Tragic: Driver - whose son was killed the day before in car accident - intentionally plows into HS XC runners, killing two in Ok

ummm... wrote:

Not sure exactly what you're supposed to do to defend yourself from a drunk, homicidal man in a truck intentional ramming your team at high speed on a wide street in a 25 MPH school zone.

A person is far slower than a car, but far more mobile. If a car comes straight at you, then you just jump out of the way. That said, in a homicidal situation like this, if the car is driving normal and suddenly swerves at you it's easy to imagine it being hard to react in time.

Another piece of advice, watch the wheels. Its much easier to see changes in momentum and direction there before its evident elsewhere.

Very sad overall, and odd. I guess psycho snapping is the only thing that makes sense. It's not like his son was killed by a runner or something.

Guys, you don't have to "couldn't be me" every tragedy. Sometimes things happen, and it can happen to you, too.

Parsec wrote:

ummm... wrote:

Not sure exactly what you're supposed to do to defend yourself from a drunk, homicidal man in a truck intentional ramming your team at high speed on a wide street in a 25 MPH school zone.

A person is far slower than a car, but far more mobile. If a car comes straight at you, then you just jump out of the way. That said, in a homicidal situation like this, if the car is driving normal and suddenly swerves at you it's easy to imagine it being hard to react in time.

Another piece of advice, watch the wheels. Its much easier to see changes in momentum and direction there before its evident elsewhere.

Very sad overall, and odd. I guess psycho snapping is the only thing that makes sense. It's not like his son was killed by a runner or something.

You know nothing about what happened and you’re offering advice on how to avoid someone intentionally plowing into with their car. This is almost like preaching to a civilian’s family in a war zone how their loved ones should have avoided a ballistic missile.

Ho Hum wrote:

Guys, you don't have to "couldn't be me" every tragedy. Sometimes things happen, and it can happen to you, too.

Well, this shouldn't have happened. How this guy even had a driver's license is beyond me.

What do we do now? wrote:

Is this when we call congress to ban alcohol, ban vehicles, or make it illegal to combine the two?

Fu*k off - this is not the thread for this tangential political rant.

What do we do now? wrote:

Is this when we call congress to ban alcohol, ban vehicles, or make it illegal to combine the two?

On a more serious note, this really makes me mad. Luckily these things don't happen as often as they potentially could, but it'd be so much better if there were more bike paths and running paths completely separated from road ways.

Isn't it already illegal to combine the two?

This is terrible, and my heart goes out to these athletes and their families. I spent a lot of time biking and running the roads of Oklahoma during college and am not entirely surprised something like this would happen out there. I can't tell you how many times some drunk redneck in a giant truck would fly past and either shout some insult or throw a beer bottle while riding my bike on some back road.

600yd/600m man wrote:

ummm... wrote:

Not sure exactly what you're supposed to do to defend yourself from a drunk, homicidal man in a truck intentional ramming your team at high speed on a wide street in a 25 MPH school zone.

Drive your middle and distance runners to a park to run.

No. Life is beautiful. And incidents like this, unfortunately, are just a part of life that cannot be avoided.

Remember... as hard it is to believe sometimes, there is PLENTY more love in this world than hate. Keep loving. Much love to all those reading this :)

"Max Townsend has a lengthy criminal history in Oklahoma that includes multiple convictions for driving under the influence, public intoxication, possession of drugs and stolen property, stalking and child abuse, court records show. He served time in prison on convictions for child abuse, receiving stolen property and possession of drugs, but was released in 2009, state prison records show."

Brojos -- this is not a real news outlet, but if it was the title of this thread would never be allowed. If a real news outlet printed an article stating that the driver "intentionally plows" into high school cross country runners it is basically convicting the driver without a trial. There is no way the OP (or anyone) can know what the driver's mindset was. The driver's defense could rightfully claim that he could not receive a fair trial due to being convicted in the press. You also gotta be careful about civil suits allowing this kind of headline to be printed on your site. In other words, the driver could sue Letsrun.

WTF am I missing? I've read nothing that says this was intentional. Is it possible he was blind-drunk as it seems he spent a lot of his life in that condition. Also, bad photo for OU there. Bet they wish that license plate wasn't on the front of his truck.

"Tragic: Driver - whose son was killed the day before in car accident - intentionally plows into HS XC runners, killing two in Ok"

Les wrote:

Brojos -- this is not a real news outlet, but if it was the title of this thread would never be allowed. If a real news outlet printed an article stating that the driver "intentionally plows" into high school cross country runners it is basically convicting the driver without a trial. There is no way the OP (or anyone) can know what the driver's mindset was. The driver's defense could rightfully claim that he could not receive a fair trial due to being convicted in the press. You also gotta be careful about civil suits allowing this kind of headline to be printed on your site. In other words, the driver could sue Letsrun.

Regardless of his "intent", this guy should never see the light of day again. When a person habitually drives under the influence, this is the inevitable result. My cousin was killed by a drunk driver with four priors.

bacilliusrectium wrote:

WTF am I missing? I've read nothing that says this was intentional. Is it possible he was blind-drunk as it seems he spent a lot of his life in that condition. Also, bad photo for OU there. Bet they wish that license plate wasn't on the front of his truck.

You might be surprised at the number of "medical events" out there on the roads. Not saying in this case. And of course police won't cite the driver = just an accident.

There are plenty of older and unhealthy drivers (stroke victims, etc) that shouldn't be on the roads, but are. Police won't even ticket = just an accident if booze isn't involved.

These people are FAR more common than this rampage driver.

Again, medical event drivers will get off, even if a pedestrian is killed = just an accident.

Finally, heartfelt condolences to the people of Moore, OK.

Context matters. Talking about how to defend oneself from cars is amid acceptable discussion.

Speculating about this incident, especially to victims or their families certainly is not.

In this case I'm talking to a random forum poster, not victims or related family members, with a specific reply about the general case of how one can better defend themselves from a car.

That's a perfectly reasonable topic of discussion.

It's possible this dude became angry and depressed after the loss of his son. Then he decided to take out his anger on the world by deliberately inflicting misery on others.

This happens often on a lesser scale when depressed people decide to troll and attack others because of the frustrations in their own lives.

He's a danger to the public and should be locked up. He probably has no morals and might think we're all just useless animals on the street.

ChillHop wrote:

why ask if it's not relevant then.

Do you want to make your next post bragging about how you always run against the traffic.

It's incredibly relevant. I coach a group of XC runners. I like to get as much information about things like this as I can. Bragging no, scared yes. Extremely sad yes on a level I can't describe to someone that does not have children or coaches.

Yes, some things are very unavoidable. But if I find out they were running with traffic, I will be sure to use it as fuel to get my athletes to run against traffic because I want to minimize the chances of something like this happening to them.

Parsec wrote:

Talking about how to defend oneself from cars is amid acceptable discussion.

And pointing out that " If a car comes straight at you, then you just jump out of the way" is an amazingly vacious response is equally valid.

Just think how few pedestrians would be fatally struck by cars if they just thought to get out of the way!

Lemme add one from the same batch -- if ya don't wanna get pregnant, don't have unsafe sex! Or any sex! YA YA YA YA YA!

You might be surprised at the number of murderous drivers out there who falsely claim impossible-to-disprove "medical events" as a way to avoid culpability, and the lazy, behind-the-windshield-perspective police who refuse to do any real investigative work and are only too happy to buy these BS excuses so they can close a case.

Again, blatantly lying about a "medical event" will get drivers off, even if pedestrians, cyclists, or other motorists are killed.