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Parents Of Boy Responsible For Fatal Crash Facing Jail For Letting Him Drive

November 26, 2012 at 8:36 am by  

Parents Of Boy Responsible For Fatal Crash Facing Jail For Letting Him DriveMalverne, NY – The parents of a 17-year-old boy who crashed his car and killed four of his friends back in October are now being charged with unlicensed operation of a vehicle for allowing him to drive without a valid driver’s license.

On October 8th, 17 year old Joseph Beer was driving with his four 17-18 year old friends as passengers.  Around 3:40 am, he was doing about 110 mph when he lost control of his vehicle on a stretch of road called “Dead Man’s Curve.”  The car flew into the woods and split in two after hitting a tree. Chris Khan, Peter Kanhai and Darian Ramnarine, all 18, and Neal Rajapa, 17, were all killed in the crash, none of whome were wearing their seatbelt.  Joseph was wearing a seat belt and survived.

He is now facing 25 years in prison after being charged with driving while intoxicated, aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular manslaughter in the first degree, four counts of manslaughter in the second degree, and a whole host of other charges that are just different configurations of the words manslaughter, degree and reckless. The driving while intoxicated charge is creating a bit of a stir because he had not been drinking, but did have marijuana in his system.

A further twist in this tragic story is that prosecutors have charged Joseph’s parents, Patricia and Aaditia Beer, with unlicensed operation of a vehicle. Joseph only had a learner’s permit and was prohibited from driving from 9pm to 5am.  Not only did his parents allow him to violate the terms of the learner’s permit, they actually bought him his car, a 2012 Subaru Impreza, as a reward for good grades.

“They allowed their son to drive a vehicle they owned, and they knew he did not possess a driver’s license,” said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice. ““He was driving a souped-up, 305-horsepower sports car at twice the legal limit while he was high on marijuana. The consequences of his choices are unspeakable tragedy.”

What I cannot seem to find, is anywhere in which it states that Beer’s parents allowed him to be driving that night. According to a statement his mother made, they did not. “It’s not like we give him the key and say, ‘Go kill somebody,’ ” Beers’ mom told The Post. “Nobody wants their kids to go out there in the middle of the night without your consent.”

Beer’s parents are each facing up to 15 days in jail or a $300 fine if convicted. So what do you think? Should parents be charged with a crime if their kid sneaks out of the house and gets into an accident while driving illegally? If so, what about the parents of the four teens who died. Should their parents also face charges for not knowing what their kids were up to at 3:40 in the morning?

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40 Comments

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    • Simplyatomic

      I’m going to say this would have happened license or no license. The kid thought he was invincible… just so happens he was and his friends were not.

    • Sam

      Hmm tricky. Should the parents be responsible for their almost-adult-child’s antics in the middle of the night, not so sure. However, should the parents be at the very least branded as stupid for buying their child who doesn’t have a license yet a ridiculously powerful boy-racer car, i’m gonna say yes. It’s practically the equivalent of installing a fully functioning bar in the boy’s bedroom and telling him before you close the door behind you “Now don’t drink anything for another 4 years, k? Love you”

    • Sam

      Splitting a car in two… Damn. I suppose if you’re going to crash you might as well do it PROPERLY.

    • FullAutoManlover

      His last name is beer.

    • http://www.facebook.com/schofieldmisty Misty Sue

      Thats a hard answer. Im a mom of 3 so I wouldnt want to be held responsible, on the other hand no way in hell Im buying my kids cars even if I could afford it. They can get a job and save like I had to.

    • http://www.truecrimereport.com CallMeMister

      As my former stepfather told me when I was young, never do anything half-ass, good or bad :)

    • newstarshipsmell

      His parents are considering changing it to Weed.

    • kimbev69

      i am thinking he didn’t “sneak” out of the house..they gave him the car…

    • newstarshipsmell

      At least his parents taught him to wear a seat belt. Can’t say the same for the other four sets of parents.

    • Athena

      Criminally? No, not unless negligence can be proven (Did they allow him to keep the keys in his possession? Had he been known to take the car on illegally-late outings in the past?). But, civilly… That’s a different story. Had the victims lived, the parents of the driver would be liable for medical bills and such. A wrongful death suit or something similar would undoubtedly yield some punitive damages awarded to the parents of the victims, should they choose to pursue a lawsuit.

    • daMonBrooks

      Dateline October: Local Man Joesph Weed and four friends stall local taco bell line with one liners and insistent giggling.

    • Sam

      Ah, but there is also the issue of their heritage. From the names i would guess they are all of Indian or Pakistani descent. Depending on how traditional they still are (obviously, judging from the alcohol and the weed, the boys weren’t / aren’t as strict). We have big Indian / Pakistani communities here and they are very big on the community aspect of things. Not to mention that it’s illegal for them to have debt or gain interest on money. They feel like money should be earned, worked for – interest or letting the money do the earning to them is dishonest money. The Beer parents may not necessarily be rich buying the apple of their eye a new car, they may just be spending their money because they can’t put it in the bank. Which may also mean that the other parents can’t morally (to them) sue them for wrongful death, since it could be perceived as gaining money that wasn’t worked for.

    • Athena

      That’s absolutely true. I was speaking technically, but I definitely suspect that their assumed belief structure will deter them from pursuing a suit.

    • Strawberry Fields

      Marijuana had nothing to do with it… I’m guessing it was a combination of being 17 and going 110 on “dead mans curb”.

    • newstarshipsmell

      Obviously in this case, Marijuana was indeed the “gateway” drug that led to the much more dangerous Speed.

