A Duty of Care

[Peterkro]

Man cooked in van:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/14/australia-aborigine-cooked-prison-van
:mad:

[mac88]

Whoops! :eek: Third degree burns? That is unfortunate and unreal that this happened.

[Gelfin]

Joe Arpaio is taking notes.

[skunk]

Whoops! :eek: Third degree burns? That is unfortunate and unreal that this happened."Unfortunate" hardly does it justice.

[maestro55]

I hope the security guards and the private company being paid are prosecuted for this and that they are no longer allowed to transport prisoners. But even then, I am not sure if justice will be served.

[Don't panic]

I hope the security guards and the private company being paid are prosecuted for this and that they are no longer allowed to transport prisoners. But even then, I am not sure if justice will be served.

i would imagine a charge of murder (or manslaughter as a minimum) is warranted.

[63dot]

i would imagine a charge of murder (or manslaughter as a minimum) is warranted.

If grave bodily damage and intent can be found concurrently, then possibly murder 2 or the equivalent in Australia. Chances are if the outcome was unforeseen, then it's felony manslaughter.

[Tomorrow]

"Unfortunate" hardly does it justice.

Beyond "unfortunate" - I'd say "reprehensible."

If grave bodily damage and intent can be found concurrently, then possibly murder 2 or the equivalent in Australia. Chances are if the outcome was unforeseen, then it's felony manslaughter.

Didn't the article say the driver heard a "thud" coming from the back? Seems they would have known something was amiss?

Not to mention that 250 miles in a vehicle that hot with 1 pint of water...sheesh.

I was on the roof of a building with another engineer today, cooling towers spewing out hot, humid air as quickly as you please, a hot south wind at around 40 or so mph (at that elevation), generators belching out hot exhaust, and a 90+ degree F day here in north Texas - and about 45 minutes was all I could stand. And my wife's car's AC isn't working. I drank a 44 oz drink on the way home, and was still thirsty.

This poor man never stood a chance.

[63dot]

Didn't the article say the driver heard a "thud" coming from the back? Seems they would have known something was amiss?

Not to mention that 250 miles in a vehicle that hot with 1 pint of water...sheesh.

I was on the roof of a building with another engineer today, cooling towers spewing out hot, humid air as quickly as you please, a hot south wind at around 40 or so mph (at that elevation), generators belching out hot exhaust, and a 90+ degree F day here in north Texas - and about 45 minutes was all I could stand. And my wife's car's AC isn't working. I drank a 44 oz drink on the way home, and was still thirsty.

This poor man never stood a chance.

At the very least, this homicide (either involuntary manslaughter, voluntary manslaughter, murder 1, or murder 2) and this case is going to carry some criminal form of homicide. There is no doubt that there was a civil breach of duty and this is negligence (which is duty of care, breach of that duty, causation, and damages) but that's in the states.

In Australian common law, we will see how this all pans out. I cannot see this ending without the company going out of business, the perps doing jail time, or both. This is not a slap on the wrist case imho. A homicide case can only be a misdemeanor manslaughter if, let's say, a conductor was operating a train which jumped the tracks, and killed somebody unseen.

The foreseeability of the person in back getting injured was reasonable enough to be beyond a reasonable doubt, thus making this likely a criminal case. If the burden of proof was of a lesser standard, aka preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not), then it's a civil case.

Not sure about Australia, but maybe this will be tried as a criminal case and a civil case, but not necessarily in that order, but both being heard. If I was prosecuting this case, I would give the perps that one-two punch (criminal and civil as in the OJ Simpson case in the states).

[Scepticalscribe]

A horrific case and an attitude of corrosive contempt for the unfortunate (unconvicted) man displayed by the private firm which transported him in such atrocious conditions. I am tempted to conclude the criminal negligence would not have been quite so vicious if the man was not a native Australian. Obviously, it must be investigated and the perpetrators punished, but above all, the underlying cultural attitudes which allowed this to happen need to be addressed, otherwise such appalling cases will happen again.

Cheers

[63dot]

A horrific case and an attitude of corrosive contempt for the unfortunate (unconvicted) man displayed by the private firm which transported him in such atrocious conditions. I am tempted to conclude the criminal negligence would not have been quite so vicious if the man was not a native Australian. Obviously, it must be investigated and the perpetrators punished, but above all, the underlying cultural attitudes which allowed this to happen need to be addressed, otherwise such appalling cases will happen again.

Cheers

It's sad to hear that Australia still has this type of prejudice. As you probably know, our law enforcement in the US is still racially profiling certain groups and this has caused a lot of problems in race relations. Rodney King (where a black man was beat by a lot of cops) is not an isolated incident as this type of behavior still happens all the time. Hiring minority police chiefs has done little to change bad behavior.