Branding the Victim

[XLFD]

In police reports and in the news, you never hear of the murder victim being killed by moving into the path of a bullet and yet, this is how they often report on motorcycle accidents where the victim has no chance to avoid a motorist disobeying the law.

On Tuesday, a motorcyclist was going south on the highway in Torch Lake Township, when some jackass in an SUV headed north turned left directly in front of his path, and made the biker 'go south' permanently.  Rational people looking at what happened would say that the SUV driver violated the basic right-of-way rules for turning and that since the moving violation caused death, that negligent driver would be minimally called at-fault and ready to be brought up for criminal charges.  The police and news reporters are not rational folks.

They say that the motorcyclist crashed into the car after he was unable to avoid hitting it, laying the blame squarely on the victim.  The rest of the article explains why this skewed perspective is totally callous and worthy of journalistic malpractice, TV 9&10 reports:   

Motorcyclist Dies In Antrim County Crash

The Antrim County Sheriff’s Office says a motorcyclist has died after crashing into a car in Torch Lake Township.

Deputies say the crash happened on US-31 1/8 mile North of Pearl Street just before 4 p.m. Tuesday.

They say a 2020 Chevy Trax was traveling North on US-31 and made a left turn into the East Port Foods Market. From there, deputies say a motorcyclist operating a 2014 Harley Davidson motorcycle traveling South on US-31 was unable to avoid hitting the Chevy Trax and collided with the car in the rear passenger side door.

Deputies say the motorcyclist was killed, and the driver and passenger were taken to a local hospital with unknown but non-life threatening injuries.

Deputies state that alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, and the crash remains under investigation.