Editor:
As an old Salvation Army man, I am very concerned at the way we have treated Monty Robinson, who happened to be caught in unfortunate circumstances, first with the incident at YVR, and then this tragic and unfortunate traffic fatality.
What concerns me most is the sad commentary: "That he went home just two blocks away with his young children, and had two drinks of vodka deliberately because as a police officer he knew he could beat a drunk driving rap."
Two things come to my mind when hearing such a statement.
A far more compelling reason, from my perspective, would have been that as a father, his first thought would have been to protect his children from further trauma.
The first thought of any father would have been to get your children out of there, and since he was only two Tsawwassen blocks away, he went home and got his children out of the spectator sport accidents have become as we want to know all the ghoulish details.
The second thing that comes to mind is those two shots of vodka. As a former ships officer with lifesaving at sea training, and no doubt first aid training is very much a part of modern police officer's inventory, Robinson would have had sufficient skill and knowledge to know you do not administer alcohol to a person who has experienced shock. And there's no doubt Robinson would have been in shock as he had just been involved in a fatal accident.
A person in shock does strange things, and is not really thinking straight. Ask a military doctor who sees and deals with shocked soldiers and he/she will confirm that humans in shock are not themselves.
From a first aid/lifesaving aspect, Robinson would have known that you do not deliberately go against that instinctive training to drink any alcohol of any kind. Yet he did drink, so the level of shock had to have been pretty severe.
The question really is: What would you have done, or I have done, under similar circumstances? I guess if you were an alcoholic, how would you have acted? As a father of young children, with your home just up the road a little, what would you have done?
Lapse of judgment on Robinson's part? Poor judgment, yes, but what would you have done under similar circumstances?
Is Robinson being railed upon because he is of native heritage? Is there an element of racism? It is a tragic set of affairs, but surely if we really look at it, do we not have a duty to save the man first if we want to save his soul?
Arthur David Serry
