Road Trip DVD Could Be Linked to Murder
Could a DVD really cause death? Maybe not directly, but an Anchorage, Alaska man has been charged with second degree murder after police found a loaded dash mounted DVD player, home theatre speakers and a PS2 setup inside his pickup truck.
On the 3 hour drive from Kenai to Anchorage, Erwin Petterson Jr. drifted across a double yellow line and head-on into a Jeep Grand Cherokee, killing the 2 occupants inside. Troopers who took the initial report said that Petterson was at fault because he took his eyes off the road to reach for a soda. Prosecutors on the other hand are adamant to prove that the DVD player containing the ‘Road Trip’ movie, was on and that the driver:
Although extreme accusations, the DVD player was proven to be wired so that the screen could be opened and powered on without the vehicle being in park, a safety feature professional installers provide when the screen is in full view of the driver. Even though Alaska has no laws against this, prosecutors are still going for the full murder charge. A spokeswoman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that 25% of reported crashes are due to distractions, including eating, yellin at the kids, even reading the newspaper.
Source: CNN.com
