Celebrity Vehicular Manslaughter Amnesia Drives Us Crazy
Today, TMZ broke the news that Moesha star and sometime filler of the token seat on the View Brandy had struck another car with her Land Rover, which then struck another car whose driver was killed. We joked that everyone would soon forget all about the incident, just like they did when sometime Noxema spokesgal and wife of someone on Grey's Anatomy Rebecca Gayheart hit and killed a 9 year old in 2001. But that's just the tip of the 'famous people who have killed with their cars then gone on to be famous like nothing ever happened' iceberg . . .
When you think of frequent Gawker Stalkee Matthew Broderick, what's the first thing that pops into your mind? Kind of a tossup between Ferris Bueller's Day Off, married to Sarah Jessica Parker, 'is he gay?' and, we dunno, The Producers, right? Well, there's one blot on his resume that's a bit more damaging than Inspector Gadget, and it was news to us (though we're sure not to many of you). From Wikipedia:
Broderick met actress Jennifer Grey on the set of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. On August 5, 1987, she was with him as he drove on a rain-soaked road on the outskirts of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland. Broderick drove his rented BMW 316 head-on into another car carrying 63-year-old Margaret Doherty and her 30-year-old daughter Anna Gallagher; both women were killed. Broderick had to be cut out of the car; he suffered facial lacerations and a broken thigh. Grey escaped with minor injuries. Broderick had no memory of the event, whilst Grey was distracted at the moment of the accident in the process of changing audio tapes and also remembered seeing nothing. The lack of witnesses, skid marks or other evidence led Broderick to plead guilty in absentia on February 15, 1988 to the lesser charge of careless driving. He was fined 100.
That's a fun one, eh? But maybe the best of all is this incident:
According to the two-page accident report, Laura Welch was driving her Chevrolet sedan on a clear night shortly after 8 p.m. on Nov. 6, 1963, when she drove into an intersection and struck a Corvair sedan driven by 17-year-old Michael Douglas. Although previous news accounts have reported Douglas was thrown from the car and broke his neck, those details were not in the report.
Douglas died. Laura Welch, of course, grew up to become First Lady Laura Bush. On the one hand, we suppose it's nice to know that people are so forgiving. On the other hand, there seem to be no lasting repercussions for famous people who commit vehicular manslaughter. Buckle up!
Matthew Broderick [Wikipedia]
Mrs. Bush Ran Stop Sign In Fatal Crash [USA Today]