Crime Judge Imposes Lifetime Driving Ban On 17-Year-Old Boy

CRANSTON, R.I. (CBS Connecticut/AP) — A Rhode Island judge says he imposed a lifetime driving ban on a 17-year-old boy after a serious car accident because he wanted to send a message about reckless driving.

Judge William Guglietta revoked Lyle Topa’s license for the rest of his life on Tuesday in connection with the Oct. 23 crash in Charlestown. Topa and three other Chariho High School students were injured when their car crashed into a tree. One passenger was in a coma for weeks. Topa was driving with a suspended license at the time of the accident, according to The Westerly Sun.

Guglietta said Thursday that Rhode Island’s roads are “littered with broken dreams and broken futures” and it’s time for authorities to get serious about dangerous driving.

This article is really vague. It sounds like the Judge is being unfair, but what was the situation? Was the kid going 90 mph in a residential, while DUI? Yes, he had a suspended license, but still...

Darthfett said:

This article is really vague. It sounds like the Judge is being unfair, but what was the situation? Was the kid going 90 mph in a residential, while DUI? Yes, he had a suspended license, but still...

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Topa and three other Chariho High School students were injured when their car crashed into a tree. One passenger was in a coma for weeks.

Darthfett said:

It sounds like the Judge is being unfair

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the judge admits to being unfair when he said he wanted to make an example out of this

Scare tactics? well, I bet he get his driver's license back one day.

Why is this possible, while repeat DUI's are still on the road?

What happened to no unfair punishment?

Either if this was allowed (well, it was) it won't do a single thing. Only person it affects heavily is the kid with the forever suspended license. No one else gives a crap. No one else 'learned a lesson.' Take a look at DUI's. We've all heard of them, and MANY still drink and drive. Hell, even those that have one become repeat offenders. There's no budget to put them all behind bars. It's nearly impossible to bar them all from driving until we install finger print detectors on every car ignition and steering wheel.

FireCat said:

Topa and three other Chariho High School students were injured when their car crashed into a tree. One passenger was in a coma for weeks.

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I read the article. I saw this. Was he going 90mph in a 25mph zone, or 45 in a 45? Was he DUI? There are lots of unanswered questions.

The tree did a sneak attack and suddenly popped up in front of the car.

He drove into a tree with too many passengers and a suspended license. Yes, he should lose his driving privilege.

Eighth amendment not valid now or something?

JerseyFoo said:

He drove into a tree with too many passengers and a suspended license. Yes, he should lose his driving privilege.

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Permanently? Three passengers in a car is not too many, if the car has a back-seat (here again, the article is vague, so who knows).

hell for all we know it could even be the fault of those 3 passengers atleast partially..

Slapshot136 said:

hell for all we know it could even be the fault of those 3 passengers atleast partially..

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Maybe the one kid was already in a coma and they were trying to get him to a hospital?

Unfair ruling is unfair.

xPass said:

Unfair ruling is unfair.

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If you want fair go to the Supreme Court. Otherwise you get him.

Darthfett said:

I read the article. I saw this. Was he going 90mph in a 25mph zone, or 45 in a 45? Was he DUI? There are lots of unanswered questions.

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Topa, who was not wearing a seat belt, was racing another car and driving more than 20 miles per hour over the speed limit when he hit a tree

The impact wrecked his car and put him and his three passengers in hospital. One friend, 16-year-old John LaMotte was in a coma for weeks.

Brian Thweatt, 15, was also seriously injured, while Grover Champlin, 15, was the only one wearing a seat belt and escaped relatively unscathed.

Topa was driving with a suspended license at the time of the accident, which occurred after they had been at a gathering where there was alcohol..

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Well, at least 6-8 years without a licence.

If the car in the picture really is the car with which they drove i can hardly imagine how they came out all alive.

Accname said:

If the car in the picture really is the car with which they drove i can hardly imagine how they came out all alive.

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It was the car he was driving.
Well, they were incredibly lucky that they survived. That's for sure !

FireCat said:

Topa, who was not wearing a seat belt, was racing another car and driving more than 20 miles per hour over the speed limit when he hit a tree

The impact wrecked his car and put him and his three passengers in hospital. One friend, 16-year-old John LaMotte was in a coma for weeks.

Brian Thweatt, 15, was also seriously injured, while Grover Champlin, 15, was the only one wearing a seat belt and escaped relatively unscathed.

Topa was driving with a suspended license at the time of the accident, which occurred after they had been at a gathering where there was alcohol..

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Well, at least 6-8 years without a licence.

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Thanks for finding the alternate source, do you happen to have a link to it?

I suspected the situation was as much, I just think that the source in the first post was being biased by not including the detail it should have. He really did tear that car into pieces..