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Driver Charged With DUI After Death Of Pedestrian
June 21, 2010
A driver involved in the early Sunday morning death of a pedestrian has been charged with DUI.
The Florida Highway Patrol says William E. Carlson, 30, of Pensacola was walking west on Wilde Lake Boulevard shortly after 3 a.m. when he was struck and killed by a 2002 Saturn driven by Tyler Neal Wass (pictured), 25, of Pensacola.
According to the FHP., Wass saw Carlson at the last second and attempted to avoid him, but struck him with the right front of his Saturn. Wass and a passenger, 25-year old Carissa L. Snipes, 25, of Pensacola, were not injured.
Wass was booked into the Escambia County jail early Sunday morning and released later on a $1,000 bond.
Pictured: The Escambia County Jail booking photo of Tyler Neal Wass, 25. Wass was charged with DUI after the early Sunday morning death of a pedestrian on Wilde Lake Boulevard. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
27 Responses to “Driver Charged With DUI After Death Of Pedestrian”
As a mother of a wonderful young man that was killed in the same exact way about two years ago…to the family of the loved one you lost to another drunk driver on the road our prayers and thoughts are with you. For everyone that thinks that justice is revenge I will break it down for you, justice means that a person that has done wrong gets the penalty he or she deserves ,do you think it is ok for drunk driver to kill another person should just get away with a DUI? What if it were one of your loved ones? , would you really be content with them just getting a DUI? I don’t think so. The pain is never going away for me and I am sure the mother of the young man killed is in horrible shape right now. Why let that person that killed her son that person that killed mine feel he did.t do anything wrong when he took away a big piece of our heart and can never be replaced. They needed to learn a bigger lesson about life and spend a few years locked up on man slaughter charges to atone for their crime. If any family member of Billy’s wants to talk with our family let us know. God be with you and yours.
Jail time is not to bring the injured or dead person back. It is not to reduce the pain of the loss of a loved one. Jail time is what we do as a society to PUNISH the offender – No More, No Less. It is not a penetentiary where the guilty is sent to do “penence” and think about what he has done wrong. It is not a reformatory where he will be reformed. It is a PRISON where he should go to suffer.
Billy’s family and friends should offer forgiveness to this man. God gives us foregiveness. However, God requires justice and he requires that when we do wrong, there is forgiveness and there are consequences to our actions.
This man should spend at least 5-10 years in state prison.
how do you subtract ALCOHOL from 2 PEOPLE?
Here is an equasion for you 2 PEOPLE – ALCOHOL = 1 PERSON DEAD!!!!
Doesn’t matter if he was drunk or not! He killed a wonderful person! Doesn’t matter what time it was! What if that was your son? Sorry… i am TRYING not to get MADD! I love you Billy and will miss you every day! and i continue to pray for your family.
You drive drunk you kill someone you should be charged with manslaughter! Period no if ands or buts. Yes he stopped so he avoided fleeing the scene charge… BUT MANSLAUGHTER is a must in this case no question about it! WHY has the charges not been upped??? Hmmm everyone who feels this way need to be contacting the Sheriff and District Attorney for answers a little pressure will get this handled! You do the crime to do the time. Billy was not at fault! The DUI driver is!!! its a Choice people…. he made that CHOICE and now someone is dead for it and theres a price to pay!!
I normally don’t post/comment on blogs/forums, especially when it’s re: such a tragedy BUT I have read about all I can stand. Seriously, It is someone’s choice to WALK if they want to, so please stop trying to justify and make excuses for what has happened here. Yes, people make mistakes and there are consequences to be paid for them. I pray more than anything this will help everyone (including myself) see why it is SO important to be responsible, look out for each other and cherish every moment you have with your loved ones.
This guy did wrong by drinking and driving plus he had to have been speeding. I dont think he lost control of the car. I think he black’d out. Thats when he hit Billy. I am interested to see his blood alcohol level and to see how fast he was really going down Wilde Lake.
Hmmmmm…. going to church, or paying a fine of doing work for the family (which the family probably don’t want to see him in the first place) will not bring back the family member they lost.The way things are now days if he wore a sign that said I am an alcoholic, some stupif people would probably pat him on the back and say, man you are so brave to wear that. He and the person would probably go on shooting the bull as if nothing had ever happened, how much is that punishment going to do? I think sometimes they need a time out from the luxuries of life to see the damage they caused others with their neglience.