    • Coyote

      What is the point of trying the parents for a $300 fine; does the prosecutor really feel that will make a difference?
      The charge is asinine.

    • StinaBalls

      Lock the little pecker up. And his idiot irresponsible parents too. People aren’t held accountable for much anymore, what with all of this coddling every goddamn person who does something wrong bullshit. Lock them up!!! Criminals should not have rights. Period!

    • FullAutoManlover

      I wonder if his friends called him Broseph.

    • Andyman

      I think if you’re only going to give the parents 15 days who cares if they do it or not? What a shame for this young man to now realize it only takes one bad decision on one person’s part to cause a ripple of devastation. But I don’t buy the high on pot thing for a damn second. That’s malarkey. :/

    • Andyman

      HAHAHA. Awesome NSSS. lol. Hope he never changes it to Meth!!

    • Andyman

      LIKE x 100,000.

    • Edward Richtofen

      yes

    • LuvsHorror

      He’s a minor. If in some states I can be punished when my child skips school, well, this is a whole nother ball game.

    • Heather_Habilatory

      Miami should hope he never changes it to bath salts.

    • Heather_Habilatory

      Can we take this kid and his parents and put them in a cage with a horny gorilla on steroids and just see what happens?

    • Andyman

      I used to have a friend on meth who turned his baby momma onto it. That progressed to him having his baby momma go downstairs and do the meth dealer for some smoke. You know where this is going right? She moves in with the meth dealer. These friends decide to go visit my best friend and have a threesome. Dude was so paranoid during the fiasco that my friend stopped it and they left. I have seen and heard many of these stories and it saddens me. It seems so powerful that the lines of society, morals and ethics are largely removed. Now I know the bath salts might make you eat someone else’s face off until you are shot and killed by police but I think each are equally awful and both destroy people. Actually, I think meth may be worse because it has been around a lot longer. Sigh

    • http://www.facebook.com/That.Girl.Has.Tattoos Savage Von Drachenberg

      I don’t think they should be responsible if he actually snuck out while they were sleeping. But I mean, $300 fine ? It’s not that much money.

    • LeaveMeBe

      He’s a minor in every way except when he does something criminal. At 17 you are charged as an adult.

    • LeaveMeBe

      Go ahead and charge them. Why not? We press charges for everything. But the prosecution better be able to prove that they “let” their son go joy riding around at that time of night with their persmission and blessing.
      This may make me a horrible person, but I always wonder in situations like this if any of the passengers were screaming at him to slow down or knock it off before the crash happened? I mean, was someone screaming for him to stop that he was scaring them? You never hear from the survivor/driver what his/her now dead friends were saying/doing.

    • Chinchillazilla

      Exactly. Teenagers with access to cars are probably gonna drive them.

    • Chinchillazilla

      I rode with a teenage acquaintance to a party on a farm once on high school. He wasn’t going 110, but he was going about 70 in a 35 MPH zone on windy roads. My friend and I were begging him to slow down, but he wouldn’t. We got to the party in tears (and got a ride home with a less psychotic person).

    • techsupp0rt

      Charged, yes. Let that little bastard see that he not only destroyed 4 other families with his recklessness, murdered his friends, but he destroyed his own family as well.

      Wouldn’t so much agree if they were convicted though. Not like you can totally control teenagers.

    • abbys_mom

      I don’t know why it would cause a stir to be charged with “driving while intoxicated” because it was marijuana. It’s known as a relaxant, and can slow response times, same as alcohol. Driving while intoxicated covers any substance that can be used, if it “intoxicates” you, be it prescription meds, alcohol, or marijuana. Also, it affects people differently when it interacts with an individual’s body and brain chemistry, just mildly relaxing some, and seriously jacking other’s up.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1106642961 Alice Hennen

      I own a car but I don’t have my provisional licence yet and can’t drive unsupervised (Our licencing structure is a bit different here, we have learner -> provisional 1 -> provisional 2 -> full licence) I would never dream of taking my car for a spin unsupervised, because it’s against the law and I don’t want my car impounded and I don’t want my mum to tear me a new one! Then again, I’m 23 not 17.

    • http://www.facebook.com/IamQualityRhymes Christopher Ivey

      Being high and being stupid are two very different things.

    • newstarshipsmell
    • juntjoo

      Yeah, why not? Some how some way the parents are involved with their childrens actions. I say 25%. They made them. Stuck em out in the world with you and I and their victims without any of our consent, nursed them while they were pure and innocent babies until they become independent adults. You don’t get gov’t benefits and good support in your older years from your well raised, well to do, loving children if you’re not significantly involved as their guardians and mentors. 25 years is good for the kid, I say 8 for each parent. I doubt most sets of responsible good parents make idiots that often, tho I don’t know the stats. I think it would encourage society to take child rearing and the act of making them a bit more seriously.

    • juntjoo

      That’s funny

    • Honest Abe

      at 16 the tell us we can’t go into the dr office so they can ask them personal questions . are you gay ,are you sexual active are you being abuse, do you fell like harming yourself or someone else? at 13 they are allowed to say I do not want my parents in the room in a counseling apt. we do not have control over things we should the government has taken those rights away from us then they want to hold us accountable when our 17 yr old do something like that is not right kids walk around with the its all about me no one knows more than I do I am the smart being on the planet I can do whatever I want and my parents can’t do a damn thing so you wanna blame someone blame the government give usback our parental right they let children dictate whats best for them… hows that working for you? my heart does go out to all the parties involved and I wish you were not going through any of this.

    • http://www.facebook.com/xprincesskayy Julia Pearl

      Why is your “mum” still tearing you a new one at 23?