The driver in the Wimbledon school accident won't be charged?

[RiverF]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw4448xx4keo

It sounds like a unavoidable and unforeseeable medical incident led to the tragedy, but the families wanted justice.

I can't begin to imagine their pain, but this is the right decision?

I'm afraid I've come to that conclusion as well. I can understand it, and I'd probably feel the same, but it doesn't make that right or a good idea.

And exactly who do you think should be challenging and proving this in court? Because that's the job of the CPS - if she'd been over the limit or off her face on drugs they'd be the ones standing up and presenting that evidence. But in this case they are the ones who don't think any crime has been committed. It's their job to figure out if there's enough evidence to go to trial and they don't think there is.

Who do you think should prosecute when the CPS aren't willing to? Fleet Street? Twitter?

This thread is terrifying.

This is the point I’ve been trying to make. People don’t seem to understand that the CPS are the prosecution, not the defence. If there was any challenging of the medical evidence to be done, the CPS would be the ones doing it in court. If they don’t think based on the evidence that a crime has been committed, why would they challenge that evidence in court? It’s nonsensical.

It's crystal clear from this.

'Metropolitan Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland said that having examined her medical records, the driver could not have predicted or prevented the seizure.
She said: 'I can understand that some may be confused - perhaps even feel let down - by this outcome and want to give every reassurance that our officers worked tirelessly through every detail of the incident to ensure a complete investigation be passed to the CPS.
'To bring charges in cases like this there needs to be an element of responsibility on the part of the driver, and, given the circumstances, this was simply not borne out on this occasion.'

This thread is terrifying

Isn't it just.

A guilty pleasure of mine is watching police procedurals like 24 Hours in Police Custody. The police do minute and lengthy investigations into potential crimes to see if there's anything that can be brought to court. Forensics, medical, you name it; and they have consultations with the CPS throughout. If they say there's nothing to indicate responsibility on the part of the driver, then there's nothing there.

@cottonwoolbrain I just wanted to say I totally agree with you and I totally get why you don't like talking about it. I feel embarrassed even though I can't help it. I think it's the knowledge that people presume I wet myself (not always) and the fact I have no recollection of what has happened for hours after. With my most recent one I cannot remember the ambulance at all, or the first few hours in resus.
I had my first seizure in my 40's. It was following a really bad nights sleep (in fact my second had the same reason). The covid jab was a trigger for my next one and actual covid for my most recent one (I only thought I had a mild cold!). This poor woman may very well have had one of these triggers. If she had bitten her tongue and wet herself this would likely indicate a seizure was the cause too.
My subsequent EEG showed abnormal activity and a MRI showed scarring on the brain so these things can show up (although I appreciate this is not always the case).
It's such a sad situation for everyone involved.

We live in a society in which many people are no longer able to grasp the concept of an accident.
Somebody has to be blamed for every sad ,tragic incident that happens nowadays.
Horrific and terrible as this was , and nobody will underestimate the immense suffering of all those involved it was an accident.

Perhaps if she hadn't been driving a huge, fuck off killing machine in an urban area (instead of on a farm where such vehicles belong) the devastation wouldn't have been so great.

This is mad. The normal diagnosis for epilepsy would be 2 seizures but in this case I suspect that'll have started her on an EEG very quickly, which in itself, might prove epileptic spikes in the brain. That in itself would prove epilepsy. It's a medical event like a heart attack or a stroke. The CPS hadn't prosecuted as they know this and know there is no chance of conviction. They'll have investigated though. They aren't just going to ignore it. I feel desperately sad for all parties, but I'm not sure why you're so adamant medical events of all kinds don't happen. And I'm not keen on the car, but it isn't really the time to have a go at a woman who is probably suffering pretty badly

I agree.

I don't think anyone has said this to be honest - people have kept it matter of fact. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-driver-who-killed-two-33113995

This thread is terrifying. 'Prove it in court, prove it in court'...
What the fuck is this utter density?!

