Hit-and-run a misdemeanor? Victim's father is fighting law
He should be enjoying his first Kentucky Derby with his wife and their 18-year-old daughter, Connie, a freshman at the University of Kentucky, a member of the equestrian team and an all-around horse lover.
But on April 13, Connie Blount was hit and killed by a pickup truck while crossing an otherwise empty four-lane road near the Lexington campus early in the morning. The driver of the pickup slowed down after hitting Connie, her father said, and then took off.
Shannon D. Houser, 36, was arrested April 24. But as of Thursday, the most serious charge against him was evidence tampering, a felony.
Prior to the accident that claimed Connie Blount's life, there were just three states in the nation in which hit-and-run was a misdemeanor crime.
Kentucky was one of them.
Jack Blount said he was shocked and frustrated that Houser could not be charged with manslaughter or anything that directly connected Houser to his daughter's death.
"Our spiritual side wants to be joyous because Connie is in heaven. But our earthly side is just painfully grieving the loss of a very special daughter," Jack Blount said Thursday.
"Forty-seven states have seen the light that a drunk driver running over somebody and leaving the scene of an accident should be a felony," he said. "Why should drunkards be encouraged to leave the scene instead of staying and calling for help just because they would be punished?"
Houser has not been charged with driving under the influence and cannot be charged with manslaughter unless authorities can prove alcohol was a factor, Jack Blount said. But based on Houser's criminal history, as well as other information he has been given by police but can't release publicly, Blount said he is sure impairment was involved.
"He doesn't slow down. He doesn't swerve. He doesn't stop to offer aid. There's just no way you can get me to believe a rational, sober person could ever do that, period," he said.
Investigators were still working Thursday to see if they could increase any of the charges, he said.
Houser's criminal history includes DUI and another fatal car accident in 1993 for which he served jail time. After the Blount accident, Houser tried fixing the bumper on his truck and asked his friends to help him, Jack Blount said. Instead, they turned him in.
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Hey Pat! Did you miss one - on purpose?
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