NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-08-03-driver_N.htm?csp=34

Do you think this is fair? Do you think he should have gotten more time, less time, or no time? Perhaps they should give him a job as a driving instructor. After all, a man with no arms and one leg who tries to kick a cops butt has a lot of potential. :p

Armless man gets 5 years for driving
Posted 15h 11m ago | Comments 24 | Recommend 11 E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) — A man with no arms and one leg who wouldn't stop driving despite a long list of traffic violations was sentenced to five years in prison Friday on felony driving and drug charges.

Michael Francis Wiley, 40, also was sentenced to 15 years of drug offender probation. He pleaded no contest in June to the charges.

"I'd just like to say I know what I did was wrong," Wiley said in court Friday. "I am truly sorry your honor. I am."

Wiley taught himself to drive after losing both arms and a leg in an electrical accident when he was 13. He has already spent more than three years in prison for habitually driving without a license, kicking a state trooper and other charges.

He once had a valid license, but it has been suspended several times since 1985, according to his attorney. He starts the car with his toes, shifts with his knee and steers with the stump of his left arm. He turns on the lights with his teeth.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Wiley

In his most recent brush with the law last May, Wiley sped off in a Ford Explorer when police approached him at a convenience store, officials said. Officers pursued, but called off the chase after eight minutes because they did not want to put others in danger, police said.

Defense attorney John Hooker pleaded for leniency and a minimum sentence of 2 1/2 years. He cited his client's need for treatment for his many physical and mental health problems, including anxiety, panic attacks, depression and a pain disorder related to his amputations.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Wiley said he's done driving.

"I'm beat. The white flag is up," he said. "You can only bang your head against the wall so long before it hurts."

...kicking a state trooper and other charges.

How the fuck does a man with one leg kick anybody?!

...kicking a state trooper and other charges.

How the fuck does a man with one leg kick anybody?!
Lying down and aiming up. *nods*

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-08-03-driver_N.htm?csp=34

Do you think this is fair? Do you think he should have gotten more time, less time, or no time? Perhaps they should give him a job as a driving instructor. After all, a man with no arms and one leg who tries to kick a cops butt has a lot of potential. :p

Armless man gets 5 years for driving
Posted 15h 11m ago | Comments 24 | Recommend 11 E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) — A man with no arms and one leg who wouldn't stop driving despite a long list of traffic violations was sentenced to five years in prison Friday on felony driving and drug charges.

Michael Francis Wiley, 40, also was sentenced to 15 years of drug offender probation. He pleaded no contest in June to the charges.

"I'd just like to say I know what I did was wrong," Wiley said in court Friday. "I am truly sorry your honor. I am."

Wiley taught himself to drive after losing both arms and a leg in an electrical accident when he was 13. He has already spent more than three years in prison for habitually driving without a license, kicking a state trooper and other charges.

He once had a valid license, but it has been suspended several times since 1985, according to his attorney. He starts the car with his toes, shifts with his knee and steers with the stump of his left arm. He turns on the lights with his teeth.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Wiley

In his most recent brush with the law last May, Wiley sped off in a Ford Explorer when police approached him at a convenience store, officials said. Officers pursued, but called off the chase after eight minutes because they did not want to put others in danger, police said.

Defense attorney John Hooker pleaded for leniency and a minimum sentence of 2 1/2 years. He cited his client's need for treatment for his many physical and mental health problems, including anxiety, panic attacks, depression and a pain disorder related to his amputations.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Wiley said he's done driving.

"I'm beat. The white flag is up," he said. "You can only bang your head against the wall so long before it hurts."

No time.

I read this story in an actual newspaper.

I can see all kinds of the various PC rights groups coming to this guy's defense, but it seems to me that the guy, while claiming to be an excellent driver, is one "needs at least two fully functioning limbs"-type of situation away from being lucky no more and taking one or two other cars with him.

That said, most drivers handicap themselves with food, phones or folderol of some kind (hell, some people TEXT MESSAGE while driving, ffs), so I can't see a jail sentence for the guy either. If he's passed a legitimate driver's test, I'd say that the compromise is perhaps some sort of restricted license. He can only drive at night, or something similar.

Both sides have reasonable points, but both points have loopholes.

Did anyone read the article?

He was arrested and is being locked up because he was driving with a suspended lisence and violating his parole.

Look, the man drove away from the cops who were trying to chase him down. Of course he deserves to go to jail.... I don't know if the sentence is correct because I don't know that much about the law in this area, but yeah, it's not like he was just driving around normally without arms and it's not like he was discriminated against based on not having arms either (since he did at one time earn a driver's lisence).

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-08-03-driver_N.htm?csp=34

Do you think this is fair? Do you think he should have gotten more time, less time, or no time?\

Let's see his record for a second. He already served three years for driving offenses, mostly driving without a license, as well as assaulting a state trooper. Now, he is caught after leading police on a high speed chase that was called off because it might have put others in danger and given 15 years probation for drug offenses and five years for driving and drugs.

I'd say the sentence is fair, even if he only has one leg. God knows what kind of shit a guy like this would have gotten into with both arms and his other leg.

I'd say the sentence is fair, even if he only has one leg. God knows what kind of shit a guy like this would have gotten into with both arms and his other leg.
Maybe it was being a triple amputee and an inadequate support network that drove him to drugs and general lawlessness in the first place?

Wiley taught himself to drive after losing...a leg.... He has already spent more than three years in prison for...kicking a state trooper....

How can he kick people with only one leg? Has he a jetpack or something?

How can he kick people with only one leg? Has he a jetpack or something?
I already asked this question.

Did anyone read the article?

He was arrested and is being locked up because he was driving with a suspended lisence and violating his parole.

Look, the man drove away from the cops who were trying to chase him down. Of course he deserves to go to jail.... I don't know if the sentence is correct because I don't know that much about the law in this area, but yeah, it's not like he was just driving around normally without arms and it's not like he was discriminated against based on not having arms either (since he did at one time earn a driver's lisence).dunno... for the fact that he kept on doing it... even with a suspended licence... maybe more time?

...kicking a state trooper and other charges.

How the fuck does a man with one leg kick anybody?!

How can he kick people with only one leg? Has he a jetpack or something?

ever seen the movie "The Karate Kid"? Jump up, kick out, then land on the same leg. Possible, but the kick won't be very hard...

Maybe it was being a triple amputee and an inadequate support network that drove him to drugs and general lawlessness in the first place?

Probably, but triple amputees aren't known for being habitual lawbreakers, especially when it comes to felony driving charges and disregard of law enforcement. There is something more to him than just his amputations, after all, and the fact that he would still try to fight a state trooper is part of it. I say he would have gotten in trouble without losing his limbs, but I can't prove that anymore than it could be proven he would have been law-abiding with all his limbs.

I bet 'e is 'armless. Surely fate has punis'ed 'im enoug'