Sentences light for lead feet

Just lucky, I guess.

You may recall, or not, that last week, we discussed the

nearly-here red-light camera at the intersection of Harbor Boulevard

and Adams Avenue, which will be the first in Costa Mesa ... the

red-light camera, not the intersection. There have been intersections

in Costa Mesa for many years.

At any rate, I also wanted to bring up the growing and very

disturbing problem of high-speed chases. But, alas, I ran out of

time, and space, and inches. Column inches, that is. But every now

and then, we do get a second chance in this life, and mine arrived

this week, in the person of one Michael S. Mancuso.

As reported in these very pages, Mr. Mancuso, president and CEO of

Clear World Communications Corporation in Santa Ana, acted in a not

very presidential way.

Embezzlement? Inflated earnings projections? Insider trading?

Please.

These days, stories about CEOs and that kind of thing run in the

sports section, toward the back. No, nothing like that at all.

At about 4 p.m. Tuesday, Mr. Mancuso blew through the Newport

Coast toll plaza on the San Joaquin Toll Road -- no cash, no

transponder, no nothing.

Major league big deal? Not very. Happens all the time. The toll

road agency will eventually track you down and exact the toll and a

modest fine from your wallet or purse. End of story.

But with timing just as poor as his judgment, Mr. Mancuso did his

end-run, head-fake stunt in the clear view of an officer of the

California Highway Patrol, who did not see the humor in it.

For reasons unexplained and even less understood, Mancuso decided

to make a run for it in his silver turbo-charged Porsche, charging up

Newport Coast at about 120 miles per hour. During the chase, he ran

four red lights and then lost control at the intersection of Newport

Coast and San Joaquin Hills Road, “missing a loaded school bus by 6

inches,” CHP Officer Paul Pines said.

What would have happened to that busload of school kids but for

those 6 inches? You know, and I know, but neither of us wants to

discuss it.

So what is Mr. Mancuso’s story? Who knows, and who cares.

But let’s set him aside for now. The point is that high-speed

chases and drivers from hell are becoming way too common and way too

scary.

And here is the bitterest irony of all: Unless some innocent

person is actually killed in one of these high-speed nightmares, the

penalties are no big whoop -- a DUI here, some reckless endangerment

there, maybe a little evading arrest. With a little luck, you could

be out in less than a year. Believe it or not, unless linked to

another crime, causing a high-speed chase is usually no more than a

misdemeanor.

That is totally and completely unacceptable if you ask me, which

nobody ever does, but it still is.

My solution, which I have offered publicly on many occasions, is

to equip our police helicopters with rocket launchers. A little

extreme perhaps, but I say let’s get the offending vehicle melted

down first, and then we can sort out who had a substance abuse

problem, or is on probation, or was abused as a child, or is

distraught over a recent breakup or money problems.

Consider this: How often do you ride a train, and how much do you

worry about railroad safety? Do you know what the penalty is in

California for tampering with a railroad switch or a rail or placing

a dangerous obstruction on the tracks? Under Section 218, a person

convicted of any of those is “guilty of a felony, and shall be

punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without

possibility of parole.”

But what if your target is “only” a car? In California, anyone

convicted of hurling a rock, a brick or any other dangerous object at

a car with the intention of doing and causing bodily harm is guilty

of a felony under Section 219 “and shall be punished by imprisonment

in the state prison for two, four or six years.”

Oh, OK. That makes sense. Try to kill someone in a car, and you

get a two- to six-year paid vacation. Try to kill someone in a train,

and it’s life in the big house with no possibility of parole.

Or if you prefer, tear down the street at 120 miles per hour and

just miss a car here and a busload of kids there, and it’s six months

on a lumpy mattress -- oh, and a bad mark on your driving record.

That is the law, and that is definitely not funny.

Sorry for the rant, but this is getting way too close to home.

Maybe someone should do something about it, no?

I gotta go.