A story over at the dailytitan.com caught my interest (The Daily Titan is the student paper for Cal State Fullerton in Fullerton, CA). Here’s the gist…
Jessica Shekell, 21, a first-semester transfer sociology major at Cal State Fullerton was involved in a head-on collision at 3 a.m. while heading west on the eastbound Fast Trak Express Lane on the 91 freeway.
Shekell, who was alone in the car, was reportedly driving down the wrong side of the freeway when her vehicle struck another, killing 44-year-old Sally Miguel and 30-year-old Patricia Miguel. Sally Miguel died at the scene of the accident and Patricia Miguel died later from injuries at Western Medical Center.
The collision also resulted in major injuries to Sara Miguel, 11, and minor injuries to Mary Miguel, 15, who were sitting in the backseat of the family’s Chevrolet Silverado without seat belts on. Mary Miguel is currently being treated for moderate injuries at UCI Medical Center and Sara Miguel is currently being treated for major injuries at Western Medical Center, according to hospital spokespeople.
Now first let me say this is a tragedy all around. But what’s interesting here is that that Daily Titan article pointed to her MySpace page (here: http://www.myspace.com/82060729) and most of the comments have used that page to condemn Ms. Shekell.
Something that, in fairness, isn’t hard to do.
The page features several pictures of her holding a drink, socially drinking and in fact even posing with a bottle of Jack Daniels while in a car (and then consuming that bottle in that same car). It isn’t very hard to jump to the conclusion that this woman must have been drunk.
Put it this way. I show you the picture below and I tell you this woman caused an accident by swerving into ongoing traffic. What’s your first reaction?
My first reaction is that she was probably drunk and I don’t think that’s abnormal. But just to make the point imagine the same story but I show you this picture instead…
Being honest with yourself I think you’d be inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt (people fall asleep at the wheel for example). At least until more information was available.
That’s my point here.
Being truthful, I suspect this woman was drunk and she caused a horrible accident because of it. But I’m honest enough to admit I think that because of her page. That’s important because, as I’ve said repeatedly on this blog, people take social media too lightly. Even if this woman wasn’t drunk she’s pretty much been indicted now and all based on MySpace photos you could find on the social networking site of a lot of 21 year olds.
People need to remember the world is not their personal friend. The world does not know you and you shouldn’t treat it as such. You shouldn’t share things with the world that you aren’t actually addressing to the public. Because when you do you risk creating a detractor at a time when you desperately need a defender (like in this case).
In the end I sincerely hope this girl is the drunk driver I think she is because thanks to her myspace page she’s facing the fallout of being a drunk driver even if she’s not.