Outrageous!

/rant on

We went to court this morning, Kent was testifying against the guy who hit him while Kent was crossing the street. We showed up and while we were getting out of the car Kent said, "There's the truck that hit me." as a big white truck pulled into the parking lot. As the guy got out Kent said, "And there's the guy that was driving." We went into the courthouse and waited in the foyer. We never saw the guy come into the courthouse so are not quite sure what happened to him. After about 15 minutes a man and a police officer came up to Kent and asked who he was. After he introduced himself to us as the city attorney assigned to the case (Kent recognized the officer as the one who took his statement after the incident) he told Kent unfortunately he didn't feel there was enough evidence to go forward with the case so they were going to dismiss it and they didn't need Kent to testify. Kent was upset and asked how that could be, didn't it matter that he could identify the truck? The attorney said no because people can lend their vehicles to others, the guy had never confessed and they didn't have a 100% identification of the guy driving. Kent asked if the guy had said he had loaned it out and the attorney said no, but that didn't matter. He offered to sign Kent's summons so Kent could receive his $15 witness fee, to which Kent said, "Do whatever you need to but I am not going to turn this in to get money I didn't earn."

Flashback: About three weeks after the incident Kent called the city attorney's office to found out what was going to happen with the case. He still had friends there from when he worked as a process server. The secretary/friend told him that they hadn't received anything about the incident yet and she would send an e-mail to the office asking about his report. Another month goes by and Kent hasn't heard anything so he calls back and is told they still don't have a report so she will send another e-mail to the officer ccing his supervisor. A month and a half goes by and Kent is finally summoned to testify. The day before the court hearing I called like I was supposed to, to make sure the case was still on and hadn't been dismissed or settled; it was still going forward.

So this is what I think happened: The officer didn't care much about the case because Kent was an older guy who really didn't get hurt so put off filing the report until his supervisor was made aware of it. The attorney didn't even read the case file until the morning of the hearing so never took the initiative to bring Kent in for a line-up or go over the details Kent so readily remembered, hence why the case was still on the day before when I called and why they didn't have enough evidence to go forward (if he had read the case file before today they could have gathered the necessary evidence). Both the police officer and the attorney didn't do their jobs and now the guy who almost ran down Kent is free without so much as a slap on the wrist.

I have a lot of faith in the Judicial system but I am outraged at what has happened here today. Our city does not have a high violent crime rate so the officers are not overtaxed taking care of murders, drug dealers and rapists. Why couldn't they take the time to look into this? If Kent had been elderly, he would be dead. If Kent had been deaf, he would be dead. If Kent had been a child, he would be dead. And that is my biggest concern, that this guy is going to think he got away with something, continue to speed down streets and one day hit and kill someone. I feel the officer and attorney dropped the ball and now something much more serious is going to have to happen for them to care and take this guy seriously.

I am just really upset. Kent hopes at least the guy got an attorney so is out some money.

/rant off

After leaving the court house I asked Kent if we could go to the grocery store, Mom H. was watching Kent III and I wanted to be able to just run in and out with what I needed. (It never ceases to amaze me how much extra time errands take when you take along 'lil ones. And as guilty as I feel sometimes, it is nice to go to the store alone.) Kent III did pretty good while with Mom H. He was fine up until about 15 minutes before we showed up and then started getting tired so started getting cranky. And about 5 minutes before we showed up he started getting really cranky. :) He was asleep before we got home. :)

For the first time in a long time I felt prepared for Scouts. I had all the things I needed ready and waiting. I didn't feel rushed or panicked and the Den Meeting went smoothly. Hopefully I will continue to have things together and be prepared prior to 5 minutes before Scouts starts. :)