A Tragedy and Stupidity

Dateline St. Louis – The father of Josh Hancock has taken it upon himself to protect the image of his son. He has filed suit against the restaurant that served Hancock, the towing company whose truck Hancock ran into and the driver whose car was stalled on the expressway.

That certainly makes sense since Josh Hancock, an adult and professional athlete, was entirely incompetent and at the mercy of the restaurant that was holding his mouth open and pouring the drinks down his throat. There is a complaint that Hancock was handed a drink when he walked in the door and was never without a drink until he left. The implication here is that it’s the restaurant/owner/bartender’s fault that Hancock left the restaurant inebriated. Instead, perhaps Mr. Hancock should have taught his son the power of the word “NO”.

What’s missing in this lawsuit is for Dean Hancock (father) to sue the rental car company (keep in mind that Hancock was driving a rental car because he had banged up his own car a couple of days before under what is suspected to be DUI circumstances) for providing keys that would allow a car’s ignition to start for a driver that had been drinking. Then there’s the cell phone company that was negligent because Hancock was driving while talking on the phone. The cell phone should have been programmed to be inoperable when its use is attempted by an intoxicated, car driving moron.

This is so “Your hot coffee spilled on my lap!” crap. I can’t imagine the pain that the Hancock family is going through, and hopefully as a parent I’ll never be put in that position. But that being said, it is high time for everyone to stand up and take responsibility for their actions. We are a very forgiving society. “I’m sorry” cures a lot of ills and begins the healing process. Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Josh Hancock’s family all want to blame other people because they are idiots.

Thank god that Hancock only killed himself. There was the owner of a stalled out car (caused by being cut off by another driver) and a tow truck driver trying to assist the stalled vehicle that were at risk. There were countless other drivers and pedestrians out and about that night that Hancock could have run into.

When I first heard about the lawsuit, I assumed it was the tow truck company or stalled car driver suing the estate of Hancock because they figured he was a millionaire ballplayer. My gut reaction was “C’mon guys, the guy died and no one else was hurt.” But by comparison, that lawsuit would make a hell of a lot more sense than Hancock’s estate suing a restaurant, tow truck company and driver of a disabled car.

Instead of throwing the case out of court, the judge should rule that Hancock’s estate should make a sizable contribution to MADD.