Matt Agorist | The Free Thought Project
2016/02/19
In America, there are two forms of the justice system — one for those inside the system — and one for everyone else.
Carroll County, GA — In September, on a rainy Saturday night, Georgia state trooper Anthony Scott was flexing his above the law privilege and driving at dangerously high speeds for no reason.+
Scott was not on his way to a call, nor did he have any official reason for driving fast, when he slammed into a Nissan Sentra carrying four kids. Kylie Hope Lindsey, 17, and Isabella Alise Chinchilla, 16, who were in the back seat of the Nissan, were killed.
Dillon Lewis Wall, 18, who was driving, and front-seat passenger Benjamin Alan Finken, 17, were critically injured and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Five months later, and Dillon is still recovering from a brain injury, paralysis, hearing loss and multiple broken teeth from the crash. However, according to Dillon, it’s his heart that hurts the most as this young man was crazy about Kylie.
After the crash, Capt. Mark Perry of the Georgia Department of Public Safety released a statement noting that Scott had no reason to be travelling that fast.
“Turns out he was running at a high rate of speed through this intersection in a territory that’s he’s familiar with and should have known the dangers that potentially exist,” Perry said speaking about the 10 crashes that had occurred at this intersection in the last 3 years.
An internal ‘investigation’ said that Scott’s speed only ‘contributed to the crash,’ but that Dillon’s failure to yield was to blame. However, according to Dillon’s aunt, he could not see the trooper.
Recently released dashcam video of the crash backs up Dillon’s claim of not being able to see Scott approaching. As Scott sped up the hill on that dark highway, Dillon had no way of seeing or reacting fast enough to the trooper’s car travelling at such a high speed.
After watching the dashcam footage, you can clearly see who was at fault in this scenario. However, Anthony Scott is a privileged member of law enforcement, and, therefore, he is entitled to a privileged form of justice — or injustice rather.
According to the Atlanta-Journal-Constitution,
This week, that former trooper went before a grand jury, which was investigating why he was driving 91 mph on a dark highway in Carroll County seconds before his car collided with that of the teenagers. Anthony Scott made use of a privilege that Georgia extends to law enforcement officers: the officer may choose to make a statement to a grand jury that is deciding whether to indict him for a crime. The statement comes at the end of the proceeding, and no one may challenge it or cross-examine the officer.
Scott took advantage of that privilege and was the concluding witness before the grand jury, District Attorney Pete Skandalakis said.
The grand jury chose not to indict Scott.
“There are no winners here,” Scott’s attorney, Max Pilgrim, said. “This has been harder on him than anything he ever did in the Marine Corps.” Scott saw combat during four years in the Marines.
Scott’s attorney is wrong. There is a clear “winner” here, and it’s the man who is alive and who gets to go home to his family in spite of his criminal negligence.
Because Scott was a cop — he will not face any consequences for killing two kids and paralyzing another — and we call this the ‘justice system.’
“The officer chose to speed. The officer chose to do this,” Lena Wall, Dillon’s aunt, said Thursday. “And his choice killed two people.”
Imagine for a moment that this was your nephew or son, or these two beautiful girls were your daughters. The emptiness and hopeless feeling from watching the man responsible for killing your child get off scot-free would be overwhelming.
To add insult to death, Scott was elected to city council three months after killing young Kylie and Isabella. Now, after the lack of charges, he can even return to law enforcement.
His attorney said that Scott is eager to move on, but will never be able to fully get over his remorse.
“When his daughter starts driving, he’s going to remember it, and he’s going to have to live with it,” Pilgrim said.
Well, he should have to live with it. Had he not been negligently driving nearly 40 mph over the speed limit, on a rainy night, those kids would be alive today.
Watch the video below:
