Texas dad accused of accident revenge killing

Almost anyone could empathize with the sadness, anger and rage a parent would feel after watching their children die in a needless accident. How a person responds to a fatal car accident may not be known until the tragic event occurs.

A Texas father saw his sons die when a car smashed into the back of the disabled truck the boys’ and their father were pushing. One of the boys was killed instantly in the car accident. His brother died at a hospital.

The 31-year-old father was slightly hurt. His wife and daughter inside the truck were uninjured.

Witnesses told police the grieving father left the accident scene and entered his nearby home. The man returned to the site and walked to the car. Gunshots were heard.

The 21-year-old car driver was flown to a hospital where he died. Doctors learned the driver had been intoxicated. A medical examiner determined the driver’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

Authorities found no gun at the scene or in the family home.

The distraught father was arrested, jailed and recently charged with the driver’s murder. A court set bond at $450,000.

A father sits in jail with no way to comfort his remaining family. The suspect may not understand why he is being punished for what other parents might have done in similar circumstances. Thinking the thought and doing the deed – taking a life for a life – have decidedly different consequences, according to the law.

The father’s alleged actions cost him more than two sons. A murder conviction could imprison him for years to come without the companionship of his wife and daughter.

An acceptable course of action would have been a legal one. The impaired driver could have been punished in criminal and civil courts. Wrongful death lawsuits filed on the victims’ behalf might have provided much-needed compensation for the grieving family.

Source: myfoxhouston.com, “Grieving father charged in shooting death of driver,” Alexander Supgul, Feb. 12, 2013