Brooklyn, NY – A deliveryman run over by an allegedly texting driver has died — and his grieving family wants justice.
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Tian Sheng Lin, 53, died when Nechama Rothberger, 19, smashed her 2005 Toyota Camry into his scooter on Avenue P in Brooklyn on Sept. 19, authorities said.
Family attorney David Sobiloff said widow Xiu Ying Zhang, 52, and three children want prosecutors to throw the book at Rothberger, who is facing only misdemeanor charges and no jail time.
Rothberger claims she was merely texting her family after the accident, according to Leo Kimmel, the attorney who represented her at the arraignment. She told cops at the scene that she didn’t see the scooter.
I was not a witness to this incident; I will gladly cede moral correctness to any blogger that was actually there.
In general, there is a problem with deliverymen using powered bicycles that are unlicensed and scoot every which way on our streets. I can not say if this was the case here.
I will believe that the driver was texting while moving if the driver says so OR the police have proof or a statement. I know what the article said but I do not know if it is factual.
The way these delivery guys drive on scooters & bikes, it is very possible she WAS NOT texting before the accident.
sounds interesting!! no cell phones during driving not even a head set cuz u cant concentrate
the moral of the story is that 19 year olds are not mature enough to drive. i was 23 when started and my parents said get your own care and insurance and for good reason.
Since when can’t you use a headset? How is that different from talking to a passenger. Where does this lead? To silent driving?
I can not believe that this girl has not yet been charged with manslaughter, i.e. unintended killing. A person can not concentrate on driving a car and texting simultaneously.
Over here, in backward and medieval England, driving and texting have long been a felony. The penalty available to the English courts is up to life imprisonment. But in modern and enlightened America: who knows?
The “fact” posited in comment #1 to the effect that there is ” a problem with deliverymen using powered bicycles that are unlicensed and scoot every which way on our streets” is neither here nor there. What IS important is that a human life has been wantonly extinguished and that an entire family is mourning a husband, father and breadwinner.
But the bar-minan was not Jewish so why should “cbdds” care?
I would think that the cell phone provider can determine from its records the number of texts around that itme and whether they were all going to the drivers family as she stated.
#2 (Mark)…your nonsequitor is the foundation of what our laws are and prove, beyong the shadows of a doubt, that you should be on the jury.
drinking a coffee or eating a sandwich is jsut as bad as texting.
tho only texting is a crime.
worng wrong wrong….oh and by the way, ive seen the delivery people using their cell phones without a headset …where is their tickets?
easy enough to check, as I am sure any attorney worth thier salt will do…what time and how long the textss were going on for.
Come on people. A man was killed because a young woman was texting while driving. Most 19 year olds are not mature enough to be behind the wheel of a car. Let alone texting while behind that wheel. If your child was hit on a bike, instead of an adult on a scooter, no one would be blaming the child on the bike the way you are blaming the man on the scooter. And then pretend this young woman is not from a frum family. What would you all sound like then ? Be honest folks – be honest. Frum or not, texting while driving is way too dangerous. It needs to be against the law. But then again, holding a cell phone while driving is illegal and too many people to that too. The only answer is for us all to be menchen and not fools.
Assuming the scooter was operating legally, and the victim was in the country legally, justice is a fine followed by litigation in CIVIL court.
If i remember correctly the man on the bike was stopped for a red light and she hit him from the back.
i honestly feel bad for this family but unfortunately justice means money and thats what they want i do believe her more than the family
Okay Number 6 you are in London and are telling us how these delivery guys drive,
So let me tell you, last night driving in Manhattan I was in the middle lane a delivery guy with earphones in his ears just started merging in from the right, I honked the horn and the guy realized where he was going…
And if he was hit Mr. Or Mrs. In London or wherever else the comments are coming from will decide for us if I was txting on the phone with a blue tooth or w/o.
PEOPLE STOP JUDGING UNTIL YOU GET YOUR FACTS.
To #6 -GB Jew-As a Jewish American, I resent your facetious, condescending remarks about our great country, the USA (i.e. “modern and enlightened America”). If it wasn’t for us sending over 2,000,000 GI’s to England during WW2, you would be speaking German today.
You can’t bash all 17 18 or 19 years for driving. Remember when you first start to drive there is higher probablity something could happen. When you dirve you don’t text period. We all think we are superman and can text, drive, speak, watch a navigator and other thinks. I used to drive 30 to 50k which now is down to 15K but the things I see, cement mixers talking while driving, 18 wheelers talking while driving, watching porn while driving, reading a paper or a book while driving. The list goes on.
Today another thing that is a hazard is a woman talking on the phone with a stroller with a child in it and a 2 year old supposingly to hold on while she cross main road.
