Charge against doctor dropped in drunk driving death of jogger

Carlson's DWI Charge in Menzies Death Dropped

Jul 01, 2014

By WRIC Newsroom

 RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) - The DWI charge against a Mechanicsville doctor accused of hitting and killing a jogger in Hanover County in January has been nolle prosequi, or dropped.

Dr. Michael J. Carlson, 47, is charged in the death of Meg Menzies, a mother of three and avid runner. Menzies was married to Sergeant Scott Menzies of the Ashland Police Department. 
An additional charge of involuntary manslaughter was sent to the grand jury.
Around 8:15 a.m. on Jan. 13, a 2014 Toyota Sequoia was traveling west on East Patrick Henry Road when it ran off the right side of the curved roadway and struck Menzies, who had been jogging east on the westbound shoulder of the road. The crash occurred near the intersection of East Patrick Henry Road/Route 54 and Hickory Hill Road.

Menzies was transported to VCU Medical Center, where she succumbed to her injuries.
Menzies was an active member of the Richmond Road Runners club.
Stay with 8News on air and online for updates on this developing story.


Compare the above outcome with the very different result in a similar case:

Drunk Driver Who Killed Young Man Gets Nearly 12 Years in Prison

Posted by Jennifer Vigil 

Times of San Diego

July 2, 2014

A motorist who drove drunk the wrong way on two freeways before getting into a head-on collision that killed the other driver has been sentenced to 11 years and eight months in state prison.
Nicholas Gervais, 29, pleaded guilty in May in San Diego Superior Court to vehicular manslaughter and DUI in the death of John M. Hajosy.

He had faced up to nearly 14 years in prison.

Gervais also pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs and DUI with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent or higher in the Feb. 23 death of Hajosy, also 28.

Deputy District Attorney Lucy Yturralde told a judge at Gervais’ arraignment that the defendant was spotted driving south in northbound lanes of state Route 125 about 2:10 a.m. on Feb. 23.

An El Cajon police officer tried to get Gervais’ attention by flashing his lights at the wrong-way driver and tried to videotape what was happening, Yturralde said.

Eventually, Gervais got on state Route 94, driving his BMW west in the eastbound lanes up to about 80 mph, before crashing into Hajosy’s car, the prosecutor said.

Hajosy died at the scene of head injuries and a lacerated spleen.

Hajosy’s mother said her son had been out on an “amazing date.”

Gervais was taken to a hospital and breathalyzer test showed his blood-alcohol content at .23 percent and .21 percent about three hours after the crash, according to Yturralde, who said a marijuana pipe were found in Gervais’ car.

– City News Service

Los Angeles doctor runs down pedestrian, then gets him arrested

Author Steve Bevilacqua

Doctor causes harm, then lies about it to escape blame. Haven't I heard this before?

"...road rage lunatic who happened to be a doctor...The driver also pulled the gender card and claimed that her actions were justified because she was "very afraid" of me, despite the fact that she was in a car and I was on my ass in the street."

Book: A Layman's Handbook for Those Falsely Accused of Felonies
Man Run Over By Doctor Faced Lengthy Prison Sentence & Was Then Redeemed On National TV By Judge Judy
Ryan McCormick
Nov 19, 2013

One day Steve Bevilacqua was hit by a car crossing the street and almost went to prison for it. The driver who ran him down was charged with nothing, and Steve spent months in court fighting mandatory prison sentences for imaginary crimes. His book "KAFKA AT THE BEACH: A Layman's Handbook for Those Falsely Accused of Felonies" offers a firsthand account of being on the wrong end of America's justice system.

In KAFKA AT THE BEACH Steve Bevilacqua reveals:

How & why he was facing an 18-month mandatory prison sentence for assault, battery, and strong-armed robbery against the woman who ran him over with her car - crimes he did not commit.

How after he was run over, the driver cursed him, got out of her car, and then attempted to physically assault him.

A corrupt LAPD detective adds more false charges to Steve's existing ones.

In court, Steve meet the alcoholic city attorney who, chomping on pretzels and nursing a hangover, keeps confusing his case with others and becomes hellbent on sending Steve to prison for two years.

Redemption: TV's Judge Judy ruled in Steve's favor as he was suing the driver for cost incurred of her making deliberate false statements.



Santa Monica courthouse

"In the bizarre totalitarian odyssey that devoured a year of my life. I fought off a ferocious campaign to put me in prison, experienced the joys of bankruptcy, and struggled through an absurd maze of court-ordered therapy. However, I ultimately triumphed, achieving vindication on national television at the hands of the snarling modern-day Solomon known as Judge Judy." Steve Bevilacqua

Lights, Camera, Justice: If Only the Los Angeles Court System Were More Like Judge Judy
Steve Bevilacqua
Huff Post
07/31/2013

I was run down by a car while crossing the street, and almost went to prison for it, thanks to our local court system. Granted, what happened to me was an extreme incident, propelled by a road rage lunatic who happened to be a doctor yet should never have been listened to by anyone. The driver also pulled the gender card and claimed that her actions were justified because she was "very afraid" of me, despite the fact that she was in a car and I was on my ass in the street. But what transpired for the next 8 months in our city's court system was a totalitarian nightmare straight out of Kafka's The Trial.

Hundreds of hours, thousands of dollars, and one surreal stint in court-ordered therapy later, I was ravaged but free. Then this legal deathmarch was to play itself out again, on television. Amazingly enough, in one extremely loud afternoon, my fiasco was set right by the modern-day Solomon known as Judge Judy. The actual court system spent months squeezing every technicality in their agonized efforts to send me to prison at the expense of the obvious truth. Judge Judy was direct and ferociously sensible...

During my months in court, I endured City Attorneys defending a driver's right to run down a pedestrian with her car, while refusing to charge her with anything. The driver even admitted giving the finger to the downed pedestrian as she fled the scene, yet she didn't even receive a traffic ticket...

I have yet to see an argument based on some pigshit technicality succeed on Judge Judy while, in real courts, it seems to happen as often as not...

Judge Rules White Girl Will Be Tried As Black Adult

This post has been moved to HERE.

The two-tiered justice system: an illustration

The two-tiered justice system: an illustration
By Glenn Greenwald
Apr 14, 2011

Of all the topics on which I've focused, I've likely written most about America's two-tiered justice system -- the way in which political and financial elites now enjoy virtually full-scale legal immunity for even the most egregious lawbreaking, while ordinary Americans, especially the poor and racial and ethnic minorities, are subjected to exactly the opposite treatment: the world's largest prison state and most merciless justice system. That full-scale destruction of the rule of law is also the topic of my forthcoming book.

But The New York Times this morning has a long article so perfectly illustrating what I mean by "two-tiered justice system" -- and the way in which it obliterates the core covenant of the American Founding: equality before the law -- that it's impossible for me not to highlight it.

The article's headline tells most of the story: "In Financial Crisis, No Prosecutions of Top Figures." It asks: "why, in the aftermath of a financial mess that generated hundreds of billions in losses, have no high-profile participants in the disaster been prosecuted?" And it recounts that not only have no high-level culprits been indicted (or even subjected to meaningful criminal investigations), but few have suffered any financial repercussions in the form of civil enforcements or other lawsuits. The evidence of rampant criminality that led to the 2008 financial crisis is overwhelming, but perhaps the clearest and most compelling such evidence comes from long-time Wall-Street-servant Alan Greenspan; even he was forced to acknowledge that much of the precipitating conduct was "certainly illegal and... clearly criminal" and that "a lot of that stuff was just plain fraud."