Unlicensed Drivers Pose Deadly Danger
Family Suffers Injury, Loss Due To Unlicensed Driver
Last year in South Carolina, 58 people were killed and 2,600 injured by drivers whose licenses had been suspended.
WYFF News 4’s Mike McCormick says in many cases, drivers lost their licenses due to DUI charges or not paying traffic tickets but they continued to drive.
Two of those killed were in Spartanburg County, leaving their families traumatized.
Tasha Holt says she and her mother were in a collision with an unlicensed driver.
She said, “We don’t go out. We don’t go out to eat. We don’t go shopping. We just don’t. It’s safer just to stay home.”
And Holt says it’s all because of who could be driving the cars around her. She worries about unlicensed drivers, especially those whose licenses were suspended.
“Physically and emotionally it affected our family for a long time,” she said.
Holt has a scar that she got when she was 3 and a half. She was hurt when she and her mother were in a collision with an unlicensed driver.
In 2006, her family was once again traumatized by an unlicensed driver.
Holt’s husband was on the side of Cooley Springs Road helping his brother with a broken down van.
She said, “Mike had stepped around to the back of the car and Ricky Lynn Parris ran off of the road, hit the truck, the van, hit Mike, hit three trees, overturned and he got out and walked away. And it killed Mike. He ran over him.”
Parris, a man with 16 prior convictions for driving under suspension, killed Holt’s husband.
Those prior convictions weren’t enough to keep him off the road because the maximum sentence for driving under suspension is six months in jail.
For Holt’s death, Parris was given a 10-year sentence because his actions were proven to be reckless, proof that wasn’t possible for Lily Lenderman’s family.
John Wesley served four months for killing Lenderman’s only grandson, Michael, in 2002.
Wesley, who had been charged with driving under suspension in the past, hit Michael. Investigators said Wesley failed to yield the right of way.
Because recklessness could not be proved, Wesley was only charged with driving under suspension, not homicide.
“The death didn’t come into the picture at all,” Lenderman said.
Lenderman has been fighting for a law that would put unlicensed drivers in prison if they kill or hurt someone, whether the other person was acting recklessly or not.
“I just had a mission,” Lenderman said. “I felt like I could not let his death go for nothing.”
Deputy Solicitor Barry Barnett supports her.
“The only way you can stop them from driving is not to let them out,” Barnett said.
A bill in the house pushes for up to 25 years for death, up to 10 for bodily injury.
Sen. Jim Ritchie is sponsoring a bill that would give up to 10 years in prison for death and up to five for bodily injury.
“This bill puts real teeth in the law and protects families,” Ritchie said. . But State Rep. Todd Rutherford is on the subcommittee that keeps shooting down the bills for two reasons.
One, he says the Department of Motor Vehicles isn’t properly notifying people when their license is suspended and two, he says offenses such as running a stop sign are negligent but don’t show criminal intent even if they cause someone’s death.
Rutherford said, “We just don’t lock people up for simple negligence.”
But Lenderman and others say the real reason the bill keeps getting shot down is because Rutherford is an attorney who’s thinking about winning a case. Rutherford says that’s not true.
Rutherford said, “In fact, as a criminal defense attorney, it would be in my best interest if every crime on the books carried the death penalty. That way everybody would have to hire a lawyer. It is never in our economic interests to stop a bill from becoming a law because people might get in trouble for it.”
In fact, Rutherford said his committee is impressed with the legislation. He’s even coming up with a way to change procedures at the DMV. He said once that happens, there may be less opposition.
Rutherford said, “Before we take away somebody’s liberty we’ve got to get it right.”
Lenderman and Holt think the bill already has it right, saying how can something that may save a life be wrong?
“It’s a shame to have to have death to get people’s attention,” Lenderman said.
Holt said, “If people without licenses would be off the street, my husband would be here today.”
More Information:
To let your representatives know your feelings on the issue, click on the links below, then click on the name of the person and you’ll find their contact information.
Senators: http://www.scstatehouse.net/html-pages/senatebios.html
State Representatives: http://www.scstatehouse.net/html-pages/housebios.html
WYFF 4
February 25, 2008
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