http://www.caller.com/news/2008/jun/14/judge-to-get-ticket-on-lane-violation/

Is anyone else outraged by this?

quote:

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CORPUS CHRISTI — District Judge J. Manuel Bañales will receive a traffic ticket but no criminal charges are being considered in his June 5 collision with a highway department worker, a police captain said Friday.

The judge's Cadillac DeVille was traveling 71 mph six seconds before the collision, according to information downloaded Friday from an electronic information storage device in the car known as a "black box," police Capt. Mike McKinney said. Black boxes are standard on recent-model cars.

The collision occurred on a curve where the posted recommended speed is 40 mph, but the legal limit is 65 mph, McKinney said. The recommended speeds on curves such as the accident site are on yellow advisory signs posted by the Texas Department of Transportation to increase safety, but are not enforceable, McKinney said.

The offense in the citation will be failure to maintain a single lane of travel, a Class C misdemeanor issued when a driver weaves or veers off the road, McKinney said. The offense won't be speeding; the car was traveling 6 mph over the speed limit and the police department normally doesn't cite for that amount at freeway speeds, he said. McKinney said the ticket likely will be issued Monday.

The accident occurred about 2:45 p.m. June 5 as Bañales entered the ramp connecting South Padre Island Drive to southbound Interstate 37. Police said his car slid off the pavement and struck Martin Garcia, 34, who remains in serious condition at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial's intensive care unit. Bañales' car also hit a pole and a transportation truck near Garcia, a Texas Department of Transportation employee.

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I know what I'm doing if I'm a lawyer and I ever have a case in front of him...

Knew that was coming.

Teflon, bullet-proof, hispanic politicos and power -brokers in this town who think they are above the law make me sick....and they are everywhere.

I'm enraged by this, but I live in MS and we have our own problems. Did live in CC for 12 years though, before in was consumed by our friends from the south.

"57"

A 34-year-old transportation department worker critically injured after a car driven by District Judge J. Manuel Bañales slid off the pavement and hit him was taken to an Austin hospital Wednesday for further surgery.

Martin Garcia was crouched next to a Texas Department of Transportation heavy-duty pickup parked near a ramp connecting Padre Island Drive to southbound Interstate 37 when he was struck June 5.

Garcia was hospitalized at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial until Wednesday, when he was taken to Brackenridge Hospital in Austin for surgery related to pelvic injuries, highway department spokesman Cliff Bost said. Garcia arrived at the Austin facility Wednesday afternoon.

Friday, Houston attorney Richard Mithoff, who is representing Garcia and his family, said Garcia's once critical condition had improved and that doctors were further stabilizing him before moving him to another facility for advanced surgery related to "multiple and serious pelvic fractures."

Mithoff said Friday that Garcia was off of a ventilator and conscious but not alert. Garcia also suffered an injured left knee and lower leg, punctured intestines and fluid buildup in his lungs, Mithoff said.

Bañales received a traffic ticket for "unsafe change from a direct course," a Class C misdemeanor citation related to the accident, police said.

Mithoff is a bad@ss mofo. One of his associates is an Aggie. Glad the family went outside of C-town for a lawyer.

Word to my peeps on the southside.

That ramp is a hazard because nobody drives the posted speed and there is always gravel lying around. So if you have to slow down suddenly you have a problem.

As for charging Banales with something more serious, ask yourself if you would want them to charge somebody who was not a judge with aggravated assault for driving in the same fashion that everybody else does. The choice in charges is either the class c misdemeanor or a third degree felony. There may be a wreckless driving charge somewhere in between.

But if you go out there and watch the traffic, everybody goes through there too fast to stop if something pops up.

The best way to handle it is to charge him with the traffic offense and let them work it out as a civil matter, which is the only way the guy who got hurt will benefit anyway.


And I will second the bit about the Houston lawyer. He is very good.

I drove past that accident pretty soon after it happened (the cops had just arrived). The cars were just clumps of metal and I thought for sure everyone involved was dead. This makes me so angry!!!