01/24/2008
Arizona Woman Gets 10 1/2 Years for DUI Death of Gay Cyclist
A sentence handed down in the case of a woman who struck a gay man on a bicycle while she was drunk, killing him, is getting attention in Arizona. Melissa Arrington might have received as little as four years behind bars but the judge gave her six and a half more because of a taped phone call she made from jail two days after the accident.
Mark Kimble of the Tucson Citizen reports:
"Less than 11 months earlier, she had been arrested and charged with DUI. She was sentenced to two days in jail and 18 months of probation. Her driver's license was revoked. Nonetheless, on that Friday evening in December 2006, she left the bar to drive home. A woman driving behind her saw her run off the road several times. On the far East Side, Arrington turned onto Old Spanish Trail. She again drifted off the road several times. The final time, she was so far off the road that she hit L'Ecuyer with the driver's side of her truck as she tried to get back on the pavement. He was thrown into the bed of her pickup, where he died. When she was sentenced Tuesday, Arrington received close to the maximum prison time permitted. Cruikshank said that was partially because of the lack of remorse she exhibited in a telephone call from jail two days after the accident. The call, as are all calls to and from inmates, was taped, and it was played in court at Arrington’s sentencing. On it, a male friend congratulated her on killing L’Ecuyer and told her she deserved 'a medal and a f---ing parade because you took out a (slur for a gay person), a cyclist, a tree hugger and a Frenchman in one shot.' Arrington's response, captured on the tape, was to laugh. Cruikshank called that 'breathtaking in its inhumanity.' Now Arrington says she is ready to be remorseful - serving her sentence, turning her life around and working on her idea for her own anti-DUI group."
Read the rest of Kimble's piece to see the kind of life Arrington wasted.
Kimble: Cyclist deserved to live a full life [tucson citizen]
Jailed drunk driver mocks 'dead gay guy' [ap]
Posted 11:30 AM EST by Andy Towle in Arizona, Crime, News | Permalink
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Andy, I want to thank you for including these items about GLBT people who would otherwise remain in obscurity. I think it's important.
That said, I wish we could read about people like this before they were killed. This is not a comment on Andy (AT ALL!) but on the tragic loss of life and talent that is wasted in the name of ignorance, stupidity, and arrogance every day across this planet.
Posted by: tjc | Jan 24, 2008 11:35:51 AM
For the life of me I don't see why alcohol is not banned. So many are out to get smokers, but, seem to forget, that these drunk drivers kill and maim daily, and, with the lax laws on the books in almost every state, this sort of loss of life is inevitable, and she will serve hardly no time, and, his family and friends have lost a loved one, just sad.
And, no, I'm not a smoker nor a drinker.
Posted by: Sebastian | Jan 24, 2008 11:47:05 AM
"... That man was Paul A. L'Ecuyer.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day - the day before Arrington was sentenced - had been one of the most important days of the year for L'Ecuyer.
Every year on the holiday he attended memorial events and handed out copies of a pamphlet that he created and paid to have printed.
The "Personal Mission Statement" that L'Ecuyer distributed included inspirational messages and a couple of blank pages where he encouraged people to "write down your dreams." He hoped everyone would have several ideas they wanted to bring to fruition during their life.
L'Ecuyer had many such dreams.
He lived a spartan lifestyle, riding his bicycle everywhere so he'd have more money available to help others. Just a week or so before his death, L'Ecuyer - who had only $600 to his name - spent $150 for a grocery gift card to give to a family on Thanksgiving"
What an incredible man - that he was gay is just icing on the cake.
Posted by: Giovanni | Jan 24, 2008 11:50:20 AM
Thanks for posting this important story.
Not very long ago - and probably even today in some areas - a person's sentence would have been lessened, not increased, due to their having killed a gay person. I'm all for gallows humor, but these two folks are devoid of all humanity.
Posted by: Rey | Jan 24, 2008 11:55:55 AM
What a piece of human garbage this witch is. Let her rot in Hell.... I wonder how some of the lesbians in prison will feel about her hatred of gay people.
Posted by: Dan | Jan 24, 2008 11:58:48 AM
she's thick and quite lovely so she'll have no problem making "friends" in prison.
Posted by: the queen | Jan 24, 2008 12:08:49 PM
this horrible, horrible person is not much removed from the p.o.s. gibson of faux news. both apparently took delight in the deaths of people who did positive things to make the world better. neither she nor gibson appear to contribute anything of value to society. they have absolutely no sense of decency.
