Nissan 370Z Forum - Let's keep it on the track!!!

Nissan 370Z Forum (http://www.the370z.com/)

- Nissan 370Z General Discussions (http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-general-discussions/)

- - Let's keep it on the track!!! (http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-general-discussions/24025-lets-keep-track.html)

Let's keep it on the track!!!

I know most of everyone on here is pretty responsible, but just a little reminder for those times when we feel the need for speed. Below is a story of a friend of mine that was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Two San Jose men receive maximum sentences in street racing death - San Jose Mercury News

Quote:

Two San Jose men receive maximum sentences in street racing death
Posted: 08/20/2010 07:21:46 PM PDT

Two San Jose men received maximum sentences Friday for a brief street race on a suburban street that caused the death of 20-year-old Alyson Snow when one of the men smashed into the rear of her Volkswagen Jetta.

Emmanuel Pourmand, 22, was sentenced to 9 years in prison by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Philip P. Pennypacker, who said both men showed a lack of empathy. The judge sentenced 19-year-old Joseph Inocencio, who instigated the race, to six years and eight months in prison.

"I think the members of this community have the right to expect to go to a market and not be killed by a road race," Pennypacker said, adding it was also important to send a message that "if you live in Santa Clara County and decide to race on the streets, you will receive the maximum sentence allowed."

Deputy District Attorney Angela Bernhard said after the hearing that "it was the right sentence."

Both men pleaded no contest in June to vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving charges.

Sentencing followed two hours of emotional appeals from Snow's distraught family and friends for the maximum sentences. Attorneys for the two men kept their appeals to about 15 minutes. Every seat in the courtroom was taken and more than two dozen people wore "Aly's Army" T-shirts.

"I am told by your attorneys that you have remorse, but I don't see it," Snow's mother, Charlene Lennon, said to the two defendants. Until she spoke, both men had kept
Advertisement
their heads down but raised them when Lennon said, "I'm asking you to show respect and look at me."

On the night of Oct. 22, Snow and her good friend, Daniel Hendricks, were on their way home after running out to buy some milk and cookies. They were driving down Branham Lane when the two men came speeding up on either side of Snow and Hendricks.

"We never saw them coming," Hendricks said just before the sentencing hearing. "We had no warning. The next thing is a loud explosion and then her screaming."

"Aly was my best friend and one of the most positive people I've ever met in my entire life," Hendricks told the packed courtroom. Addressing the two defendants, he said, "you took away my best friend and for what? "... Never forget how many lives you changed that night because of your decision."

The two men did not know each other. Inocencio was leaving a 7-Eleven store on Pearl Avenue when he spotted Pourmand speeding in a "very fast" Nissan 350Z. Inocencio told police he thought he could catch up to the Nissan and "began chasing it in his BMW" up Pearl and onto Branham Lane.

It was his mother's BMW and witnesses heard Inocencio say after the crash "Oh my god, oh my god. It's my mom's car, it's my mom's car."

At the moment of impact, the investigation revealed that Pourmand's orange Nissan 350Z was going a minimum of 74 mph, according to court records. Inocencio's speed was calculated between 85 and 92 mph at the beginning of the collision sequence. Twenty seconds into the race, Pourmand lost control of his car and smashed into Snow's Jetta. Then Inocencio lost control and crashed.

According to court records, Pourmand claimed he was driving 40 mph, which he believed to be "under the speed limit" on Branham Lane, to a friend's house to watch a movie. He denied to officers that he was speeding and said he never races. He later claimed that Snow's death was her own fault.

"Aly did nothing wrong," her godmother, Julie Grandee said. "Both of you men broke the law."

Snow, who had been working as a waitress to raise money for college, had a bright future, her friends and family said.

Now, "the only way I can see my best friend is by dropping by her grave and seeing her name etched in stone," said her friend, Gabrielle Solomon.

"Aly had a motto she lived by, 'live, laugh, love.' We are not just Aly's family and friends. We are Aly's Army."

sorry to hear about that. was your friend the victim or one of the drivers?

sorry to hear about your friend. :(

What a terrible story. I really fight with myself sometimes when I'm driving and resist the urge to "dip" in traffic. Stories like these help remind me that not only am I putting myself in danger, but I'm also endangering the lives of innocent people, and then I slow down. Although a terrible tragedy, it serves as a good reminder for all of us to slow down and respect our fellow motorists. Those two drivers got what they deserved.

additionally, these idiots are the reason why we get profiled for having sports cars and going to meets

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffblue (Post 691981)

additionally, these idiots are the reason why we get profiled for having sports cars and going to meets

They're also the reason our insurance rates are so high. :mad:

I wish people who did this stupid sh*t would just learn how to drive to begin with. That's 90% of the problem. I honestly don't know how you manage to plow into the back of any car, while racing or not, if you're even paying half attention.

What a terrible loss just because of two imbeciles. It's a shame you can stop neither illegal racing nor stupidity.

whwnever i see some a hole doing like 100 on the highway, i just keep driving the same speed in the same lane and don't try to get out of their way. They don't expect you to get out of their way, thus, you swerve right to get out of their way, just as they go right to pass you. Thats probably what happened here.

My friend was Aly, she's the one that died in the crash last year. It wasn't until after the trial last week I found out one of the guys involved was driving a Z. Which just made it worse in my mind.

