I feel so bad for this old man - George Russell

mckayleesmom wrote: This is the old man that lost control of his car and drove through the Santa Monica Farmer's Market...leaving 10 people dead. I just feel so bad for him and I hope that they don't put him in Jail ...he is already 89 years old and it wasn't done on purpose. If you ask me, there are alot of other people in this equation that could be blamed also. Where was his family and why weren't they taking care of him? How about the City for giving him a licence? What is putting an 89 year old man in jail really going to do? He is already beating himself up over it. He knows he did wrong...there has to be something else besides jail.


Tape Shows Weller After Market Crash
Looking disoriented at times in an interview soon after the tragedy in Santa Monica, he says he tried 'everything, anything' to stop his car.
By John Spano and Michael Muskal, Times Staff Writers
September 26, 2006


More than an hour after he drove through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market, leaving 10 people dead, George Russell Weller sat in a stark room at the police station shrouded in misery and frustration.

"In that course of that one block, I knocked over those stands and hit those people," Weller, then 86, said the day of the 2003 tragedy. "When I finally came to a rest, [I said,] my God, what have I done?"

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Weller's videotaped interview with police was released to the media Monday by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, but was seen last week by jurors in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson.

Weller, 89, is charged with 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter and faces 18 years in prison if convicted. The facts are not in dispute, so jurors must decide whether the July 16, 2003, incident was an accident or a crime that could effectively put Weller in jail for the rest of his life.

Prosecutors say he drove his 1992 Buick more than 800 feet through the market, on Arizona Avenue between 2nd and 4th streets, disregarding the people he hit. The defense contends that Weller suffered a catastrophic instance of "pedal error," mistaking the gas pedal for the brake. National safety experts have cited thousands of such instances.

For both sides, the tape presents important evidence of how Weller behaved shortly after the crash in Santa Monica, where he has lived for 52 years.

On the tape, Weller sits scrunched into a corner, frequently playing with his cane and sometimes appearing disoriented. His arm often rests on a table that seems to fill the tiny interrogation room. The camera presents the interview from a distant angle.

Weller is remorseful as he calmly answers investigators' questions. He repeatedly says that he did not know what happened.

"And right to this moment, I can't tell you from the moment that car accelerated," he said.

"To the best of my knowledge, I tried everything that you do to an automobile and tried to put on the foot brake. I tried to take my foot off of the gas; I tried to take the control knob and jam it into park. Everything, anything that I thought would stop the action of the car, I tried in that block, unsuccessfully," he said.

"Was your foot on the accelerator, sir?" asked Eddie Chavez, identified on the transcript as a California Highway Patrol investigator.

"I don't know. And I don't … I'm not being capricious in my answer on that. The car was going. And if my foot was on the accelerator, it would have never … I never, never drive at the speed that that thing accelerated to," Weller said.

The fate of those he hit was also on Weller's mind.

"And I went through that place, and God help the poor people that were in there. And do you have any feedback from what happened there?"

Later, Weller appears even more saddened:

"But, God almighty, those poor people. Poor, poor, tragic people. I had, I have the feeling that they were just down there for the value of the thing in the first place because the prices were good. And what a tragic ending to their outing, and I contributed to it, which is just almost more than I can figure out."

Last week, the jurors heard Weller describe the last time he renewed his California driving license. He told police that he took a written test but wasn't required to show that he could drive safely.

"I lucked out," Weller said on the tape.

"I passed the written test, high enough to where they didn't ask me to take a drive, particularly at my age," Weller said.

The trial is expected to take several more weeks.

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john.spano@latimes.com

mom2my2cuties replied: That story was very sad.

C&K*s Mommie replied: Pointing fingers will get no one anywhere. It is terribly sad that innocent people lost their lives, and just as sad that he is so remorseful since it was not intentional. I feel badly for each of the surviving family members of those who lost their lives, and for Weller and his family.

amymom replied: I am at work but read this and had to reply.

Well this hits way to close to home. My MIL is 88 years old and we live with her because she is not able to a lot of things for herself. However, she insists on still driving. She has not had a driving test since she got her license (over 60 years ago). She admits that she has never been a good driver HOWEVER when I discuss with her that she stop driving she laughs at me. She tells her doctors she is fine driving, and they go along with it. I express my concerns but I am the nagging DIL. She usually only drives one block to go to church on Sundays and 1 mile to get her hair done every Friday. She thinks her concern should be whether she will find her way back home again. Whereas my concern is what she may hit! About six months ago she told me she was going to a party about 12 miles from here. I told her No and I would drive her, we argued for a good long while she kept telling me she would be able to find her way home. Well that wasn’t my concern. Eventually, she waited for me to drive her (boy was I bored at her party lol) But seriously, this is a big concern of mine and I once asked her “How will I know when you can’t drive anymore?” And she tells me she will let me know. Yeah right. Oh boy I could go on and on. It is like dealing with a 2 year old that has control!!!!

I really feel bad for that man, his family and all the would’ve and could’ves but maybe this could have happened to anyone. I keep telling my MIL her reaction time is slower, her vision is worse, everything but how do you take that little bit of independence away when she has NEVER had a ticket, never had an accident (other than the time someone totaled her car when it was parked), and she insists she is fine for driving. I did last winter get her to stop driving when there was snow on the ground, since the glare is hard to see through. So she didn’t drive from January to April, I thought I had won. But found out she would drive when I wasn’t around. Grrrrrrrr BUT I will not allow my children in the car with her. Yet, it is still scary.