Posted by: nic | Jan 24, 2008 12:19:13 PM
Some of my friends criticize gay activists for comparing their struggle with the struggle of black people for human rights in this country. It is incidents such as this one that make it clear why both struggles are valid. If this had occured in the middle of Pennsylvania (I was going to say Alabama, but why pick on the South all the time), and the cyclist was a black man, you would have the same phone call that occured in this case. The difference is the word "faggot" would be replaced with "nigger". Yeah, pen a medal on her, one reading "KKK".
Thanks, Giovanni, for letting us know more about Mr L'Ecuyer
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jan 24, 2008 12:31:26 PM
All I have to say about that young "lady" is: "Bye!"
Posted by: junior | Jan 24, 2008 1:13:43 PM
After they lock her up, may I swallow the key?
Posted by: Jack | Jan 24, 2008 1:18:28 PM
Derrick makes an important point. The GLBT and racial equality struggles for civil rights are not, of course, identical... but the similarities and common goals are so obvious that one would be incredibly foolish to ignore or deny them. Perhaps one day we will be able to work together for our common goals.
What a tragic story. And what totally disgusting human beings Arrington and her friend are. Just goes to show ya... birds of a feather stick together.
Posted by: Brian | Jan 24, 2008 1:32:00 PM
What a worthless drunk bitch. And I'm willing to bet the guy on the phone is some fellow trashy drinking buddy. Obviously right wing in his sentiments, anti-environment, anti-French, anti-gay. Hope he's happy about his contribution to her sentence, and I hope she has fun rotting in prison for the next decade.
Posted by: Wes | Jan 24, 2008 1:58:17 PM
The news of this tragedy left me chilled. I'm left with questions, including (1) has the family established a trust in Mark's name that we might contribute to? (2) why wasn't the liquor establishment cited for serving liquor to an obviously drunk person, contributing to someone's injury and death, (3) why wasn't the identity of the 'male caller" identified, as basic police procedure. We use a similar recording device in our facility, callers have no expectation of privacy because of the announcements that are made before and during the call, and, the caller's telephone number was recorded and saved. Lets bring him out into the sunshine.
Posted by: Greg | Jan 24, 2008 2:54:47 PM
I meant to post this earlier but I got called away...
Did I miss something in the article?
I missed the part where it was mentioned that the manslaughter victim was gay. I read that the asshole on the phone called him a ("slur used to refer to homosexual males") but nothing in the article itself stated or even insinuated that he was in fact gay. It wouldn't have been a bit unusual for a bigot to call a tree hugging Frenchman a faggot even if he were straight. In fact it isn't unusual for bigots to call ANYONE they don't like "faggot".
The reason I bring this up isn't because I doubt that the man couldn't have actually been gay; he very likely could have been. I bring this up because when stories are written like this but don't mention the person's orientation it just adds to the invisibility of good, community minded, loving, caring compassionate people who happen to be gay.
I know it's a bit testy as to when and how to bring up a person's sexuality but I think it is important at least, and especially, if they were out in their daily lives.
It's interesting to me that when a gay person does ANYTHING bad that is newsworthy, reports will bend over backwards to find a way to hint at or outright state their sexual orientation but when a person is known for doing good things they bend over equally as much to avoid mentioning their being gay.
My last observation on this story: This is a poignant example of how hateful and nasty people can be to a person when they only see them as labels ("tree hugger", "faggot", "Frenchman", "Cyclist", "Liberal", "Republican") without taking the time to get to know the PERSON, the INDIVIDUAL, the SOUL.
This is exactly why mankind can be so hateful and treacherous to mankind and a perfect example of why it’s important that gay people be out and proud. We MUST be acknowledged when we are saints as well as when we are sinners. Our media and our enemies are determined to ignore the former while highlighting the latter.
Posted by: ZEKE | Jan 24, 2008 3:38:52 PM
So true, Zeke. When someone's a sociopathic lunatic who happens to be gay, of course they go on and on about it sensationalizing even as they claim its merely a detail of the person's life. But when a genuinely good and amazing person is gay its like, "Why mention that he's gay? Its irrelevant. It doesn't matter. Just focus on the deeds." They emphasize gay when its bad and they downplay it when its good. Not everyone, of course, but many, whether subconciously or conciously.
Posted by: Wes | Jan 24, 2008 3:54:38 PM