In Memoriam Johnny Gaudreau & Matthew Gaudreau killed by drunk driver while cycling (MOD WARNING. No Flaming, Trolling, or Politics.)

[Alicat]

this is a high profile case, I doubt it will be sealed. Plus the DA will want the public's support on this. But I hear you, people are assholes when it comes to cases like these. We don't need to see the horrific photos.

The photos are what really need to be sealed. No one should see those period.

 

[Predation]

Heartbreaking.

 

[DJN21]

Good man. I’m going to light a votive when I get home, spend some time sitting on the porch and contemplating just how fleeting life is.

I took my wife and kid to the park. Let the dog sit on my lap with his head out the window the entire drive. Stuff id normally never make the time to do amidst my crazy work schedule. Im glad for it...

 

[Dr. Fire]

Rest easy Johnny and Mathew. Know that you and your family have the love of the entire hockey community. God bless their family and everyone who's lives the brothers touched from the day they laced up their skates for the first time, through Boston College, Calgary then Columbus.

We lost two great ones on Thursday night.
Heaven gained two great ones.
Today, heaven is a better place with Johnny and Mattew there.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I googled a few cases just now and there's some where there's no jail time at all.

This happened not far from where I once lived.

https://www.wxii12.com/article/doctor-who-hit-killed-winston-salem-ballerina-released-from-prison-1/2054082

Guy was drunk and driving his car 80MPH in a 45MPH zone, killed a woman and got sentenced to 3 years, but he was able to be leave prison to work at a pharmacy every day and was able to be released for 48 hours every month to visit his family.

 

[Lehnerd Skinnerd]

Heard the news on the radio when I was at work yesterday morning. Just shock and disbelief.

As an Oiler fan, Johnny was always a pain in our asses in the BOAs when he played for Calgary. Great player, had to respect his talent and work ethic as a smaller player in the league.

I’m just devastated for the families of these two. Nobody should have to go through a senseless tragedy like this. Hope that this guy gets locked up for a long time and at least give the families some justice, but sadly, nothing will ever replace their loss.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

The whole situation is really just another reminder from life...a sick, sad reminder...

- Hug your wife or your son or your dog a little harder today.
- Cherish time with your family a bit more even when it seems annoying.
- Don't speed to the meeting you are 5 minutes late for. It's not as big of a deal as you think.
- Put your phone down. Pay attention. Call an Uber.

Anger is without question a valid base emotion to a tragedy. And this is certainly a tragic incident. Hopefully it highlights greater responsibility in some form of action whether that is drunk driving laws, bicycle safety awareness or better city planning. Or some combo of all of those.

But in the meantime, there's a lot of things within our control that we can be reminded of to be better at or to strive to make positive changes in (none of us are perfect and the line is fine) because of tragic events like this.

Note to self. Don’t hug daughter.

 

[Number8]

To be fair, a person stating to use caution or be proactive when doing certain activities isn’t necessarily judging the victims. Some might be trying to foster an environment where there are less potential victims.

I think you are 100% right.

It helps people manage the discomfort of knowing that life can change to the negative in a second just by happenstance. That makes people feel vulnerable and so therefore they desperately want to find a reason or excuse for why something bad happened to someone else so as to make themselves somehow less vulnerable to the whims of bad luck. It’s disrespectful to those suffering but hey ho……let’s make them feel better by starting a list of things that nobody should do:

Drive a car.
Ride a bike.
Drink alcohol.
Walk or ride down a dark road at night.
..
..

If people want to live risk free lives and avoid being talked about as if “they should have known the risks” this list can be expanded to its full version. Probably about 2,000 lines long.

 

[Youngguns1380]

One of the biggest reasons this is so sad is the loss of a husband and father to such a young family. His brother was just about to have his first child, man this is a nightmare.

I still just can’t process this

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The whole situation is really just another reminder from life...a sick, sad reminder...

- Hug your wife or your son or your dog a little harder today.
- Cherish time with your family a bit more even when it seems annoying.
- Don't speed to the meeting you are 5 minutes late for. It's not as big of a deal as you think.
- Put your phone down. Pay attention. Call an Uber.

Anger is without question a valid base emotion to a tragedy. And this is certainly a tragic incident. Hopefully it highlights greater responsibility in some form of action whether that is drunk driving laws, bicycle safety awareness or better city planning. Or some combo of all of those.

But in the meantime, there's a lot of things within our control that we can be reminded of to be better at or to strive to make positive changes in (none of us are perfect and the line is fine) because of tragic events like this.

This is the lesson from all this. A stark reminder that we are never promised tomorrow.

In 2021, I lost my father to a stroke and my brother to suicide in a span of 6 months. It hurt, but it's nothing compared to what my brother's wife and kids went through and continue to go through. Still, it gave me a different perspective on life, which I guess is the only positive thing to come from it, if you can call it a positive.