I do not have an answer to what to do But I think there should be a mandatory test for people over the age of 75 or so. (Daytime and nightime driving is different too!!!)

mckayleesmom replied:
Sorry Ann...I really meant no offense......Sounds like you need to hide her keys though..

I was saying more on the lines of.....Some old people have no help...and so they have to drive because their families don't take care of them like they should..KWIM. My grandmother lives a couple miles from my mom and she no longer drives unless its urgent...Otherwise my mother picks her up or she has some friends that take her where she needs to go. A couple of my grandma's friends live accross the street from my mom and if it wasn't for my mom...they would be driving...even though they can barely take care of themselves. One of them has a son that thinks that all he has to do is send money......But its not just about money....they need help or they need to be taken somewhere that they can get some help.

I definantly think that after a certain age the persons health, and ability to pass the driving part of a test need to be taken into consideration. For example..before my grandpa passed away.....he looked very young for his 80 years, he delivered meals on wheels to the elderly and took care of my grandma. He was doing these things a week before an emergency bypass and he ended up dying. Everyong thought he was healthy as a horse and it simply wasn't true.....you couldn't see inside him. He could have had a heart attack.....he could have been this man. He could have drove his meals on wheels van through a crowd of people having a heart attack.

A while back there was a lady at Walmart that backed over those people. There have been a couple instances where there were bus drivers that had health problems with children on board.

Witnesses said the man seemed confused and disoriented....probably so given the circumstances.

I just think that people are always quick to ask why all these really old people are driving.....Ive said it myself, but sometimes we forget to ask why they need to drive in the first place....

Sometimes its stubborness and sometimes they don't have a choice.

Technically...I don't think it would be such a bad idea to have to get a health screening for everyone every couple years in order to keep your licence.....Alot of lives could be saved in my opinion.

luvmykids replied: It breaks my heart, both for the people killed and Mr. Walker.

I agree with Anne, mandatory tests should be given after a certain age and other health conditions should be taken into account also. My 86 year old grandmother was able to renew hers through the mail and her new license is good for 10 YEARS!

amymom replied: Brianne I did not take it personally I just feel for all those families involved.
Monica my MIL license will expire when she is 98 Years old!!!

Yup family is a big part of it. And I know if I wasn't around my DH would not help his mom much if at all. His brother visits her 1 time peryear IF I force him by calling him and telling him to come see her. The last time he was here, it was a Sunday morning and there was snow on the ground, I told them both to go to church with her, when I got home from my church, she was gone had driven herself to church and they were fixing her gas fireplace to not work because they believe that is bad for her health. I said: "WTH are you guys thinking, she is out driving a 2000 lb machine and she can't see with all this glare and you are worried about whether a fireplace that she loves will make her breathing harder. She is 88 years old let her enjoy her fireplace if it hurts anyone it hurts her and if she runs over some little kid and YOU could have driven her that will be bad" So they walked up to her church so she wouldn't have to drive home. But come on what were they thinking????

Oh and Brianne --- my MIL imagine McKAylee with the power to do whatever she wants whenever she wants because she is not dependant!!!!! ugh!!! if it weren't so sad it would be funny

Boo&BugsMom replied: Poor man, and poor families for dealing with these deaths. I have always thought that driving tests should be given every year after you reach a certain age and other things should be taken into account. I think it should be mandatory. There are many people on the road that shouldn't be driving. It's bad enough how many drunk drivers there are out there.

I remember as a little girl driving with my grandma and watching her head shake vigerously as she drove, almost knocking down someone's mailbox with the car, and almost taking out a tree while parking. My mom never let me ride with her after that, thank God! My cousin who is dealing with epilepsy and is on A LOT of medications just finally surrendered her license after illegally driving for who knows how long. She has gotten into 4-5 differernt accidents in this last year. Thank God nobody has ever been injured or killed by her.

MoonMama replied:
I agree.

holley79 replied: That is so terribly sad. I dont' think a jail sentence is what is needed in this case. The man is 89 years old and he did not do it on purpose. You aren't looking at a person under the influence, which is what the vehicular manslaughter charge is normally used for.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Hopefully they are just going through the motions and everything in the end will turn out ok for him. I don't see how sending him to jail will do any good for him either. Not at his age anyways.

Nina J replied: I feel bad for him too. But, there are people who are 80 and onwards that are extremly able, just as good at driving and everything as when they were 45. There are probably alot of people under 40 who lost control of there cars and accidently killed someone, but they have to face the consequences.

I'm really torn on this. A big part of me feels so sorry for Mr. Walker, it was obviously an accident and he doesn't deserve to spend the rest of his life in jail.

Yet, you can say he didn't do it on purpose, it's not fair for him to go to jail. Think of all the other people who are younger who accidently hit someone and killed them, they would have had to face the law. It's not fair to let someone off for exactly the same thing that someone else suffered the consequences for.

It's all very sad, I feel for Mr. Walker and the families of those who died