please take a minute and sign my petition

[jessica31876]

I have not posted here in a long time and a lot of you may not know me or know my story but it is all there in the petition. I will give you a quick rundown of what occurred here though.

Last July my husband and son left to go get dinner. I had either a really bad allergy attack or a cold so they left me at home to rest. I woke up around 6 feeling like something was wrong and went outside to find my husband and son. They were not home. Then I remembered something about him telling me he was going to get dinner and taking our son with him. That is when the phone rang. It was my best friend calling to see if I was ok. She had just passed by a bad accident and the car looked like ours. I told her Matt (my son) and Johnny (my husband) had left awhile ago for dinner. My husband's phone was dead so I could not call him. Then I had another call so I told her I had to go because it was my father-in-law. He told me to get dressed he would be there in a few minutes that my husband was in a bad accident and was in critical condition. I asked if Matthew was there with them and he said no and asked if he had went out with his dad and I said yes. So I started calling hospitals and nobody had any information on my son. With my heart sinking and my brain telling me the most likely reason why he was not admitted to a hospital was because he did not make it through the accident. I have never prayed more in my whole life. We had to go past the accident and my father-in-law stopped and talked to the FHP officer on scene who gave him the news that my son was killed instantly on impact.

My husband has since recovered. He has ongoing medical issues like he can't breathe as well as he used to because it damaged his lungs. His optic nerve was torn. His liver and diaphragm were damaged and his liver is now higher then it should be. We do not know if that is going to cause issues down the road or not. He had traumatic brain injuries which effects his memory and he lost pretty much all of that day and a few days before completely. He lost his entire stay in the hospital. He forgets things he does everyday.

The man who caused this accident by running a red light has walked away with no inuries and received only a traffic citation to which he plead not guilty. The courts messed something up and this man was able to get off the citation as well and receive no license suspension or fine because he is entitled to a "speedy trial" and he did not get that. The courts had 180 days and they scheduled his trial like 10 days late.

So I am trying my best to get the laws changed that when you run a red light and cause serious bodily injuries or kill someone you are charged criminally not just given a traffic citation. I would appreciate anyone signing this and if you could share this link with friends and family and the reason for it I would be so grateful. This man has had a DUI previously and spent one day in jail. He has had his license suspended 6 times now and received numerous tickets. He has only been driving 10 years total. I have no doubt our family will not be his last victims.

Thank you for your time.

http://www.change.org/petitions/justice-for-matthew-knorr/

In addition to that I have a facebook page for my son for any updates:

https://www.facebook.com/JusticeForMatthewKnorr

ETA: The petition address has been shortened to make it easier to share and I am making cards for people I meet to share my son's story and his petition. It makes it easier to fit on a card. So if you have not been able to make it to the petition that is why.

[missys_bits]

Wow, Jessica. I remember you and this just breaks my heart. I signed and will share on my Facebook page as well.

[3BluEyedBabies]

WOW! I am truly sorry for your loss.

[Microferk ~ Miki Ferkul]

Done, and I am so, so sorry for your loss and your husband's continued challenges. Will keep you in my prayers.

[Designs by Helly]

Signed...my heart goes out to you.

[scrappingramma]

I am so sorry hun for your loss, I can't imagine a least little bit what you have
been though. My heart goes out to you.
I will so sign this, keep the petition live we can make this go viral

[jessica31876]

Thank you all. I am still awaiting word from the FHP investigator as I contacted the head of FHP and he assigned the case to what I assume is second in command. He has engineers trying to determine the speed at which the man was traveling which was previously determined to be 1 miles over the speed limit. That to me just seems like a cop out by local investigators who did not feel like really working the case. After reading the homicide report and seeing the damage to the vehicle I feel there really is no way they can say he was not speeding at the time and that is what is needed to charge him criminally. It does not make sense to me as the statute simply says he has to act in a reckless manner which I would think running a red light which was red for 30 seconds is pretty reckless. It is a large busy intersection which has had many fatalities occur because of red light running. It took years and many petitions for the county to just install a light at the intersection. Liivng in a rural area they just do not put it at a high priority unfortunately.

[missys_bits]

Jessica, as a Florida resident if there is anything else I can do to help with this petition, just let me know. I keep thinking about you and what you and your husband have been through.