Posted 4 months, 16 days ago in 
14 votes. Average 4.71/5
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While I am deeply saddened by the death of Samantha Loy, I have to speak out. During 32 years in law enforcement, I have witnessed time and again, parents and family members who blame the police for what amounts to a parents’ lack of responsibility for teaching their children right from wrong, then playing the blame card when their failure to provide appropriate guidance and oversight of their children results in tragedy.
It is the parents’ responsibility to teach their children that it is not OK to drink while underage, not OK to drink and drive, not safe to speed, not safe to drive unbelted, not safe to use a cell phone while driving, that they must party responsibly. When her friend got a DUI in 2007, did Loy’s parents use this time to re-educate her on her responsibilities as a driver?
The family blames the police for her ability to be drunk and fool police into thinking she was not. Instead, they ought to be thanking God she did not hit or kill some innocent person on the highway as well.
I feel for the police officers involved. It is not “their flippin’ job” to be there when the parents aren’t.
Instead of trying to ruin the careers of these officers, who put their lives on the line for this community every day, use this tragedy to make your daughter proud of you. Do something positive, go to schools and talk to students and parents about your experience. Saving even one child from a similar situation will create a more enduring legacy for your daughter. Her death has already created changes in her friends’ behavior. Work on trying to prevent this from happening to anyone else’s child.
T.S. SWANN
Loma
17 Responses to “Police aren’t substitute for personal responsibility”
Posted June 23rd, 2009 at 1:52 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
great letter!
Posted June 25th, 2009 at 9:16 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
I too feel the same way. Excellent letter!
Posted June 27th, 2009 at 10:45 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
dead center
Posted June 30th, 2009 at 9:55 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Right-on! Great Letter!
Posted July 10th, 2009 at 11:06 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Why did Peck not pull her over when she was speeding. because he said he didn’t have his radar unit in the patrol car. Peck then told State Patrol that his speed device had been stuck on lock, but he had seen the car turn without using turn signal. He turns around to follow her watches her turn twice without using turn signals then just proceeds to follow her across I-70 onto the frontage road headed east, then into a housing community onto S. Mesa down to Lexington Way. she turned onto Lexington drove that long blook that turns into c ? then she turns back onto S Mesa and drives a block to Lexington then Peck state I saw nothing that caused me consern. But he also states I thought she might be lost.
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 6:37 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
This letter and the comments define double standards. Law Enforcement has, especially in Fruita’s case, a primary mission statement of DUI enforcement. On a routine and daily basis, police officers accross the nation are testifying in court as to their learned ability to determine when someone is driving impaired due to alchol or drug use. Fruita regularly sets up DUI checkpoints where their officers are called upon to determine if anyone is operating a vehicle while under the influence of alchol. The expertise of police officers in the determination of whether a driver is impaired is touted as almost unchallengeable. Yet when something like this happens, all of a sudden they are not responsible and there is no accountability expected for a failure to demonstrate the much touted expertise. The message becomes - we failed in our primary mission statement but we’re not accountable because our mission is not a substitute for personal responsibility. I would ask -”what about the personal responsibility of the law enforcement officer tasked and paid to keep impaired drivers off the highways?”
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 8:51 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Mountainwarrior, i understand your point, but you seem to fail to accept that the final responsibility of this senseless death lies solely with the young woman. Police won’t catch each and every drunk/impaired driver on the road. While the officer involved MIGHT have handled the situation better, without concrete evidence like video or voice recording, we’ll never know.
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 9:55 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
You either are unaware of the details or choose to ignore them. The officer followed this young woman then stopped and interviewed her. Ten minutes later she was dead with a 1.9 BAC. Further don’t confuse final responsibility with total responsibility.
You sir, fail to accept the expected accountability of law enforcement in the execution of their duties. Your statement regarding the lack of video or voice recording evidence is interesting, how would you know whether such exists?
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 10:19 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Law enforcement’s purpose is to enforce laws, not to be the law or to “babysit” anyone. Any death is unfortunate but, the ultimate responsibility for this death is with the individual him/herself. We all make mistakes in our lives, and particularly when young. But, that is our mistake, not that of others. It is about time that everyone begin accepting responsibility for their own errors instead of constantly attempting to “shift the blame” onto the shoulders of others. That, for some, may involve considerable growing up, no matter what the age.
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 11:24 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
mountainwarrior -
How much responsibility did Samantha Loy bear in her own tragic demise? Once she became voluntarily intoxicated, and chose to get behind the wheel, did all of her responsibility end?
Officer Peck probably made a mistake. Probably. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. But I do know that he will live with that mistake the rest of his life. To me, that’s a fair punishment for what very well could have been a simple mistake. But Samantha made plenty of mistakes, too.
She drank. She drove. She was pulled over. She was let go.
At ANY point during that night, she could have called someone for a ride.
She made a conscious decision to do what she did. While it’s sad that she died, we’re all lucky we weren’t on the same road that night.
It’s terrible, tragic, and sad.
But let’s lay the blame where it belongs, and stop looking for someone to blame to make us all feel better.
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 11:37 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
You folks can’t be that dense can you? Try looking at it another way - suppose, god forbid, that the young woman, after being stopped and released by law enforcement, hit and killed someone related to you. Then how how you view the officer and his responsibility in the matter? I can’t wait for your considered reply to that question!
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 11:43 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Okay, mountainwarrior, let’s try it on your level -
Who drank? Who drove? Who kept driving AFTER being stopped and let go? Was anything Samantha’s fault?
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 11:51 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
And one other thing…While it’s a tragic loss of a young life, riddle me this-
Would everyone be squealing so hard about that ‘young woman’ if she hadn’t been a pretty young girl? What is she had been a 50ish alcholic male? Would it be so heart-rendingly tragic, or would people like you be saying, “That’s what you get for drinking and driving…I’m surprised he didn’t kill someone”?
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
mountainwarrior: “Try looking at it another way - suppose, god forbid, that the young woman, after being stopped and released by law enforcement, hit and killed someone related to you.”
Let us not get into the “What if” and “feeling” category shall we? It reminds me of the garbage frequently asked of interviewees on television or radio. Some family has suffered a tragedy and the interviewer cannot come up with anything better than the inane “How do you feel?” What does the interviewer expect to hear: “I feel great!”?
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 12:09 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
“..you definately don’t understand the issue here.”
The issue (eliminating the emotionalism) is very simple. The one responsible is the driver, not the law enforcement officer. Perhaps some should pay less attention to emotionalism and “feelings” just long enough to look at hard facts, and not get drawn off into hypothetical scenarios. And, the reality is that in whatever case, it is the driver that is at fault, not the law enforcement officer whatever he/she may have/have not done.
Posted July 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
I never thought this was my cup of tea but after reading the article in today’s paper, I absolutely agree. I have an 18 year old son. Where do we draw the line for personal responsibility? Are we becoming so very lazy that we lack the ambition to make ourselves personally accountable? We will fight to the death when government tries to force us into a decision, but when it comes to an area or an act where we fall short due to our own disregard for consequences, we want anyone but ourselves to take the blame. What a sad society we have become. What happened to common sense?
Posted October 10th, 2009 at 5:25 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
grief is a strange thing. When my first husband took his own life, I blamedd everybody except him. Myself, the boss who fired him from his job, the fundie who ridiculed him for not being a Christian, & almost 10 years later tho it still hurts, I know that the only one responsible for Leonard’s death was Leonard. Mr. Swann that was a great letter, by the way. One day I hope the family of this young woman will realize that it was not the police’s job.
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