This morning’s Boston Herald features the tale of one 42-year-old Gregory Belliveau, who has been convicted of driving drunk for the fifth time. He was to be sentenced last week, but things were delayed when his lawyer rather inconsiderately up and died the day before.
Mr. Belliveau was arrested in May, 2004, after… well, I really can’t sum it up better than the Herald reporter did:
According to court papers, Belliveau was speeding on a Charlestown Navy Yard pedestrian pier the evening of May 19, 2004, when he climbed out of his car with an open can of Budweiser beer and started urinating on a park bench in front of commuters stepping off a ferry and children taking sailing lessons.
When a bystander tried to stop Belliveau from driving away, Belliveau crashed into a cement gate. He tried to flee on foot, but was apparently weighed down by the beer he tried to take with him and was arrested.
The maximum penalty he can get is five years in prison. Fortunately for the rest of us, he was arrested for a SIXTH offense during his trial, and he’s yet to be tried for that one. If there’s any justice, he’ll end up locked up for a long, long time.
But again, this is Massachusetts. He might end getting elected to the state legislature.
Hell, some day he might even be the Commonwealth’s Senior Senator.
Not that’s not nice, Jay. Accurate as hell, but not nice.
I’ll bet this guy is not one of those evil characters whose blood alcohol drifts into the dread zone between .08 and .1 but was in fact genuinely drunk every time. Increasing penalties at the high end would be far more effective than lowering the entry point but has no political traction.
I think it’d be better to lock him in his car, weld the doors shut, and push it over a bridge. Symbolic justice isn’t as quite as good as the real thing, but it’s close.
Was he driving an Oldsmobile? And if so, was it the deluxe model with the optional snorkle or the stripped-down version which only provided a few body-bags in the trunk? Just curious.
Had my back broken by a drunk driver that rear ended me and ended my flying career with the Air Force. It was his fourth offense. Fortunetly, he was killed in the accident.
Had a drunk driver kill my best friend and his wife leaving two orphaned children. Fortunetly for me, that 5th offense DUI driver was also killed. Fortunate for me because I most certainly would have hunted him down and taken his life for destroying my best friend’s family.
I have a very biased opinion on this. I think he should get the death penalty. It’s a disease? I don’t care. He is out of control and apparently isn’t willing to change. Just kill him. You’ll save a life. If you don’t he will kill someone.
Bastard.
I once heard that in El Salvador, they put drunk drivers in front of firing squads. Sometimes I can’t help but think they should do that here, too…
If you think that guy is bad, check out Henry Earl