There. Was. No. Crime.

It's awful and a world of sympathy to the families but jesus christ, so is the level of stupidity here.

Thank you to all posters who have expended their energy posting exactly this more eloquently than this!

It could have been a loaded removal or delivery van, even larger and heavier. Or perhaps she and her husband have a rural property or regularly drive rurally as well and don't want to have multiple vehicles, quite reasonably. She was driving a legal vehicle in a legal way. I have no dog in this fight - I think those things are too big and fuck ugly to boot, and would have no problem with them being banned from urban areas - but that's never going to happen, because quite rightly governments recognise that as both totally impractical and not their business.

If you want a change in how SUVs are legislated, priced, or taxed, by all means lobby local and central government on this topic, but it is not this driver's job to be a lightning rod for this debate. She didn't do anything wrong.

Possibly, but I doubt we will ever know. However, I would be happy to see a new offence brought to the statute book: Driving A Fucking Great Tank When It's Not Absolutely Necessary.

There are lots of health conditions that affect driving including a number of medication - how many of us would be aware of that?

https://www.gov.uk/health-conditions-and-driving

Er, no. Some have, some haven't.

This is pure speculation. Do you think they really believe that, in a high profile case like this, the police might conceivably have forgotten to check any of those things?

This. The conspiracy theorists that are raging about Jay Slater are alarming.
'Something doesnt add up.'
I think you will find that a young lad off his box walking the wrong way up a mountain after an afterhours adds up precisely.

It always has to be something.

What medical qualifications do you have that mean you feel confident to disagree with the neurologist in this case?

I bet no one on a jury would understand the medical evidence enough to make an informed decision and, based on this thread, they'd more likely be baying for blood.

Also, the people screeching about how ‘she’ (the driver) should have to ‘prove it in court’ (by which I assume they mean her innocence of any crime) - that isn’t how the court system works.

Every person walks into court as innocent. The prosecution then has to prove them guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Nobody ever has to prove they are innocent of an offence - instead the prosecution has to prove they are guilty.

Not only do the people insisting public interest and interest of the public are the same thing want to fundamentally alter when people are charged with crimes, they also want to reverse the burden of proof when those people are dragged to court (but only when a 10 minute tabloid article means they are totes sure the defendant is guilty, of course). Absolutely terrifying.

This. Just take a look at the picture of the vehicle embedded in the front of the school. It's like a Sherman tank.

Vehicles like this are more likely to kill someone due to the fact that they weigh a fucking tonne and have tall front ends that literally trap victims beneath them instead of knocking them to one side.

They pump more toxic gas into the air ultimately affecting children's health and they cause far more damage to roads and pavements than regular vehicles.

There's no justification for driving these in urban areas. None. Whatosever.

If she had had the seizure 5 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later, the outcome would most likely have been very different. It was an accident.

It's the 'hasn't since' bit that worries me. If it's true, prove it in court. Take the deaths of these little ones more seriously

When you say 'more seriously' you mean, of course, subvert the judicial process and find her guilty of something to satisfy your lust for revenge on the parents' behalf.

And how, exactly, do you prove a negative?

Perhaps they should think about it. Perhaps the world should. The problem would be all the well-off people who wield power in the West who would moan be on the uprise at the thought of not being allowed their status symbols, and the motor industry who would blanch at the thought of billions of profit lost.

Bugger the environment! Protect our right to buy or sell whatever we like, no matter what damage it causes or whether we need it.

I was thinking this too, @Scruffily. I honestly believe that the police will have pulled out every stop to find out what caused this accident, and whether the driver was to blame. They are human beings, just like all of us on here, and some of them will have seen the immediate aftermath of the accident, and I am sure they will have been as deeply moved as we all are - I am sure everyone on here would have gone above and beyond to make sure that this had been fully and microscopically examined in every detail, and I am sure the police will have felt the same.