Does anyone know why he was only charged with DUI, a misdemeanor at that?! Why hasn’t he been charged with manslaughter? He drove drunk and someone died… how is that a misdemeanor? I realize it was his first DUI, but it only takes one. If he had fired a gun only once and killed someone, he would still be a murderer…
Rae,
You said the guy who killed the other guy “is a great man”? Are you kidding me? Great men don’t drink and drive. You need to meet more people.
I was lucky enough to know both of these men and they are both great people! Tyler made a horrible mistake which more then one of us have done! I just hope that the we have learned from this! Billy will be missed each and everyday and I’m sure their will not be a day to go by that Tyler won’t think about this horrible day! My thoughts and prayers go out to all the friends and families of these two young men!
3
I also ask since you said no amount of money takes the hurt and pain away.
Does putting the man in jail do that. Is your pain gone?
I feel for you, I really do.
3
No your wrong about that.
I am not a drunk, never have drank, my father drank, that was enough for me.
If you needed the revenge, then you needed the revenge! It’s your business
and I’m not going to call you names.
But the way I see it, there has to be some better justice than jail.
Maybe not what I said, but there has to be something.
Not one day in jail will bring your loved one back. Just like if this guy goes to
jail, it won’t bring back this wonderful guy that walked rather than drove so
that others might live.
Do I condon drinking, you bet not. I wish they would repleal the law on drinking
and bars and the whole thing, I think it makes idiots of men, and ruins families
and creates horrors like this one and yours, but we all know that won’t happen
and wouldn’t stop anything it would just take back to the moonshine days.
Sorry if I struck a nerve on this for you, but not everyone wants jail time for
someone who does something horrible one time. That is something that
I have learned on this forum.
Sometimes I have been down right shocked at the compassion for the perps.
When they have no compassion for the ppl who have opiniorns on this
forum and are quick to judge, even tho they claim they hate that.
Sorry for your pain.
But there has to be a better way.
I have no compassion for this man, believe me, I would mark him and bag
him and tag him if it was up to me.
If he has a family of his own he just ruined it. How mature!
Of course that’s if some scumbag lawyer doesn’t get him off.
I hope it was worth it to this guy, he killed someone, and he
ruined his life probably.
I can’t believe any night of partying would be worth that.
but you wanted some sort of monitor to avoid such actions, so…..maybe
REGARDING:
“Ok now everyone tell me how stupid this is!”
AND
“I don’t think putting
this man behind bars for 10 years is the answer unless he is always
a drunk on the road.”
You are right, live people have the chance to repent of wrong doing and to payback some for damages done.
On the other hand, saying he probably isn’t always drunk while on the road reminds me of someone who only fires a shotgun toward a crowd every so often.
It’s still not a good thing.
Quite often we read where someone kills someone else while driving without a license because it was suspended in one of his previous DUIs. Thus they get a chance to do more harm than they already did.
If you don’t HAVE to be on the road, 3 a.m. is a good time to NOT be on it–on foot or in vehicle.
If you’ve been drinking, you don’t have to be on the road–walking or driving.
You really don’t have to drink at all.
If you drink and drive, you are a murderer who just hasn’t gotten to your victim yet.
Sounds like Geesh is a drunk driver himself! Thats the ONLY reason why he would defend this man. I put a drunk driver away in prison for a VERY long time for hitting my family. 3 very small children, myself, and husband. Almost killing us all. We will never recover from it. He sounds like many of the people that have given their opinion to me about how i handled the DRUNK that “just made a mistake”. Rest assure Geesh.. I faught for 18 long months to get this man put away.. And you better hope that the day YOU hit some one , and its clear that you find it just fine to do so, that you dont hit some one like me, cause YOU WILL GO TO PRISON if you do! No money or fine in the world takes away the pain of a parent or a child of long term suffering..or DEATH!
amy b…nobody said that it was his fault. I simply said that walking down the street at 3:00 AM is a dangerous undertaking and should be avoided if possible. Apparently the victim was walking to avoid driving drunk…that doesn’t make it any less of a terrible idea. Certainly the driver of the vehicle is ultimately to blame for the victim’s death. I don’t argue that at all. But knowing who to blame will not bring the victim back. I’m sorry if you felt that I was blaming the victim, I was not.
