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Orthodox Seattle Rabbi Kills Pedestrian, Serves No TimeFebruary 29, 2008 at 10:10 pm · Filed under Seattle, Jews & Judaism
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/02/29/orthodox-seattle-rabbi-kills-pedestrian-serves-no-time/Nakata family mourns during Schwartz sentencing (Erika Schultz/Seattle Times)
I'd hoped I'd never have to write this. Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz struck and killed a Seattle pedestrian who was crossing a street in a crosswalk:
The morning of Nov. 14, 2006, Schwartz struck Tatsuo Nakata, who was crossing Southwest Admiral Way in a crosswalk at 47th Avenue Southwest. Nakata, 29, who was an aide to then-City Councilman David Della, later died at Harborview Medical Center.
There were no skid marks to show Schwartz tried to brake, Senior Assistant City Attorney Kevin Kilpatrick said. "He wasn't paying attention."
Schwartz, the director of the West Seattle Torah Learning Center, was on his cellphone at the time, according to court testimony.
It was the second time Schwartz had struck someone with his car. The first time was in May 2005, when he struck Ilsa Govan, who was riding her bike along Interlaken Drive East. Schwartz's car crossed the lane and collided with her, she testified at the sentencing.
…Schwartz was cited for driving on the wrong side of the road, but the charge was later removed from his record. "I feel lucky to be here. I wish Mr. Schwartz would make the decision never to drive again."
The deferred sentence means that if Schwartz, 37, has no infractions of the law after two years the charge will be dropped from his record.
Schwartz was talking on a cellphone when the accident occurred. He had eight moving violations over a several year period. He'd struck and seriously injured a bicyclist. I trusted the criminal justice system to do right by his victim despite the fact that Schwartz was a rabbi who'd done good in his Jewish community. There is nothing in Jewish tradition that holds rabbis above the law. In fact, rabbis have been tried and convicted for serious criminal offenses. So I was hoping that Schwartz would be fairly punished for his infraction. He wasn't. He got away with murder.
A Seattle municipal judge sentenced Schwartz to a two-year suspended sentence. His license will be suspended for only two years. And if he has no further infractions in the next two years even his vehicular killing will be expunged from his record. The judge said no useful purpose would be served by sentencing him to jail time. The implication was that the service Schwartz performs in his community would more than outweigh any purpose there might be in serving time.
But I've got news for the judge. Our community isn't so desperate and our leaders not so irreplaceable that we wouldn't miss one who had a debt to pay to society. And Schwartz has a big debt to pay.
Look, I am Jewish. I respect rabbis. This man could've been a lamed vavnik (saint) for all I know. But he got away with murder. And it's a shande. Doesn't the life of a young city council aide with his entire life before him count for anything? And what is the Japanese community to think of their Jewish neighbors when a man who is supposed to represent the highest ethical values of our religion walks? What does that say to the non-Jewish world about Jews and Judaism? Is all we do looking out for our own? And what about Tatsuo Nakata and his family? What do we say to them? "Sorry for your loss but we've got bigger fish to fry?"
As a Jew, this makes me sick:
Some 100 letters supporting Schwartz were sent to the judge, and supporters spoke about his care and support. He told the court that as a result of publicity about the case, he's also received anti-Semitic mail.
One of Schwartz's congregants, Carmen Crincoli, said that on Yom Kippur last September it was agonizing to watch Schwartz's prayers go on and on, evidence, he believed, of the rabbi's inner turmoil. He begged the judge not to incarcerate Schwartz.
…When speaking to the court, Schwartz at times was tearful and said that a DVD of Nakata's life — sent to him by Nakata's family — rests beside his bed.
"It haunts my night," he said. "Those thoughts were with me on Yom Kippur."
What does Schwartz expect–a medal? What does he expect people to think of us when justice metes out a slap on the wrist merely because you serve the Jewish community?
The judge's leniency was astonishing. And his legal logic entirely lacking:
"Regardless or not if he's a good person," Holifield said, "he's a lousy driver."
"Lousy driver?" Try lethal driver. Yet this judge allows Schwartz to get back behind the wheel of a potential murder weapon in two years time. What was George Hollifield thinking when he devised this sentence? Don't you think the least he could've done was ensured that no Seattleite would ever be run down again by this man? Would someone in Seattle start a campaign to recall this judge? Or at least get someone elected in his place the next time he comes up for election. This guy shouldn't be on the bench if he can't mete out a fair punishment.
And please, Seattle city attorney, appeal this ruling. It cries out for it.
