There’s so much to be mad about that tonight I’m just plain sad. Dispirited. Disillusioned.
Let’s take a few recent events by the numbers:
:: Two dead, one badly injured
That would be the aftermath of the horrible, horrifying crash on the 23rd Street ramp off I-435 Sunday afternoon.
A dickhead driving a black pick-up barreled down the northbound ramp about 3:40 p.m. and plowed into the back of a stopped SUV. Indications are the driver of the pick-up made no attempt to stop. The force of the crash thrust the SUV into two eastbound vehicles, including a red Hyundai. A beautiful 16-year-old girl in the SUV, Emely Raudales of Shawnee — a student at Turner High School — was killed on impact. Emely’s father, Geovanny Raudales, is hospitalized in critical condition. He suffered a brain injury.
A 3-year-old Independence girl, Ryan Hampel, who was riding in the Hyundai, was also killed.
The pick-up and the SUV continued across the four lanes of 23rd Street and crashed into a stone wall. Video taken at the scene by a bystander shows the driver of the pick-up — a scruffy guy with an unkempt beard and wearing scuffed boots and long red, polyester shorts — walking around picking up broken pieces from his truck and finally kicking a large piece.
He doesn’t appear to be the least bit interested in the havoc he just wrought on the lives of the other two families.
And one of the most disturbing things about this? Video and still photos appear to show he was flying a large American flag from his truck.
That flag must have been flapping hard and fast as this patriot flew down that ramp without a care in the world for anyone else in the world.
The patriot was questioned and released, but I fully expect charges to be filed. In the video, his reactions are those of a person in an altered state. Before the crash, witnesses told police, he was speeding and weaving in and out of traffic, presumably on I-435.
…Like I’ve said, every day we are out on the roads, we are all sitting ducks for the many irresponsible, law-breaking assholes out there. We need a lot more traffic enforcement. A lot.
:: Eight months.
That’s how long Randy Potter’s body sat unnoticed, in his vehicle, in Economy Lot B at KCI.
…Thank you, SP+ Corp., for running such a tight ship!
Here are some things about the company…Until December 2013, it was known as Standard Parking Corp., a more familiar name perhaps. Its headquarters is in the Aon Center, formerly the Standard Oil Building (or Big Stan) in downtown Chicago.
According to Wikipedia, SP+ manages more than one million parking spaces across the United States and Canada. It employs more than 26,000 people to manage 4,200 parking facilities, as well as parking and shuttle bus operations at 75 airports.
Yeah, boy, that sure is a big company. Mighty impressive. Twenty-six thousand employees…But nobody notices a truck parked in B Lot for eight months? I wonder if all 26,000 employees are sleep walking?
:: Ten days
That’s how much jail time Missouri Highway Patrol Trooper Anthony Piercy got for bouncing Brandon Ellingson out of his speeding Water Patrol boat on May 31, 2014, and then watching Ellingson thrash around in the Lake of the Ozarks waters and ultimately drown.
The Star’s Laura Bauer has done a great job of covering this debacle from the outset. I said two years ago Brandon’s family was going to be victimized again — the second time by a little-known dance called “the Ozarks Shuffle.” And that’s exactly what happened. The case was kicked around from one judge to another, one prosecutor to another, and ultimately Piercy was charged with a misdemeanor boating violation.
(Piercy also got two years of supervised probation and was ordered to complete 50 hours of community service.)
If it weren’t for Bauer’s dogged reporting and the strength and perseverance of Brandon’s father, Craig Ellingson of Clive, Iowa, no charges would have been filed and the case would have drifted away like a stray cloud.
“Ten days is like a vacation,” Craig Ellingson said after the sentencing. “It’s a joke.He knows he’s guilty and he’s damn lucky to get what he got.”
**
I guess that’s more than enough negativity for tonight. Sorry, but I can’t let these things go. My heart goes out to those who lost their lives and to the survivors and to the family members whose lives have been upended. And I think again, how lucky I am to be sitting here at my keyboard tonight, safe and healthy.
Now, I’m going to bed, and tomorrow I’m going to get up and try to put my Mr. Poztiv pants back on.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Wow! Never heard you so negative. How about a follow-up blog on all the good and positive things going on in your wonderful city…KC.
