Shia LaBeouf has been arrested after an accident this morning literally about a 5 minute walk from my place. First of all, let me say that I have been a Shia LaBeouf fan. I really like this guy’s work up till now. Even when he’s been given crappy roles, he somehow almost makes something out of them and I really respect a guy (especially this young in his career) who can do that.
Ok, now the facts as reported by CNN:
Shia LaBeouf was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Sunday after an early morning wreck in which the “Indiana Jones” star injured his hand and knee, authorities said. LaBeouf faces DUI charges after being injured in a car accident in Hollywood, California, Sunday. LaBeouf was trying to make a left turn at a West Hollywood intersection around 3 a.m. when his pickup collided with another vehicle, rolling the truck over, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Wolf said.
“It was immediately apparent to officers responding on the scene that LaBeouf was intoxicated and he was subsequently placed under arrest,” Wolf said.
Ok, now let me begin my little rant. Shia LaBeouf belongs in jail. Plain and simple. You drink and then get behind the wheel of a car, you’re basically pointing a gun into a crowd and pulling the trigger… the only difference is that when you shoot into a crowd you get punished and thrown in jail even if you fail to hit anyone.
When you drive after drinking, you’re basically saying “fuck you, your life and health are totally meaningless to me” to everyone else on the road.
Look, if the only danger of drinking and driving was that the idiot doing it only kills themselves, then I’d have no problem with it. Stupid asshole wants to drive himself off a cliff because he wants to save the $40 cab fare? That’s his decision. But most of the time these mother fuckers run into OTHER PEOPLE, like what LaBeouf did this morning.
La Brea and Fountain (the intersection where the “accident” occurred) is literally just around the corner from my place. I drive through that intersection all the time. Bloody Transformers boy could have hit ME, or Doug, or one of my friends on their way here to see me, and this fucking asshole decides that he’s so important that risking the lives of OTHER PEOPLE is worth it so he can drive his big pickup truck home. Fuck you LaBeouf.
A few years ago a friend of mine who was a beautiful and athletic young woman (that was dating another friend of mine that I worked with) got hit by a someone who was drinking. When I went to the hospital to see her the next day, I couldn’t even recognize her… the glass has shaved up her face pretty badly and most of the bones in her arms and legs had been broken. She went through 7 surgeries and months and months of painful rehab to get somewhere close to normal again (her athletic dreams and joys were permanently taken away from her though due to too much damage done to both her wrists). So what did the person who did that to her get? NOTHING. Not 1 day in jail. They pointed a gun into a crowd and pulled the trigger, and just happened to hit my friend… they made the CHOICE to drink and drive… they made the CHOICE to pull that trigger and they got away with it. They nearly killed my friend, changed her life forever, and they got NOTHING for punishment.
We live in a culture where you can go to jail for not doing your taxes right… but you can disregard the safety of everyone else around you, nearly kill them… and get nothing. People need to be held accountable for their choices, not just the lucky or unlucky results of those choices. LaBeouf could have KILLED the people he hit with his pickup truck last night. He’s just lucky he didn’t… and so will walk without so much as a slap on the wrist. What the fuck is wrong with us?
