A 2018 mug shot reveals Thomas R. Townsend, who will probably be sentenced to simply six months in jail for a drunk driving accident that killed his buddy, Brendan Roach.
Who, with no swelling coronary heart, can learn in regards to the anguish of the Lockport dad and mom who misplaced a son in a drunk driving crash and, greater than that, provided its love and help to the driving force answerable for their boy’s loss of life?
Fred Roach, the daddy of the 22-year-old sufferer, Brandan Roach, advised the court docket this week that his son wouldn’t have wished the driving force – his buddy, Thomas R. Townsend – to be imprisoned. “He’s like household to me,” the daddy mentioned. “Brendan wouldn’t need him to go to jail.”
And so, with that advice and after what a prosecutor mentioned have been “intensive discussions” with each dad and mom, a court docket is ready to condemn the 24-year-old Townsend to 6 months within the Niagara County Jail following his responsible plea to a cost of second-degree vehicular manslaughter. That will probably be adopted by 5 years of probation.
It’s, in its means, a loving story of acceptance and forgiveness, one at which an observer can’t assist however marvel. However there’s extra to it than that, an necessary side that Niagara County Decide Carolyn A. Wojtaszek and the District Legal professional’s workplace gave too little consideration: the pursuits of the general public.
Sure, a younger man’s life was recklessly shortened and his household plunged into grief. They’re all victims right here. However as necessary as these elements are to this tragedy – or any related one – it’s necessary to take note of how these circumstances are styled. The plaintiff is “the individuals of New York.” Their pursuits are, by definition, paramount in prosecuting any felony case. However these pursuits should not mirrored in so tender a sentence.
