Text 8103, 35 rader
Skriven 2005-01-27 12:59:26 av Alan Hess
Ärende: asshole in L.A.
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I'm sure you've all heard about the schmuck in L.A. who wanted to commit
suicide, but, not having the balls to do the act himself, decided to go for
"suicide by train" by parking his SUV on the tracks and waiting to be hit.  He
then changed his mind and exited the vehicle, but left it on the tracks, where
it was indeed hit, derailing two trains, killing 11 people, wounding dozens of
others, and psychologically impacting all the survivors, their families, and
the families of those killed.  

Personally, I think suicide is the ultimate right of any human being who
decides he or she has reached his limit.  Fortunately, most people never reach
that point, and many who feel they have can be helped by counseling.  However,
if you're going to commit suicide, you should do it in a way that doesn't
physically endanger or harm others.  There are countless ways for a person to
end his own life by himself (heck, the Internet has plenty of websites and even
newsgroups with how-to advice - I did a Google search out of curiosity after
hearing this story.)  What this man did is no better than what terrorist
homicide bombers do in Israel, Iraq, and elsewhere - he took people who didn't
want to die along with him.  He will be charged with 10 counts of murder
(rightly, IMO), and could face the death penalty (I wouldn't try for that -
this guy wants to die, so the worst punishment for him would be life in prison.
 The death penalty would just give him what he wants - suicide by someone
else's hand.)

Apparently, attempting suicide by train is not that uncommon, from what I've
read.  Nor are idiots who try to beat an oncoming train, because they're too
impatient to wait for the train to go by (then, if they're hit, they or their
survivors sue the railroad, and, somehow, often win.  Of course - who expects a
train to be on railroad tracks, especially at a marked crossing with lights?) 
All such incidents are devastating to train engineers - can you imagine
speeding toward a car, knowing you're going to hit it, and there isn't a damn
thing you can do to prevent it?  Trains don't swerve, nor can they stop on a
dime.  *adh*

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