I have told a few of them to wise up. On the 19 year old issue I was driving with a license since 16 and it was not a car but a truck and you wise up fast when driving in the rain and snow
Okay Number 6 you are in London and are telling us how these delivery guys drive,
So let me tell you, last night driving in Manhattan I was in the middle lane a delivery guy with earphones in his ears just started merging in from the right, I honked the horn and the guy realized where he was going…
And if he was hit Mr. Or Mrs. In London or wherever else the comments are coming from will decide for us if I was txting on the phone with a blue tooth or w/o.
PEOPLE STOP JUDGING UNTIL YOU GET YOUR FACTS.
FOLKS, listen up!! There is NO proof anywhere of anything that any of you have access to. You’re all jumping the gun to pass judgment on a member of YOUR community whom you probably no nothing about. You are ALL guilty of passing judgment based on media accounts of an unfortunate tragedy. Please review pertinent halachos relating to an incident like this and STOP trashing.
I’m also reasonably confident that NONE of you who commented about this was at the scene to observe the facts nor were you witness to the accident.
According to reports posted in their local newspaper, the police determined from her cell phone data that she was texting at the time of the accident.
Does anyone here realize that she was texting after the accident? The cops took her phone away while she was in the middle of a text! It’s very sad that this guy died but don’t say she was texting just because the newspapers said that.
I cannot believe how so many of you try to rationalize what happened. This girl’s negligence KILLED an innocent man with a wife and three young children. She should be sentenced to prison for a long time since thats the only way to teach these kids that their actions have consequences. If a yid sees someone texting while driving, they should notify the police immediately. There is no question of “messirah” if the outcome is to possibly save someone’s life.
Gadol hadoor change your name to kataan hadoor. The fact is that in a congested traffic as N.Y.C. you should drive considering all eventualities and say tehillim
Dear #39 ,
I hope someone tells a cop when you speed. According to your logic, its not mesira since its endangering someone elses life. I’d think even if you’re eating in the car or doing something else distracting, you’d be totally negligent.
Indeed, an illegal alien has no right to recover anything under tort laws as he has no business being in the US. However, that usually is never enforced and it probably would have come out by now if the victim were illegal.
There is no felony, and the only redress the victim’s family has is in civil court. And civil court could just as soon prove that he was at fault with an unlit scooter that is not meant for NY roads.
I hope Nechama Rothberger goes to EY or somewhere and has a chance at a normal life (or that she goes to Jewish schools and speaks about dangerous driving). It is her parents’ insurance company’s problem at this point after she pays her fine.
And look at the difference between the family of this oived avoido zoro and the parents of the baby who was killed by the falling door. Mi keamcho yisroel.
How come there is not one comment here in sympathy to the family that just lost a father, brother, husband?
There is a new book that just came out (a secular one) called Half a Life by Darin Strauss in which he writes about how as a HS senior he was driving and a girl on a bike crossed his path who he did not see, he ran her over, and she died. It is a sad and inspiring story of how your life can be so changed by something so unexpected. It is a very honest telling of his feeling of guilt (event though he was not) and how the girl’s family on one hand said they forgave him, but tried to sue him in court. He felt somehow that his life was connected to her’s and his was living for 2 people. Very amazing. Heard him on the radio. Can buy it at Amazon.com or other bookstores. Not a frum press, but maybe a Jewish guy.
OK So how much exactly does “JUSTICE “cost? How much are they asking for?Is it more or less than 100 million?
The facts stipulated are
1) She was driving.
2) She was texting at the time of the accident
3) She hit and killed a man who was stopped at a red light.
If these are true, then she should be up for at least negligent homicide or manslaughter. It doesn’t matter that she’s religious. It wouldn’t matter if the victim were here legally or illegally. Committing actions that recklessly and with callous disregard for human life cause the death of another is criminal no matter what. Having your lawyer issue a statement saying she was only texting her family doesn’t make it better. It’s a public admission of guilt.
#64 You really need to work on that reading comprehension thing. You’re not very good at it.
I said “IF these are true, THEN she should be up for at least negligent homicide or manslaughter.” Got that?
#1 I’m laying it out logically for the hard of thinking. You should thank me.
#2 is entirely possible to prove. The phone company will have the records down to the second.
#3 As I said, IF and THEN. It’s why we have police to do investigations and juries to hear the facts.
I’ve known people who were charged with and in some cases convicted of crimes. The fact that I knew them was immaterial to their guilt or innocence. There is a reason we have laws and evidence. If we did what you wanted and let people we knew and liked walk free because we know and like them we would have anarchy. But that’s how religious fanatics like you operate. Truth is unimportant. Evidence is a sham. The law is there to be ignored if a Jew is the defendant and the victim is goyishe drek.