Has it struck anyone else as insane that the person or persons who may or may not be responsible for intentionally starting the huge and extremely damaging "station fire" in California is/are being sought on Homicide charges?
Even if the firefighters were directly killed by smoke or flame, manslaughter would seem more appropriate than homicide, but they were not killed by smoke or flame. They died when THEY wrecked their vehicle on the way to go fight the fire.
If I prank-called 911, and a cop runs into a tree on his way to my house and dies, does that make me a cop-killer, or simply a prank-calling irresponsible douchebag? I have commited a crime in this scenario, but it is not homicide by a long shot. At best, I share reponsibility for the cop's death with the cop himself, and maybe the guy who planted the tree.
If I order a pizza, and the pizza delivery guy wrecks and dies, did I kill him?
First off, I would love to see the investigatory methods used to determine that the fire was in fact deliberate, but assuming that case is ironclad, I still don't think that the perpetrator of this stupid and irresponsible arson should be considered a murderer because of a vehicle accident of which he was not the primary cause.
I'll admit, my legal expertise is limited to the episodes of Law & Order that I watched in the 90's, but this just doesn't add up.
What do you folks think?
