Sorry, But You Have No Lifelines

Glancing through the headlines over at ESPN, today, I noticed an article that contained the family of Andrew Gallo's response to the backlash against their son, who recently killed Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart in a car accident. Basically, the family of this guy, especially his Dad, is particularly upset, because they feel their son has been portrayed negatively in the media and that he has been made out to be a "bad kid" and a "monster."

First off, let's just account for all the little details, shall we? Mr. Gallo did not simply kill Nick Adenhart in a car crash; he killed him in a car crash during which his BAC was 3 TIMES the legal limit. In addition to being a drunk driver (who killed not just Adenhart, but 2 others), Gallo also decided that it would be a good idea to flee the scene (on foot); so instead of calling an ambulance and trying to help the people he'd just run into, he jumped out of his car and ran away. Better yet, this arrest is his second traffic-related violation, with the first being a....DUI back in 2006.

Sounds like a great guy to you too, huh?

Nevertheless, in the spirit of the semi-post-modern, personal-responsibility-be-damned era in which we live, Andrew Gallo's father has come out and decided to set the record straight by blaming everyone but his son for what happened. You see, poor Andrew is no normal kid (notice, the spin starts right here, as, despite being 22 years old, Gallo is dubbed a "kid," instead of an adult, to help him retain that aura of child-like innocence). His parents divorced, and he took it hard. Plus, he has a good friend who is an alcoholic. Heck, he is an alcoholic. And besides, he's been "devastated" by what happened and, of course, he "never meant to hurt anybody, ever."

In short, what Andrew's Daddy is trying to say, without actually saying it (for the sake of subtlety, I suppose), is that the accident is not his son's fault. Don't blame my poor, innocent, helpless boy - blame the circumstances.

What utter bullshit.

Sorry Mr. Gallo, I don't care if your son never meant to hurt anybody - he did. In fact, he effing killed somebody; 3 somebodies, to be exact. Besides, this wasn't your typical, everyday car crash. You see, sir, your son was drunk. In fact, he blew 3 times the California limit for BAC, which is 0.08, meaning that his BAC was around 0.24, which, for those of you keeping score at home, is somewhere between "wasted" and "passed-out" on the drunk scale. And while that particular level of BAC may make for some great entertainment at your local college frat party, it makes you a spectacularly shitty driver and a complete freakin' moron if you actually try to test those shitty driving skills on a road.

Moreover, being an alcoholic doesn't excuse young Andrew from the responsibility of this crime. Alcohol is not necessary for survival. It cannot open its own bottle, nor can it force itself down your throat. Ultimately, you are the one who decides what goes in your body; which makes you responsible when what goes in has adverse effects on the world around you. At some point in his life, Andrew Gallo decided to become an alcoholic through the drinking habits that he, himself, developed, of his own free will. Those choices led him to the bottle, and that bottle led him, quite literally, to the scene of the crime.

That is no one's fault but his own.

Lastly, I don't care if he took his parents' divorce hard - over half of the marriages in this country end in divorce, but you don't see great numbers of the kids from those marriages running out becoming alcoholics and committing vehicular manslaughter, do you?

Simply put, there is no excuse for Andrew Gallo, as he chose to get behind the wheel of that car, despite knowing how much he'd had to drink. Furthermore, he also chose to have those drinks in the first place; and, moreover, chose to drink where he would need a ride home, without thinking to, oh, I dunno, designate a driver or call a cab.

Going out and drinking alcohol does not make you a bad person. Having had a painful childhood doesn't either. Heck, even being an alcoholic doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. Vehicular manslaughter while driving drunk, however, does. And there is simply no way around that fact.