I have one more comment on this subject.
I think rather than two lives being lost in this accident:
That this man who did this horrible thing in a state of being drunk,
as I have learned from so many here, that this is common and everybody
has sinned and blah, blah, blah, but that being said, I don’t think putting
this man behind bars for 10 years is the answer unless he is always
a drunk on the road.
I personnally feel he should pay a huge fine to the county and state
for what this all will cost them.
Then a huge fine to the family for the burial and all their associated
costs, and also something for their pain and suffering and his
negligence. The fines should be so huge that he has to work every
day for many years to pay them all and 50% of everything he makes
goes to thoses fines until they are all paid.
I also feel he should have
to spend one hour a week doing chores for the dead mans mother, or some
elderly family member.
That is to replace what her son probably would have done for her,
and so make him face the ppl who were left here on this earth to
hurt over this horrible thing.
That should be his jail time.
He should also have to wear something that shows at all times and
that identifies him as someone to be reported should he drink
again and anyone sees him, as that should be one of the conditions
to him not going to jail, is that he never take a drink again and
should be tested every week to see that he is not doing drugs or
drinking.
As we can see on here, public opinion hurts!
Jail time means he will have less opportunity to make up for
the wrong he has done, and change his life.
He will learn horrible things in prison and consort with major
bad ppl, and there you go. We just paid out all that money
to convict him and jail him only to more corrupt him.
Now who wins or learns anything when you do that.
Now all this should only come to pass if he pleads guilty and throws
himself on the mercy of the courts. That way all the fines for the county
and state may be used to monitor him and pay for his drug tests, after
all why should us the tax payers have to pay that for his mistakes.
Ok now everyone tell me how stupid this is!
Thats what I was wondering, if this guy was walking to avoid driving drunk.
So sad he did the right thing that may have saved someone else’s life and
still this horrible thing happened to him.
Thanks nel for clearing that up.
R.I.P young man.
Rip Billy. You were always someone who wouldn’t let a friend slip past without letting them know you were in the same room. We’ll miss you man.
I am shocked at the ignorance of the comment on here about it being in ANY way Billy’s fault for walking instead of driving…are you kidding me! He was taken way to soon by the ignorance of a drunk driver! R.I.P. Billy ~ you will be missed!
BigNel— you and I are on the same page. Common sense is not very common some times. Sorry for the victim and his family and friends.
To respond to Jason’s remark –> you’re right, it’s better to use common sense, but my friend actually was using it. Instead of DRIVING DRUNK he opted to walk home instead. Yet he still ended up being a statistic thanks to the POOR CHOICE this guy made which wasn’t using any more common sense than what you claimed my friend should have used.
Also, by law you are required to 1) Not drink and drive (duh!!) 2) when driving if you see a cyclist, pedestrian, stopped car you are required to slow down 20mph under the speed limit and merge onto the passing lane or adjacent lane. If you can’t pass, you are to stop and then slowly pass the pedestrian, cyclist or stopped car at a slow speed, as if you were driving thru a school zon during school hours. Bottom line, someone made a choice, a careless choice, and it’s taken a life of one person and affected the lives of many, including this guys’ family and his own, not to mention all of Billy’s Family and his extended family.
So, Common Sense apparently didn’t win in this case, the Poor Choice of a drunk driver made sure of that.
Not that anyone deserves being hit and killed by a drunk driver, but not walking down the side of a street at 3:00 AM can greatly reduce your chances of being in such an accident. This is unfortunate, but people need to use a little common sense when it comes to protecting themselves and their family.
well at least this drunk driver didn’t take off and hide like the cowards and
momma’s babies up here do.
my heart goes out to the parents. here yesterday was father day someone family had a terible father day a day he will never forget for the rest of his life. when will men and women grow up there is other things in life besides alcohol.my god grow up instead of alcohol try going to church and get god in your life you will be much happier for the rest of your life not for a few hours the out come is much better than the rest of your life in prison.