City No Jail Time for Nakata’s Killer
posted by on February 29 at 11:25 AM
A West Seattle rabbi was sentenced to 500 hours of community service, ordered not to drive for two years and fined $500 Thursday for hitting former Seattle City Council aide Mathew “Tatsuo” Nakata with his car and killing him.A jury found Ephraim Schwartz guilty of assault last month. The charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Five hundred dollars? What the FUCK? This was the second time in less than two years that Schwartz had hit someone with his car—the previous time was in 2005, when he was driving on the wrong side of the road and injured a woman riding a bike
So tell me again, why is this man going to be allowed to drive EVER again?
(Addendum: Both stories on the sentencing focused heavily on the fact that Schwartz is a rabbi and was “tormented” by the fact that he killed Nakata. The Times story actually starts with two paragraphs about Schwartz’s “anguish,” saying that his prayers on Yom Kippur “illustrated the despair the West Seattle rabbi felt over the death of Tatsuo Nakata.” You know what? Screw that. The man killed someone who had decades of life ahead of him. I’m not going to have my heartstrings tugged over how he prayed for eight whole hours on Yom Kippur.)
Man, so if you ever want to kill someone, just become a deacon or some shit and run 'em over with a car. I bet his temple will cover the fine as well.
The Seattle Times story was outrageously sympathetic toward Rabbi Schwartz. Guess what? All Jews who pray on Yom Kippur are anguished -- it's our day of atonement for our communal and individual sins. Eight hours is just the beginning.
This man is a menace and I don't believe he's learned his lesson. He was stopped for running a red light AFTER killing Tatsuo Nakata.
I've managed to drive kids in my car, talk on the cell phone (with an earpiece) and have thank goodness, never hit an animal, let alone a human being.
Rabbi Schwartz's behavior is beyond reckless.
If I thought I would only have to pay $500, I would "accidentally" run tons of people over.
Tim Eyman first...
J/k of course.
If he's so broken up about it, he should kill himself. Then he and Nakata will be even. Until then, he still has his life. His remorse is meaningless, particularly when accompanied by his whining over being charged with vehicular assault. It should've been vehicular manslaughter, motherfucker. Take assault and like it.
Erica... You couldn't be more right. I'm sure he will feel even more "anguish" for the next person he runs down.
There's no way in hell he should ever be allowed behind the wheel of a car again.
If their roles were reversed and the Rabbi was killed, Nakata would be doing time no matter how sorry he was. Its bullshit that people can get away with crimes because they are clergy. The Rabbi should be behind bars tossin' at least one salad a day for one year to atone for this crime. Then, next time, he'd watch the road. Asshole.
Jesus Christ!
allah akbar!
The rabbi will be driving again in three weeks. Suspending their license has never kept someone from driving. I hope to God he's pulled over soon and actually exasperates his legal situation.
Be safe out there folks, traffic laws aren't taken very seriously.
Anyone - anyone - who drives a motor vehicle could accidentally ruin or end someone's life when their attention slips for a split second. And don't tell me you've never been distracted while driving.
This isn't to vindicate the guy. He should never drive again; people who operate dangerous machinery should understand the potential consequences and be held responsible for them. It's just that I find it hard to get on a soapbox about it.
I was a couple weeks late providing my proof of insurance to the city when I got pulled over on the way back from the gym without my wallet. I actually had insurace, just not the proof at the time. I got stuck having to pay almost $700 because of it.
Killing someone is 200 cheaper than not having your wallet on you when you get pulled over.
wow
This verdict is an outrage. You get hit harder by the law for a first-time DUI where there's no accident, no injuries, and no deaths.
Someone please explain to me why this guy WASN'T charged with vehicular manslaughter?
Unfuckingbelievable.
ANY other demographic -ANY- would have had their ass deservedly thrown behind bars.
...and for him to bring his fucking religion into it- fuck that and fuck him.
Why can't some church deacon run over Tim Eyman?
Heck, if I was on his jury I'd make sure he never served a day in jail - even if the jury had to hang for six months!
Sure, okay.
The reason he wasn't charged with vehicular manslaughter is because the level of negligence he demonstrated when he killed Nakata is not exceptional for drivers in our region. It wasn't gross negligence; it was just plain old "oops, I looked away for a second" negligence.