OK, OK…There is one small section of blue sky today: Public outcry and outrage seems to have killed the attempted ambush of the residents of Leavenworth County. The quietly planned poultry processing plant is on hold. Another turd Gov. Sam Brownback tried to place on Kansans’ dismal plate.
Can we add a charge of animal cruelty to that accident? It’s a wonder the poor dog didn’t get bounced out and become another victim as this contemptible individual barreled down the ramp. What a sorry excuse for a human.
Good point, Gayle…Now that I think about it, there’s no way that dog — if indeed it was in the back of that truck while the driver was weaving in and out of traffic and flying down that ramp — could have stayed on board through the crash. It had to have been bounced out (a la Brandon Ellingson) but came through uninjured and jumped back in the truck with his idiot owner.
How I wish it had taken the opportunity to find a safer, saner owner. That’s the thing about animals, though — they keep going back regardless of the treatment. Very sad.
Yes, too bad young Mr Ellingson wasn’t as lucky.
Thanks, Jim. No sugar-coating needed.
Life is difficult, even horrifying at times.
I feel I have met the driver of that truck, so common the trajectories that lead to such devastating conclusions. His behavior that afternoon has long roots.
The question is “What will I do to help change the trajectory for one child?” You will never know how many lives you may have saved, but do it anyway. Here’s a quote I like from St. Augustine: “Pray like it all depended on God and when you’ve finished, work like it all depended on you.”
Great quote, BB…I’ve been praying a lot. Don’t know if I’ve got the energy to do the work.
At the risk of getting too graphic, I’ll raise the following questions:
Can a dead body sitting in a car really emit an odor 8 months after death? Did it emit an odor the entire 8 months, just the spring and summer months, or just within the last two weeks?
It absolutely defies logic that people (both people parking their cars and airport/SP+ employees) could walk by that big a stench and not notice. That aspect of the story needs to be much better explained. Hopefully, the Star will rise to that task.
Once again, a distracted, possibly impaired driver has caused absolute destruction for two more families. You wont believe it Jim, but my husband and I were at that intersection coming home from the Chiefs game, when the accident occurred. I didn’t see the impact, but I saw debris flying all over the place. It was horrible. Within seconds, good Samaritans were running to help, and several of us called 911. The first responders were doing chest compressions on the little girl right on the sidewalk. We couldn’t see the other cars, they were around the corner from our view. Needless to say, this will stay with us for a long time and it brought back all of what happened last year, when as you know, our son was involved in a similar accident. When are people going to realize that a car is a deadly weapon? Two more innocent lives lost and a man critically injured for what? This has to stop. Our thoughts and prayers go out to these families.
That is unbelievable, Lynne. (I want the readers to know your son was a witness to the Beaird family tragedy at I-70 and Adams Dairy Parkway Labor Day evening 2016. I have written about that several times.)
The video from the 23rd Street crash shows a lot of people gathered around and running the area where the two vehicles with mortally injured people came to a stop. It’s absolutely infuriating to see that worthless piece of crap standing beside his truck, worried only about the detritus of his piece of crap truck. Very hard to stomach.
…I think you hit it on the head when you said many people simply do not appreciate the fact that a car, truck or SUV is indeed a deadly weapon. Combined with excessive speed, it is one of the most dangerous weapons on earth.
Getting the energy we need…
Few retired folks, like us, are balls of fire, but we can do some seemingly-ever-so-small action that has a rippling effect. No need to jump in the deep end, we can just put a toe in and see how we like it.
My experience is that nothing invigorates like helping a child. I’d like to share a couple of ways to volunteer that have one-to-one impact for shaping lives (just 1 hour a week makes a lifetime of difference to these kiddos):
Turn the Page: http://turnthepagekc.org/
Reachout and Read KC: http://www.reachoutandreadkc.org
Help or lose hope, right?
Turn the Page and Reach out and Read look like outstanding volunteer programs, BB. And you’re right, it doesn’t take a lot of energy to give 30 to 60 minutes once a week or so to help raise children’s literacy rate. It might even help agitate their academic aspirations and help keep them become responsible, informed citizens. Thanks…
Sadly, even in the cases of fatalities, Jackson County judges appear to be some of the best money can buy when it comes to impaired drivers.