SOMETIMES IT IS JUST THE WAY THINGS SHAKE OUT

by Bob Walsh

Regular readers will remember a while back I wrote about Victor Mow, a local politician, and a tragic probable DUI incident he was involved in that resulted in a death. Some of the locals are crying foul. While I am usually very happy to at least tentatively accept accusations of favoritism I am unsure about this one.

Victor Mow is 77 years old and has ZERO criminal history. He has strong ties to the local community and has been on the Stockton City Council and the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors. He is currently on the Stockton Port Commission.

About eight weeks go he was driving home from a dinner at about 8 p.m. (after dark) on a main residential road (Country Club) in Stockton and hit and killed Muhammad Ashraf Butt, 82. He was using a walker, moving slow, and NOT in a crosswalk. Mow stopped and cooperated with the cops. He blew a 0.10 on the breathalyzer and turned in a blood sample later that night. That blood sample, taken about 3 1/2 hours after the fact, was 0.79. Presumptive DUI in CA is 0.08.

Mow was not charged until Thursday. He was charged with both vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI causing injury.

Butts' family was unhappy with the time lag. The D.A. responded, saying that Mow was not a flight risk and that definitive blood tests (rather than preliminary results) often take weeks. In addition they point out that the charge does NOT include gross negligence. Mow was not speeding or otherwise driving recklessly. The charge is, though, a felony.

I am inclined to believe the D.A. on this one. Other than the fact that the family is pissed there is no reason to believe that Mow received any preferential treatment on this. Sometimes that is just the way things shake out.