Now, my personal standard is that people who drive shouldn't be allowed to look away for even a second. That's a high standard. I can't meet it, so I don't drive. But, my opinion is well outside the norm. As a society, we believe that driving is so important that people should be allowed to drive whether or not they pay unwavering attention to the road.
Once you make that basic concession to the importance of driving, it naturally follows that people displaying a low level of negligence should be punished as lightly as possible -- even if their negligence kills someone -- in order to make automobile transportation as widely available as possible.
So that's why. Hope that helps.
If this were anywhere but Seattle, we'd be looking at Crown Heights 2.0 (Google it, children).
I want to be a religious leader so I can run people down with my car! Where do I sign up 'cause there are some folks at the Stranger I want to run over and then "feel anguish" over.
Our justice system is fucked up.
Bastard should have been sent to jail. This guy is dogshit in my book, and not worthy of my respect in the slightest.
Dump truck drivers fare no worse.
If you are guilty of assault and you kill someone, how can you not be guilty of murder. The burden of proof for manslaughter is higher becuase the penalty is, but the same standards of negligence apply.
The problem is that jurrors are drivers and that their standard of reasonableness is based on the presumption that pedestrians somehow assume the risk of injury.
Someone should publish an online list of the names and addresses of those who have killed while driving. Then perhaps vigilante justice could take over where the rule of law so miserably fails.
the rabbi is THIRTY-SEVEN? i'd have guessed 73 by these actions.
put down the pipe!
BLOOD!!!! GIVE ME BLOOD!!!
@16,
Low level of negligence? This guy has a history of reckless driving. How shitty does a driver have to be before he or she gets punished for it?
This is par for the course in Seattle. Dozens of pedestrians have been killed by idiot drivers in Seattle and they are NEVER punished. Asian women are a particular target (both for being hit and for no punishment to the driver). My good friend's mother was murdered in a crosswalk in the U-District by an SUV making a FUCKING U-TURN in the middle of the street and the driver didn't even get a ticket. The police report mentioned that the pedestrian was "wearing dark clothing" and appeared to be reading a bus schedule as she crossed.
Zero punishment. Zero. Since our criminal justice system is utterly worthless when it comes to pedestrians v. drivers, I hope Nakata's family take this asshole to the cleaners for every nickel he is worth and will ever make. He's sorry? Let him atone by subjecting himself to lifelong poverty more dismal than Mother Teresa ever feared in her worst nightmares.
Pedestrians, watch your back because our justice system certainly won't.
End of sermon, sorry.
WOOOOOO HOOOOO!
Must kill!
Well believe it or not, the fact that he was even charged is a weird kind of progress.
City Attorney Tom Carr deserves some credit for trying to make the guy accountable for killing Nakata.
If you don't like this sort of thing, there are plenty of advocacy orgs around trying to make change. A few are:
http://cascade.org/Advocacy/
http://www.bicyclealliance.org/
Dude should be in jail. He'll have plenty of time to pray in there.
My sister-in-law was the woman he hit before he killed the council staffer. He plowed head on into her while she was riding her bike. She was on the correct side of the street and obeying laws when he came barreling up a hill, around a blind corner and hit her so hard she flew off her bike and into the trees at the side of the road. This guy is a menace. He has a string of traffic offenses under his belt and should be in jail.
We're riding in Critical Mass tonight.
Fuck him and his holy anguish. He should have plead "guilty as fuck" and begged for the maximum sentence with a public apology to all pedestrians who have been at risk until now.
What a little shit.
His email address is rabbischwartz@seattlekollel.org
He lectures on ethics!
I am severely disappointed.
This is not going to look good for Me.
We need to do something.
We need to change our laws so that people will be held accountable for their actions.
If you are able to give me ANY support in doing so, by offering advice, taking action or lending a signature when needed be, EMAIL ME.
LETS DO SOMETHING FOR ALL PAST VICTIMS AND FUTURE VICTIMS.
There will always be people like Schwartz. But I HAVE to believe, there are MANY MORE people, STRONGER people out there to change things, LIKE US.
My contact email: DO.something2007@gmail.com
I look forward to hearing from you.
Hey, where's that guy? Do I have to say it?
BICYCLE JIHAD!!
Hey, where's that guy? Do I have to say it?
BICYCLE JIHAD!!!
Can they bring a civil suit against him? I'm in shock that he wasn't punished more harshly. This is a mockery of justice.
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