Assuming the Worst of Him

"People right now assume the worst of him ... Richard was a family man.  We're positive that he had a seizure."
Ralph Benson

One man's unfortunate medical history, the result of an criminal assault that has left him with quite serious mental and physical injuries has resulted in the tragic death of a young girl.  That girl was where she should be, in a classroom in a local school.  She had every reason to believe she, along with her classmates, and her teacher, were safe and secure in the classroom of that local public school.

And she and they would certainly have been safe there, were it not for the fact that 46-year-old Richard Edward Benson had been left with debilitating medical conditions, causing seizures. Despite which he felt entitled to get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.  He had been attacked by two thugs years previously.  An brutal attack that left him with skull fractures, brain damage, permanent loss of feeling in his face, balance problems and loss of sight in one eye.

Despite this grievously harmful condition, this father of young children made the choice to continue driving.  He had regular seizures after the head injury that had him in a coma for a month in 2002.  He had been beaten after confronting two men whom he accused of giving alcohol to underage girls.  The men were convicted for that brutal attack that left Mr. Benson in his frail condition.

Despite which he thought it wise for him to continue driving.  His brother, Ralph Benson, feels he is being unfairly blamed for the event, where Richard Benson is charged with three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, resisting arrest and possessing a controlled substance, marijuana.  Now it is his turn to answer for his commission of an act that caused mortal harm to another human being.

Richard Benson was on prescription medication, taking over a dozen pills daily to control his medical condition which had recently taken a turn for the worse.  He drove his minivan through the outside wall of Racette Junior High School in St. Paul, Alberta, smashing through into a French class.  Three grade 6 girls were pinned under his car.

One of the girls has since died of her injuries.

"He shouldn't even be in jail right now.  He should be in the hospital because he's been having seizures.  It's very upsetting to see the way he was being handled [by police] ... If you have a seizure, what do you do?  When you come out of it you don't want anybody holding you or touching you or anything, and now they're saying he was resisting the RCMP", his older brother complained.

All three of the injured girls were airlifted to Edmonton Hospital.  All three had to undergo surgery.  Two of the girls were later listed as being in critical but stable condition.  Five other injured students were treated at the St.Paul hospital and later released.

"If there was anybody that loved kids, that's the guy.  We're all praying for the children because we have children ourselves, too, so we feel just as horrible about it as everyone else", said Richard Benson's brother.  After all, his brother is father to five  of his own children and in addition, stepfather to four other children. 

And Richard Benson's older brother is irate; doctors or government authorities should have suspended his brother's driver's license because of his seizures.  It was not, after all, the responsibility of family to recommend to their unfortunate suffering member that he suspend driving on his own. 

Nor was it incumbent on the man who used marijuana to ease stomach problems caused by his medication, to assess his own disability and declare himself unfit to drive.  A child, not one of his own five-plus-four, is now dead because of Richard Edward Benson's assuming entitlement.