I can't imagine the pain that the entire Gaudreau family is going through, and will continue to go through for the next few years, or longer, from this terrible tragedy. Offering my condolences on a message board seems pretty hollow, but it's about all I can do.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

You're actually going to defend him right now?

That person always shows up to defend objective wrongdoing and seems to feel smug and superior in doing so. Really anytime anyone does anything bad and gets criticized for it, they're one of the ones that goes "well actually the real monsters are the ones being mean to him". Or in a roundabout way tries to cast blame on the victim.

Nobody cares about any of your bike safety tips or how you bike or jog or whatever some of you are droning on about, like some of you really are just going "well if it were me..." to make yourselves feel better than the guys who were killed by a drunk driver.

 

[T REX]

One thing is sure, athletes who make a lot of money, nhlers specifically, who have biked on the road will be thinking twice. You can bike on the road lawfully, but you’re putting your life at the hands of the driver. Just takes one bad decision by someone.

Being that this was at night, I’m wondering if the brothers were wearing any reflective gear or lights, that might be an angle for the defence.

They could have been in all black, no reflective gear or lights and that wouldn't be a defense in this case.

I do not understand these posts at all. The guy was drunk and illegally passed on the right shoulder. Killed two people on bikes. There's no defense. None. No angle.

????

 

[Coaches Coroner]

I went to read about the Gaudreau brothers and I stumbled into a thread about DUI discussions.

Guys. Put the sword down.

A lot of the insane arguing seems to be from people who need to put the bottle down.

 

[Macbanan]

There is lots of anger and sadness after this horrible tragedy that I think fuels disagreements.

If you want to channel your energy and resources into something more productive there is this GoFundMe for Matthew's wife that is expecting their first child.

Donate to Support Madeline and Baby Tripp After Tragedy, organized by Holland Korbitz

We are heartbroken to share the devastating news that the Gaudreau famil… Holland Korbitz needs your support for Support Madeline and Baby Tripp After Tragedy

www.gofundme.com

 

[Coaches Coroner]

They could have been in all black, no reflective gear or lights and that wouldn't be a defense in this case.

I do not understand these posts at all. The guy was drunk and illegally passed on the right shoulder. Killed two people on bikes. There's no defense. None. No angle.

????

The only conclusion I can come to is that alcohol plays a significant role in those peoples lives, and/or they are the type of road ragers that freak out about having to share the road with cyclists. Some people have such a misguided disdain for cyclists on the road that they almost appear to see them as non-human.

Earlier on some people were almost 'defending' alcohol and how it's not alcohols fault but a bad drivers fault alone.

 

[deca guard]

RIP JOHNNY N MATT !
also , ive no idea if they were wearing high visibilty apparel . or if this has already been brought up this thread . but i see so many bikers and motorcyclist clothing which doesnt make them more visible to drivers and im thinking at least wear a floresent vest which is always easy to throw on over any oufit because todays roads are full of disfunctional drivers

 

[Nut Upstrom]

We have the driver saying that the beers impacted his aggression.

Probably because that sounds better than saying, "I drive like this all the time, never been a problem before those cyclists got in my way."

 

[MuckOG]

I guess that was the main part of my point and I appreciate you recognizing it.

i agree that measures need to be taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again but I would stop far short of killing him

I never said anything about killing him.

 

[Nut Upstrom]

I get where you’re coming from, but to me the problem with saying that it wasn’t intentional is that when you drink and drive, you do so knowing, accepting and being okay with the fact that there’s a very real chance you’re going to kill someone in the process. So while he may not have intentionally been trying to kill anybody, he certainly wasn’t too bothered by the idea of it either. If he was, then he wouldn’t have been drinking and driving in the first place. Instead, he decided to place a higher value on his own selfish desires than the lives of innocent people. That’s a sick, disturbing mentality and it needs to be punished accordingly.

Curious to see his driving record. He may not intentionally be trying to hurt people, but if he has a history of driving in a way that puts others' lives at risk then he's shown that its his state of mind behind the wheel regardless of alcohol.

 

[Koivu11]

 

[JPT]

f*** that's heavy

 

[Jugitsu]

I hate drunk drivers with a burning passion. Rest in peace Johnny and Matthew.

 

[JPT]

Note to self. Don’t hug daughter.

Off topic, but I just listened to an episode of Quorators that had a funny bit about this

 

[T REX]

Waterfalls. Absolutely heartbreaking. The tears burn.

 

[Chainshot]

I took my wife and kid to the park. Let the dog sit on my lap with his head out the window the entire drive. Stuff id normally never make the time to do amidst my crazy work schedule. Im glad for it...

I sat outside on the porch for a little bit, just listening to the life around me. Then I went in, my GF got up and we sat with our dogs.