Calif woman gets 6 years for fatal texting crash

[atprm]

why ANYONE would be so farking STUPID to TEXT while driving should have their license REVOKED!! The suggestion of a lobotomy isn't a half bad idea either. :getyou :getyou :slap :getyou :getyou


~*~

Calif woman gets 6 years for fatal texting crash

REDDING, Calif. (AP) - A woman who crashed into a line of stopped vehicles while text-messaging on her cell phone has been sentenced to six years in a California prison for killing a woman in one of the vehicles.

Deborah Matis-Engle was sentenced Friday by a judge in Redding, Calif.

Investigators said Deborah Matis-Engle was speeding and text messaging when she slammed into the vehicles stopped at a construction zone in August 2007.

Shasta County prosecutor Stephanie Bridgett said the 49-year-old woman had paid several bills by cell phone in the moments before the crash.

She was in the middle of one of those transactions when she struck a vehicle that burst into flames, killing 46-year-old Petra Winn.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Stotter said he will appeal.

[hotwheelstx]

Good luck on the appeal. I don't see how it's going to work since this woman had been paying bills by phone in the first place.

I worked for Houston Cellular for almost 10 years before they merged w/Bell South. I can tell you from the day you were hired that if you were "seen" talking on your cell phone while driving you automatically lost your job. NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

You did sign a waiver upon employed to comply with the rule. I've seen it happen several times.

I'm a fanatic about Aggie using the phone in the car. I make him pull over if he wants to call anyone. If I'm in the car, I'll do the calling. I'm usually in the passenger seat.

[dv8grl]

6 years isn't long enough.

[2many]

6 years is not long enough...Should have been more.

[cabby92]

My boss' wife does that all the time, and freely admits it, while laughing. About a year ago someone mysteriously hit her just enough to knock off her side view mirrors. Oddly enough she didn't notice anything about the car that supposedly crossed over into her lane. Yeah, we all believed that story.

[SLance68]

Insurance companies are now checking to see if you were texting or talking on your cell when you are involved in an accident. If you get in an accident just notice how quickly they ask you for your cell number.

I wish that they could lengthen her sentence when her attorney appeals the conviction. It would server her right - she killed someone and got a slap on the wrist.

[whatever]

Just goes to show you how dumb some people are! Its one thing to "talk" on the phone. but the to text. ARE you kidding me!!
She gets to walk away while someone else died. How is that for justice?

[PrincessArky]

6 years isn't long enough.

exactly what I think

[ElleGee]

6 years isn't long enough.

I agree *nod