aitah for considerinf leaving my son in the county jail hospital over the weekend instead of paying $9,500.00 in bail?

[u/ShowerElectrical9342]

My son hit a pregnant woman with his vehicle and broke his nose and has stitches on his lip.

He was arrested and is in the county jail hospital. He wouldn't tell me how badly injured the woman is, except that she might lose the baby.

He's a careless, distracted driver who has totalled 2 cars, which his bio dad immediately replaced with even better cars!

But now his bio dad is gone (heart attack) and I don't want to enable this dangerous driving problem.

I'm overwhelmed.

He has had accidents before, and has always been bailed out.

I'm trying to get a regular lawyer because now he says she might lose the baby and sue him.

He's 19.

But no one wants me to take the time to get a regular lawyer instead of this public defender who insists I must send the bail money NOW or my son will be in jail all weekend.

Honestly, I don't know. Maybe that would be good for him. Like a wakeup call.

He didn't mention alcohol, but why else would he he arrested for a car accident?

Help! I have to move fast!

AITAH for even thinking about letting him spend a weekend in jail?

[u/StrawberriesRGood4U]

NTA. He is an adult. He made a choice that resulted in serious injury to an innocent person, and further, his history indicates previous lessons have not been learned. Police may have arrested him for a number of reasons beyond just DUI. Many jurisdictions, for instance, treat street racing or dangerous driving causing bodily harm as criminal offenses rather than minor traffic infractions. If he is in jail for this, there's likely a damn good reason for it. Leaving him there to spend the weekend thinking seems quite reasonable.

[u/Legion1117 → u/StrawberriesRGood4U]

In Tennessee, Drag racing just became a Class E felony.

They're DONE with the bullshit and wrecks costing bystanders their lives.

[u/Mesquite_Thorn → u/Legion1117]

As a former street racer, I actually agree that it should be a harsher offense. I've seen some people get seriously injured and an instance where one guy lost control of his car and launched it off a curb and through the front windows of a local clothing store. Had anyone else been in there, they would've been killed.

[u/Woodpecker_61 → u/Mesquite_Thorn]

Yes, I'm amazed at how many kids get some "dad I want" car with HP many untrained adults cant handle, turn the key, do a donut in an intersection for a youtube & end up taking out some form of pole or signal control trashing the car.

[u/Special_Implement347 → u/Woodpecker_61]

The best/worst example I witnessed was a guy I knew in high school who had just started dating a girl whose parents had just bought her a Mustang. He, of course, had to try driving it. Got to the end of the block and needed to make a left. Stomped on the gas as he started the turn and ended up in someone's living room. Luckily no one was hurt, but the car was totaled, the house likely took months to repair and the girlfriend left him. All about 2 weeks after they started dating, a few days after she got the brand new car and 30 seconds after he took the wheel.

[u/accents_ranis → u/Special_Implement347]

Not as bad, but as I was walking home from a concert in my hometown, a Mercedes roared passed, and at an intersection turned the corner burning rubber and was gone. About a half second later I heard a loud bang.

As I reach the intersection I look left, and there across the street about 50 meters away four dudes are exiting the car. It had hit a brick wall and the front was totaled, steam spewing out of the radiator.

I had a smile on my face until bedtime. For once, idiocy paid the price and no-one was hurt.

[u/KittehPaparazzeh → u/accents_ranis]

After a bad snow storm my dad and I were going over to help some family friends with health problems dig out. There was still a few inches of snow on the road so I was going about 20-25mph (32-40kph) on a road where the speed limit is twice that. A dude in a Hummer H1 came up behind us, and after tailgating us for a minute or two passed us. About a mile down the road we came up the behemoth crashed into a phone pole. Guess the dude didn't realize all wheel drive doesn't help you stop. We rolled down the window and asked if he needed a phone to call for help 🤣🤣🤣

[u/Com_Safe_1988 → u/Mesquite_Thorn]

Reasons i dont race

[u/zer0__obscura → u/Com_Safe_1988]

I’ve always driven some oldish sports car. What can I say, I’m a massive fan of shitboxes. Over the last few years, I can even count how many times someone has tried to race me on highways filled with people. Please let me drive my dumb old car in peace.