver_after_a_terrible_wrong.html
The lack of personal responsibility from Jeremy Jordan and Mrs. Jordan are almost enough to turn me into a Republican.
The drunken robber trying to pin some of the blame on the bicyclist is really sickening. This is going to keep me awake at night.
the 70months blog is now inaccessible, wonder if it finally started to sink into this woman that her husband is a miserable piece of detritus who robbed our local grocery store before drunkenly running over someone with his car which he followed up by leaving the victim in the street to die. The only thing that could have been worse would have been if after he was caught he blamed everyone but himself and got his wife to help play the blame game too…oh wait I am being told that is what the blog was focused on…
Was just thinking about the fact that Jeremy Jordan is still a horrible person who blames everyone else but himself for the events of May 10th 2008 when he drove after drinking heavily, then robbed our local grocery store, before he hit a cyclist during his getaway attempt and then drove off leaving his victim in the street. I suppose he still has another 50 some months to think about it, wonder if the fact that he was the only one at fault is starting to sink in. Regardless…bump…
Taking time to remember how and why Jeremy Jordan was remiss in his basic responsibility to so many people, is important. Especially so with other people continuing to be maimed and killed by drunken drivers, among their victims, people such as Angela Burke, the young woman attempting to cross Barbur Blvd only to be struck by speeding drunk driver Caleb Pruitt.
Another similarly tragic death by drunk driving was reported Dec 26 in the Oregonian. The drunk driver, with three passengers in his car, lost control of the vehicle on the Broadway Bridge, resulting in injuries to two of his friends and the death of his fiancee.
It probably isn’t the best wisdom though, to neglect remembering that it’s often not only the fault of the drunk driver that produces these tragedies. In Jeremy Jordan’s case, as it turns out, his victim, Eric Davidson on the bike, was also extremely drunk, in fact, more drunk than Jordan. I believe the report was that his b/a was around 3.0 .
Was Davidson really sufficiently sober to be riding home by himself? If he’d been sober, would that have enabled him to avoid Jordan’s drunken reckless driving? Impossible to know for sure, but being sober would likely have given Davidson an safety advantage he did not have on the night of his untimely death.
In Caleb Pruitt’s case and that of the guy whose drunk driving killed his passenger, there were people that most likely knew the driver was drunk, and let him drive anyway. They even got in the car and rode with the driver.
Bob, why must you always comment on things you know nothing about. Not only did security cameras at the safeway show that Eric was riding in a straight line to the right of the appropriate travel lane, but 3.0 is dead, I have never seen anyone have a rating over .50, and when he was hit he wasn’t killed, rather he ended up with a severe head injury that was the fault of only one person, Jeremy Jordan. Reports at the time had the victims BAC at .25, and he was making the right decision not to endanger others by driving. I doubt any of us would have been able to avoid being hit by Jordan sober or not, he didn’t even have his headlights on and was travelling very fast while fleeing from the scene of the robbery he had just committed. He hit Eric as he exited the safeway at approximately 25mph. You and Jordan’s wife should have a blame the victim tea party as she is also quite fond of it.
We don’t really know how drunk Jordan was because he didn’t stick around to find out how badly he hurt Eric, instead he drove off and left him in the street. I am not a big believer in jail sentences, but one thing is for sure Jeremy Jordan is a worthless excuse for a human being who refuses to take responsibility for the horrendous tragedy that occurred as a result of only his actions, no one else’s just his, many of which were illegal. I doubt he would have ever been caught if his license plate had not been torn off his car by the force of the impact.
I am pretty sure that Eric has not died, his wife had a blog for some time but is no longer updating it. Last I heard the head injury was still severe, Maus may have more of an update.
Bjorn. Oh, you’re a sharp one! Always interesting to read what scraps of wisdom you’ll respond with.
O.k., let’s get something straightened out for you. I wrote:
“…I believe the report was that his b/a was around 3.0 . …”
So, just move the decimal point to the left one place and that puts Davidson’s B/A level, around where I wrote what I thought the report said it was. I think you could have figured out that I actually meant ‘ .30 ‘, but I suppose it should be expected that you wouldn’t be able to resist an opportunity to write, stuff like:
“…why must you always comment on things you know nothing about. …”
But even with your info placing his B/A level at “… .25 …”, let’s face it…he was drunk. Very drunk…and no way would his motor response have been as precise or quick as that of a sober person. Intoxication dramatically reduces a person’s ability to avert danger posed by such as things as speeding objects intersecting their direction of travel.