One final note of humility here: Ephraim Schwartz did something that any one of us drivers could've done on a bad day. Anyone who drives day to day in a big city understands just how easy it would be to hit a pedestrian. A moment's lapsed attention or distraction and there but for the grace of G-d go I. So I don't want to come across as someone incapable of making the same human error this rabbi made. But the difference is that I would be humiliated to have my entire religious community mount an intense campaign on my behalf seeking to eliminate any serious punishment for my crime. That's what makes Rabbi Schwartz's behavior and that of his Orthodox community so reprehensible.
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7 Comments »
bar_kochba132 said,
March 1, 2008 @ 9:20 am
Why does your header say “Orthodox Rabbi” , or “Rabbi” at all? What does that have to do with anything? What would you say if your local newspaper ran a headline something like “Drunk Mexican driver guilty of hit and run accident?”
Andy said,
March 1, 2008 @ 9:59 am
As a non-motorist myself, I very much appreciate this post, but the incident described here is not exactly unique. More often than not, motorists who kill pedestrians in America get off without any punishment at all (and maybe it’s that way in other countries as well). I’m not sure what can be done to change this situation, given that America worships the car and puts the motorist on a pedestal.
I see that Nakata was killed while crossing a street via a crosswalk. This raises a very important point: it is simply false that crossing at a crosswalk is safer than jaywalking.
If it were up to me, Schwartz would have to forfeit his driving privileges for the rest of his life. Driving is very much a privilege, and not a right.
Richard Silverstein said,
March 1, 2008 @ 9:58 pm
Bar Kochba: But there are countless headlines such as “Catholic Priest Accused of Molestation,” “Rabbi Accused of Embezzlement,” etc. Schwartz got out of jail time BECAUSE he took advantage of his rabbinical title to claim to the judge that he played an indispensable leadership role in his Orthodox community. The judge bought this bull. Hence the fact that he was a rabbi was integral to the story. If he was not a rabbi he would have done jail time.
Jack said,
March 2, 2008 @ 8:53 am
Schwartz got out of jail time BECAUSE he took advantage of his rabbinical title to claim to the judge that he played an indispensable leadership role in his Orthodox community.
I didn’t see anything in the article that said that he did that, but that is almost an aside. These stories happen daily. It doesn’t make or mean that it is right, but the story is not unusual.
The question is what is an appropriate punishment.
Norman Weinstein said,
March 2, 2008 @ 9:31 am
As a person who came within several centimeters of being struck - hard - by a car driven by a speeding Hasidic driver (a teacher in a near-by yeshiva) who decided to do a quick turnaround in the small parking lot of my antiques business, simply swerving in and swerving out with incredible reckless disregard before speeding away, I am more than sympathetic with the members of the Nakata family. The victim is no less dead than if he had been gunned down, and given the driver’s history, I think permanent revocation of license should be the least of it; he should do hard time in prison, if you ask me. Often, it seems to me, holy men of whatever persuasion do tend to get gentle legal treatment, whether their offense is pedophilia or vehicular homicide.
Andy has written, “(and maybe it’s that way in other countries as well.)” I only know a bit of one other country’s vehicular laws, France, where I worked for several years. One of my colleagues was a lovely young lady, highly intelligent, educated, upstanding. Driving home at dusk one time at slow speed during a steady drizzle, she struck and killed an elderly man who had stepped off the curb in the middle of a block right into the path of her car. In accordance with standard judicial practice in such a case, she was guilty until proven otherwise. She went through unmitigated hell, and many testimonies, witnesses, and legal arguments later, she was finally exonerated of her “crime”. In France, at least at that time, the pedestrian reigned supreme. This is of course only one limited example, but I completely agree with Richard Silverstein’s observation that “Schwartz got out of jail time BECAUSE he took advantage of his rabbinical title to claim to the judge that he played an indispensable leadership role in his Orthodox community.” Inconvenient though it may be, Tatsuo Nakata is still dead through the indifference or recklessness or carelessness of a repeat-offender driver - period.
Leila said,
March 2, 2008 @ 7:23 pm
Why does anybody talk on the phone while driving? Studies have shown that it impairs your judgment and response as much as alcohol.
I’m staying out of the whole ‘he’s a rabbi so he got off’ controversy. Just had to pipe up about phoning and driving. Pull over if the call is that damned important.
Richard Silverstein said,
March 2, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
Jack: There is much more about this in the pages of our local Jewish paper, the JTNews. That’s where the “special pleading” by Schwartz & his community on his behalf happened. I’m sure those 100 ltrs. written to the court in his favor document my claim quite fully.
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http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/02/29/orthodox-seattle-rabbi-kills-pedestrian-serves-no-time/
Topic: To Cosmo Kramer Moshe Richard Silverstein mad your Rabbi not in prison (Read 2043 times)