I know we all like to have fun, and I admit I at times do push the limits. But I don't exceed what I can't handle. Some people just don't know the difference and it puts themselves as well as others at risk and gives people reasons to stereotype the rest of us.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Don't be too down about the fact that he was driving a Z. fast cars don't kill people, bad judgment kills people. You can do 90 in a corolla.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffblue (Post 692027)

Sorry to hear about your loss. Don't be too down about the fact that he was driving a Z. fast cars don't kill people, bad judgment kills people. You can do 90 in a corolla.

:iagree: Street racing is inexcusable, especially with any other traffic around. And it's not brain surgeons who are involved usually. Had some kid in his Mazdaspeed3 try to race me at a red light a few months back... right in front of a police station.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeLRo (Post 692013)

I'm sorry, but you can never say you know 100% what you can handle. There are professional drivers that die in accidents all the time.

Chasing another car to street race is never a bright idea... it just leads to trouble.

But, for example, my wife pulled up next to a Corvette at a light yesterday. 4 lane road, 50 mph limit, big painted median, no sidewalks. Nobody in front, nobody making right turns, nobody on the other side of the road. She didn't go for it, but it would have been reasonable then to have a bit of fun in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Taking it beyond that would have been dumb.

I can see exactly how this accident happened. These boneheads were probably doing 100mph and were in the adjacent lane to this poor girl. They figured she'd stay in her lane while they blew past, and she probably changed lanes and never saw them. Just a guess, but that's my best estimate of how these little pukes would blame her for it.

Enjoy your prison showers, boys.

Inexperience drivers and bad decision making are a terrible combination.

RIP to the girl.

what bothers me most about this story is the exact circumstances of the way these guys were racing. it always pisses me off when someone sees my car and has to start driving like a retard, like what are you trying to prove? even if your car is faster than mine, we'll never see each other again, it's not like a rivalry between friends. people think they're adding inches by beating other cars on the road.

Thats awful, both them idiots have some good time to educate themselves on driving

I wonder what the actual speed limit was at the point of the crash. If you're going fast enough over the speed limit it can be considered a felony. And, since a death occurred during the commission of a felony, those involved should have been charged with murder. It sounds like these guys actually got off easy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Jewbag™ (Post 692040)

I'm sorry, but you can never say you know 100% what you can handle. There are professional drivers that die in accidents all the time.

I didn't mean that I do know 100%. But I'm aware of what the law and legal limits are and I don't push those limits to an extreme where it could potentially cause a hazard or incident that could have been easily prevented is more of what I meant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daleks (Post 692308)

Everyone was worried at first they wouldn't get the max. But apparently they did get the max sentence which I agree doesn't seem enough. The posted speed could have been anywhere between 35-45mph depending on what part of the street they were on. It's been a while since I've been out that way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarmAndSCSI (Post 692045)

I agree. If you have that much room and there is no oncoming intersection and you have 100% visibility then maybe have a little fun. The only time I've really been able to see top speeds in my Z was driving home to Cali from Utah and seeing 2 miles in front and behind me without a single car on hwy 80. Other than that I'm waiting till my first AutoX.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daleks (Post 692308)

The article says they were charged with vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving.

It's tough to really choose an appropriate sentence for them I think. On one side I feel they should be locked away forever for taking a life out of stupidity. On the flip side, they are stupid kids who made a bad decision and paid a severe price for it (a death of an innocent bystander). Surely a crash and a death wasn't their intention. Locking away a 19 year old for a lifetime for a lapse in judgement in some respects is harsh...he has a whole life to feel terrible about what he did whether he's behind bars or not. I'm not condoning their behavior by any means. If no one was killed, they would have gotten off much easier. The death itself was just a very unfortunate additional circumstance.

They got what is coming to them. It's idiots like that who drive up the high cost of insurance and give decent sports car owners a bad rap.

hope the family finds peace.

what is it about a---holes who every time they come up to a Z want to prove something. one time i had a redneck in a ford pickup truck!! pull up beside me at a red light and rev up his engine like he wanted to race......jerk

One day you are going to school, hitting on girls, running errands...the next day you are sentenced to years in prison...life flipped upside down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TongMan (Post 692558)

One day you are going to school, hitting on girls, running errands...the next day you are sentenced to years in prison...life flipped upside down.

One day you're hanging with your friends, full future ahead of you. The next day you're driving responsibly and someone ends your life because he wanted to race. That's worse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by spearfish25 (Post 692498)

Locking away a 19 year old for a lifetime for a lapse in judgement in some respects is harsh...he has a whole life to feel terrible about what he did whether he's behind bars or not.

The one thing though is that they didn't even seem to care and were more concerned about going to jail than what their stupidity caused. At one point they even tried to blame Aly in their argument. This happened almost 1 year ago and they still haven't changed their attitude.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonic370 (Post 692522)

what is it about a---holes who every time they come up to a Z want to prove something. one time i had a redneck in a ford pickup truck!! pull up beside me at a red light and rev up his engine like he wanted to race......jerk

So irritating!!! Just last week I had a lifted jeep rev on me then drive around me on the right side in the bicycle lane when I didn't even have any cars in the lane to my left. I wasn't even going the speed limit since there are always cops around that street at night. But of course when you need one they're nowhere to be found. :shakes head:

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeLRo (Post 692721)

With lack of remorse, they are then sociopaths and need to be imprisoned. I was just being careful and didn't want to assume anything. A paper could easily change reality by saying he only cared about his mom's car when in fact he may never have realized he killed someone at that moment in time. But if they still had no remorse throughout their trial...sociopaths deserving prison and psychiatric help.

Again, so sorry for your loss.