" dan, this surprises you? where have you been? dont you read the news? "

" Dan,
What is failed to be told in this story is that Mr. Stallworths actions didnt cause the accident. It wouldn't have matter if he was drunk or sober, Mr. Reyes tried to illegaly run across the freeway in the pitch black of the morning. Mr. Stallworth could have been completly sober and the outcome wouldve been the same. Mr. Reyes ran directly in front of a car traveling 50 mph, wether your drunk or sober doesn't change how quickly the car will stop, sure it will change your reaction time but in this case reaction time wouldnt have mattered, Thats why he got such a light punishment, because his actions didn't contribute to the death of Mr. Reyes. Mr. Reyes running infront of a car going 50 mph caused his own death. If Mr. Reyes was safely crossing in a crosswalk and Mr. Stallworth ran him over, then it would be a lot different circumstances, with a more severe punishment. So your last sentence of your story is not accurate, he didn't kill someone for his actions of drinking and driving, someone died because of their poor decision to try and run across a freeway in the middle of the night. "

" tiredof:

The crash happened at 7:15 a.m., not the middle of the night. What took place in the middle of the night was Stallworth's drinking.
Stallworth did stop right after striking and killing the pedestrian. He did take responsibility for his actions, and he through his attorneys negotiate a financial settlement with the family of the dead man.
All of those items were factors in a reduced sentence, along with where Mr. Reyes was in the roadway.
Despite those factors, 30 days in jail for causing the death of another is horrific. A direct cause was drinking and driving, an illegal action in the U.S.
A mandatory sentence in Florida for DUI manslaughter was bypassed.
Why?
Face it, if you or I stopped after hitting a man and paid the family for their grief, we'd still get more than 30 days in jail.
My opinion is wearing a face mask and shoulder pads for a living helped Done Stallworth fend off yet another defender. "

" As kingsavage alluded to, there is no surprise here, just the same old same old as Dan and the Register let us know that that they are preaching to their market. The same news source as the Stallworth incident reported at the same time that a full grown man raped a four year old and only got a YEAR in jail, not in prison, but in jail. Where is the outrage over that Dan? I didn't think so!!! JWPeay "

" JWPeay:
Read some of my previous columns and you'll see I took local legal beagles to task for what I felt were light sentences for locals convicted of child molestation.
And as you know from our conversations that I am a former sports editor and still a sports junkie, so the Stallworth resolution was a chance for me to jump on my sentencing-bandwagon again. "

" Dan, your bandwagon must be a subcompact, because I haven't seen evidence of anyone being on it except Stallworth. Besides, local stories do not have the same impact on the American psyche as the national ones. JWPeay "

" To Dan,
To make sure of something here, Was Mr. Reyes Illegally trying to run across a freeway? And by illegally running across a freeway, did that put his life in direct mortal danger of being hit by a car traveling the speed cars travel on the freeway? Mr. Stallworth was dui, but its not like he jumped a curb and hit someone on the sidewalk, or ran a red light and plowed into someone. If he was so in the wrong then why would the family not press for a worst punishment and just accept his money, Why would the public not be in such an outrage? I don't know the laws of Flordia, I understand your claim that he got off because he wears shouder pads, But if he did get off, then it was because he has money. But I also believe because Mr. Reyes did something that put his life in direct danger was a factor of why Mr. Stallworth recieved a lighter sentence "

" I'm sure the family will end up with a large part of that $4.5 million. If they threw him in jail instead of letting him earn that money to pay the family, how would that help anyone? "

" Interesting to compare this with the person drunk driving here last year that resulted in a woman having her legs amputated last year. If you go back and read the articles, for example

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/02/07/news/local/doc47aabc95e4442607939612.txt

you will see that it was reported that the injured person was doing something both illegal and unsafe when she was hit by the drunk driver: double parking. Tiredofcomplaining strongly takes Stallworth's side here but struck a markedly different tone in the comment section here a year ago with the other incident even defending Stallworth with driving in the "pitch black" even though the sun rose at 7:30AM in Miami Beach according to almanac.com, defending his driving 50mph even though it was in a 40mph zone, and "running in front" of the car going 50mph even though the police report says something very different:

"Stallworth drove his Bentley around a stopped vehicle to beat a red light and struck 59-year old Mario Reyes, who was walking to a bus stop from work as an overnight crane operator, the newspaper said." http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2009/06/16/Stallworth-pleads-guilty-to-manslaughter/UPI-64531245170350/

With this in mind, Tiredofcomplaining's last line "your last sentence of your story is not accurate, he didn't kill someone for his actions of drinking and driving, someone died because of their poor decision to try and run across a freeway in the middle of the night" is a sad way to view death in that a person jaywalking bears all of the fault for being hit by a person speeding around a stopped car to beat a red light with a blood alcohol level 50% above the legal limit. Sad indeed. "

" There is another piece of info missing, Stallworth immediately stop, called 911, and did everything you would want a guilty person to do at the scene of an accident.
His actions of taking responsibility, not fleeing, cooperating with police, addressing the family immediately, etc. etc. led to this apparent soft-scentance.

Honestly, isnt it refressing to see someone act like this? Own up to thier actions instead of blaming everything from thier parents to society? How many of us would have fled the scene, never called 911, done everything we could to avoid the consiquences, etc??

Its a crappy situation sure,and he will do some time, he will pay the family some compensation, and he will live with this the rest of his life.

Crying about special treatment because of his celebrity status is tabloid journalism at best. There is more to this story. "

" Well in the big picture, he got more time than Ted Kennedy. Bottom line is this guy was driving drunk. Drinking impairs judgement and reaction time. I agree with Dan that this guy should have got more punishment. Actully Ted Kennedy should have got 10 years or more, but the voters of Massachusetts have rewarded him for his behavior. "