Redding Woman Gets 6 Years in Fatal Texting Crash

[The Straight Story]

Redding Woman Gets 6 Years in Fatal Texting Crash

REDDING, Calif. (AP) -- A woman who crashed into a line of stopped vehicles while text-messaging on her cell phone has been sentenced to six years in a California prison for killing a woman in one of the vehicles.

Deborah Matis-Engle was sentenced Friday by a judge in Redding.

Investigators said Deborah Matis-Engle was speeding and text messaging when she slammed into the vehicles stopped at a construction zone in August 2007.

Shasta County prosecutor Stephanie Bridgett said the 49-year-old woman had paid several bills by cell phone in the moments before the crash.

She was in the middle of one of those transactions when she struck a vehicle that burst into flames, killing 46-year-old Petra Winn.

http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=57342&catid=2

[slackmaster]

1. Good

Fuck people who don't pay attention to the road while driving.

[KittyWampus]

2. people do seem to think the drivers seat is an extension of their living room couch

[tabasco]

14. That is exactly the problem.

People have a false sense of security when sitting in a moving auto.

The comfy auto can instantly become a burning box full of razors.

[tularetom]

3. Not nearly enough time

It's going to happen again. I don't think this law is getting the enforcement it should. Around here I see the police driving around talking on cell phones all the time. They apparently don't think the law applies to them. And the fines are a joke. No wonder they don't enforce it.

But if you really want to get scared about this take a look at the big rig drivers next time you're on the freeway. I'd guess maybe 25% I see are talking on a hand held phone.

[psychmommy]

8. check out the cops.

i live in southern jersey. cops are always on the cell. no it isn't work related because they have radios for that. maybe it isn't more strictly enforced because cops are doing it too. by the way, my brother and a friend have both received tickets for it.
ps: does it count if you're texting while the light is red? ( that is my law breaking).

[TahitiNut]

4. What I find most hypocritical is that many people like her applaud drug testing of pilots and ...

... bus drivers. She'd be one of the first to demand intrusions on the privacy of others employed in transport ... but regards her own operation of a vehicle on the public thoroughfare as some sacrosanct 'liberty.' I can even guess she was driving an SUV - based on the notion that, in a crash, SHE'D survive and it'd be someone else that died. If so, that's the moral equivalent of premeditated homicide, imho.

I can't describe how appalled I am when I see folks driving SUVs in rush hour traffic on an 8-lane divided highway, cell phone in ONE hand and gesturing with the OTHER hand! No hands on the wheel ... gesturing to someone who can't even see the gestures. Such imbecilic behavior, imho, warrants immediate revocation of all driving privileges for at least a year.

[The Straight Story]

6. Those people using cells and gesturing thought hands free meant the wheel

:)

[Stargazer09]

15. The worst I've seen

A few years ago, I was driving behind a guy who was talking on the cell phone with one hand and smoking a cigarette with the other (flicking the ashes out of the window).

He must have thought he was doing fine, steering with his legs or whatever, but he was swerving all over the road.

People like that make me sick.

[glitch]

5. The Darwin Award missed its target on this one. RIP Petra Winn.

Deborah Matis-Engle should have gotten it.

[JerseygirlCT]

7. Good. Maybe not enough time.

How in the world can some idiots think this is something to do while driving? Really? It couldn't wait until she could pull over?

[snappyturtle]

9. I don't think prison sentences will help in cases like this. nt

[kiva]

10. "She drove without any concept that people might be in her path"

And despite heartfelt claims from Matis-Engle's friends that she was a caring, loving and gentle person, Beatty said it was clear to her that the woman's personality changed dramatically when behind the wheel of a vehicle.

"She drove without any concept that people might be in her path," Beatty said.

And this irresponsible woman continued her stupidity:

Bridgett said that only months after the crash, Matis-Engle had been spotted twice by a California Highway Patrol officer texting on her cell phone while driving.

"This (fatal) collision had absolutely no impact on her," Bridgett said.

http://www.redding.com/news/2009/apr/04/shingletown-woman-sent-to-prison-for-text/

[Vidar]

11. Not nearly long enough.

[Gin]

12. should have been a longer sentence....she may be "nice"...but she is very stupid!

[DatManFromNawlins]

13. Stupid.

There needs to be a line drawn between criminal behavior and negligent behavior when there are clear differences between the two. This is clearly negligent behavior. Yeah, a person died, but taking away 6 productive years from this woman's life and locking her up with real criminals is heavy handed and thoughtless.

I mean, you could say "what about the family of the woman who was killed," but if justice is supposed to be blind, especially criminal justice, then their wishes shouldn't even be taken into consideration. They can get civil remediation.