LAW NEEDS AMENDING

Regarding "2 Dead, 2 Hurt After Car Crash In Intersection" (Metro, March 4):

Last Thursday in Clearwater, the driver of an SUV slammed into a Saturn,
killing two people, while fleeing police officers attempting to arrest him
for selling crack cocaine to an undercover officer. The driver was charged
with selling and possessing drugs and leaving the scene of an accident with
injury or death. Accident? No, this was certainly no accident.

The driver is at fault here; there can be no debate about that. He did not
have to come to Clearwater to sell crack cocaine. He did not have to run
from the police. He did not have to drive so stupidly as to endanger
others. It is unfortunate that he did not commit one of the crimes
enumerated in Florida Statutes to qualify for a charge of felony murder,
because his victims are just as dead.

It is time that Floridians insist that criminals be taken to task. The
felony murder law should be amended to include fleeing from the police. Too
many innocent citizens are injured or killed because criminals believe they
can get away from the police. Stiff sentences for fleeing and life
sentences for felony murder are the only way to stop these cancers on humanity.

MATTHEW O'NEIL

Clearwater