One more reason people shouldn't assume they have a "right" to be a parent
 

Girl apparently drove truck in fatal crash

Published Friday, May 2, 2003
HOWE, Texas (AP) - An 11-year-old girl was apparently the driver of an 18-wheeler that crashed into a highway overpass guardrail, burst into flames and fell onto the road below, police said.

Nicole Marie Gonzales, her father, Luis, 35, and her brother, Nicholas, 3, burned to death in the wreck early April 25 on Highway 75, authorities said.

Police Sgt. John Cherry said Luis Gonzales drove from Michigan to Muldrow, Okla., the day before the crash. Investigators were unsure about how much time he spent at his home, but knew that he set out again around 9 p.m. on April 24.

"The father in this case had not had much sleep," and it appears 11-year-old Nicole was driving the rig, which was loaded with automobile parts, Cherry said.

"She was behind the wheel. She had the steering wheel in her hands when she was removed," he said.

The father also might not have been driving because of health complications due to a heart condition and recent illness, Cherry said.

The father’s body was found at the edge of the mattress in the cab’s sleeper compartment, police said. No one in the rig was wearing a seat belt, and the 3-year-old was not in a child safety seat.


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those that should be propagating aren't.. and those that shouldn't are replicating at alarming rates.

the gene pool gets shallower and shallower.

Some part of you feels bad when you read this (kids so young, didn't know better) - then you wake up a bit and realize what an amazing lack of respect this guy had for the lives of others sharing the highway. A lot more people could have been killed in this incident.

It amazes me how frequently you see stories about kids killed in accidents only because they wore no safety restraint. You wonder why parents would not engage in behavior that is so cheap and proven effective. Plain old sloth, I suppose.

See this is why I shake my head over the fact that any idiot can have a child but you need to buy a licence to own a dog!
Go figure.

I'm sorry,but this story disgusts me. It's cute when you let your young teen drive your car in the middle of an empty parking lot while sitting on your lap, or in the middle of a farm, where there are no other drivers or anythign to get in the way. But, to put an 18 wheeler in the hands of an 11 year old girl, so your lazy ass can go sleep in the back of the truck is disgusting.

I feel sorry for the children, but I have no remorse over the loss of the father, other than I wish it would have happened 12 years. ago, before he had kids.

Here's another angle. Low paying job, health problems, he was desperate to complete this haul to get cash. He made a bad judgement, but I try very hard not to judge people. I was never in his shoes. Still, the loss of the children is nothing short of tragic.

How sad and irresponsible.

I'm a fanatic about seat belt wearing.
This is because when I was 7 or 8 I lost a very close cousin to a car crash. She wasn't wearing a seat belt. The driver had just gotten her license that day and was driving a car full of kids to church. The only one that survived was the passenger (who was wearing a seat belt.)
When I'm driving and see little kids up and about inside moving vehicles I always wonder what the hell the parents are thinking. It's dangerous to have them unbelted but even more dangerous because moving, rambunctious little kids is a big distraction while driving. I'm glad Michigan is finally enforcing the "click it or ticket" law. Hopefully it will stop some unnecessary accidents.

The world is a better place without all of them. The man deserved it and I don't really feel all to sorry for the kid because the child didn't have much of a chance to be anything other than a social misfit.

I don't view death as ever a good thing, but Sixate has hit this one right on the head.

Everybody's number comes up one day.That day all their numbers came up.

Go Six, not many people would have the spine to voice a simple logic like this, knowing you're probably going to catch hell from a few bleeding hearts. Sad but true, I agree.

Darwin just keeps coming up in these threads recently.

I have a very politically incorrect idea to improve the gene pool. Someone ought to invent a valve that gets implanted in the vas deferens and fallopian tubes at birth. Later, if you pass a test, then you get the tubes opened. That way, both parents have to show they are intellectually, emotionally, and fiscally capable of parenting.

I know this won't fly for technological, ethical, and political reasons. But I can dream, can't I?

I saw that article a few days ago and didn't feel bad about the guy losing his life. I think it is awful that his poor decision was responsible for the deaths of two innocent people. Lucky no one else was hurt.

Sixate says "I don't really feel all to sorry for the kid because the child didn't have much of a chance to be anything other than a social misfit". I feel bad. I strongly believe in nurture over nature. Even without the benefit of a better upbringing who knows what the future held for her and her sibling? Not to have had a chance at all makes me very sad. I hope that you don't think she deserved to die because she may have been a social misfit.

I didn't say she desreved it. No child deserves to have a parent like this asshole who basically killed himself and his kid. I just said I didn't feel sorry for the kid because she would have most likely become a social misfit. She was obviously being brought up in a fucked up situation around messed up people in a screwed up environment. The odds were against her. I'd rather see her kill herself and her dad instead of some innocent family when she's an alcoholic teen who drives into a car head on. Now I'm not saying it would happen, but I feel better knowing that it can't happen.

Sixate, I agree with this statement 100%. Thanks for clarifying.

I think it's sad that this truck driver put his 11 year old behind the wheel and didn't seem to have any qualms about it.

It's tragic that they're dead, but it's more tragic to think that a grown adult would place his teenage daughter behind the wheel of a big rig and then, his conscience clear, went to lay down.

Yes, she might have grown up to be a 'social misfit', but now we'll never get to know. She might have turned out alright.

I am all for licensing to have children....:-)

This is one of those things that makes me just feel so incredibly sad. I dont belive any of those people 'deserved' to die like that. What I think is so horrible about that is what were the reasons that drove the father to such extreme ignorance. What causes any human to lose it so bad that they dont care? It is really scary and above all sad. :(

I agree with double... We have no idea why this guy did what he did.

It is fun to pass judgment from where you are sitting. It's quite easy in fact. But all you do is show just how ignorant you are.