Cagary man shamed in accidental death of his dog commits suicide

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by Sliver

But that's super stupid because you can't just redefine a word to suit your purposes. There is a definition of accident and the death of this dog fits that definition.

It's not a redefinition. It's using the correct word. You'll notice the Humbolt bus disaster is referred to as a crash not an accident. Car accidents are usually called crashes or incidents now because there is a difference. You can't correctly say that someone speeding, drunk, high, distracted, or unable to drive had an accident and be correct in your terminology.

I suspect in this case because it was just a dog and because people correlated the loss of a human life to the loss of a dog and the outrage it caused, that the language was changed on purpose to create some empathy for the guy. That's fine but that's not what happened here.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Sliver

But that's super stupid because you can't just redefine a word to suit your purposes. There is a definition of accident and the death of this dog fits that definition.

https://www.apil.org.uk/accident-or-negligence

Accidents do happen, and no-one can claim compensation where nobody is at fault, even when the injuries are severe.

WHAT IS AN ACCIDENT?
An accident is simply an incident which no-one could have reasonably foreseen and for which no-one should be held responsible. No-one will win a case against someone who they may think is responsible for an injury, if that injury has been caused by an accident.

http://www.medic8.com/healthguide/pe...egligence.html

Accident
An accident is a situation which happens without warning and as such, could not be prevented. No-one is responsible and there aren’t any grounds for making a claim.

All of us have at some point been injured due to our actions. Carelessness is part of being human and it is easy to do something without thinking which then results in an injury.

An example of this is leaving a cable lying across the floor which you then trip over. If you failed to concentrate on what you were doing or think about the potential dangers in doing so then it is your fault and no-one else’s.

But if you trip over a cable which has been put there by someone else who did not mention it to you or anyone else then that is a different matter.

That is classed as negligence.

OMG!WTF! was very clear in his definition of accident, which has been around far longer than you or I, which means that no one is responsible. If the dog got into the car by himself and closed the door, that would be an accident. If his owner forgot him because he went on a binge, that would be negligence. Still the same unfortunate outcome, but different legal definitions.