“… I doubt any of us would have been able to avoid being hit by Jordan sober or not …” Bjorn
Doubt all you want, but you don’t know that Davidson, had he been sober, wouldn’t have been able to avoid being hit by Jordan. Sober, just for starters…he may have been more likely to hear Jordan’s racing motor and the direction from which it was approaching, allowing him to pause or step back, look around for an approaching vehicle.
This isn’t a situation where Davidson was at fault for the collision, but one where, because he chose to ride home very drunk, his ability to defend himself against potential danger, was severely impaired.
Davidson hasn’t passed away. The last I read months ago, he was making some recovery, but he’s highly incapacitated. As I remember the report said he can’t really take care of himself…his mood and disposition is not stable…easily inclined to frustration and anger. He may get better, and he might not. Only time will tell. His wife and family have a major ongoing challenge ahead of them.
if I ever see that guy on the streets of portland, I would hope that he would not be driving. surely a lifetime ban on driving is part of his punishment?
DA Shrunk is very impressive with his admonitions yet not with his sentencing.
@wsbob, what you are doing is the equivalent of saying that a woman who wears a short skirt and goes to a frat house is asking to be assaulted, victim blaming is gross.
This was 100% the fault of the drunk driving thief, Jeremy Jordan, who intentionally had his headlights off to help elude security and ran through a stop at 25mph as he t-boned someone. Afterward he left that person bleeding in the street and drove off. There is no grey in this case, no matter how much his wife disgustingly tries to make people think there was.
“@wsbob, what you are doing is the equivalent of saying that a woman who wears a short skirt and goes to a frat house is asking to be assaulted, victim blaming is gross. …”
Bjorn, I’m saying no such thing. Are you generally comparing frat house members to drunken sociopath drivers, whose psychological profile it appears Jeremy Jordan may have a certain amount of in his own personality (remember…Jordan has a wife or girlfriend that cares something for him. Also, if I remember correctly, Jordan has a child that he professes to care about.).
Okay Bjorn…here’s a turn on your question to me: Hypothetically speaking, how about someone that allows their daughter, wearing a short skirt or similar revealing, tantalizing get-up, to enter a house occupied by people known for sexual predation?
Would you say that such persons, both parent and daughter…should not anticipate a higher risk of danger for the woman than if the daughter stayed away from the house entirely, or at least, if she for some reason was obliged to enter the house…came prepared for the situation…sober…fully dressed…preferably accompanied by someone or possibly armed in some way?
Everyone has a responsibility to take precautions against known danger. This is the point that apparently many people taking a lackadaisical attitude towards alcohol consumption combined with vehicle operation and use of the road, are failing to consider.
Wow another great example of victim blaming bob. What about places with a lot of racism? Should minorities be blamed if they are the victim of a hate crime in northern Idaho? It appears you would say they shouldn’t have gone there since everyone knows the Aryan nation hangs out there. My point was exactly that what you have suggested here that the victim is at fault is disgusting. It is a slippery slope, we know there are more drunks out at night, should we only leave our homes during the day? More drunks at the holidays too, should we all cower at home on holidays?
It is ridiculous to even suggest that there is anyone to blame for the injuries that Eric suffered other than Jeremy Jordan, who robbed our local grocery store and ran down a cyclist as part of his getaway. Sober or not it could just have easily been me that he hit, I bought my house in part because it was a short walk/bike to that grocery store. Fremont is a mid traffic 2 lane street that is frequently used by cyclists, and while I know you like to play devil’s advocate bob this is not the place, seriously victim blaming is offensive, and wrong.
He gets out next week. He is not allowed to drive but I have a feeling he probably will anyway, most serial drunk drivers keep driving, especially when they have little to no remorse.
http://bikeportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/kulongoski-letter-jordan.pdf
He’s back on the road guys. Don’t get hit. https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004174339095&ref=content_filter