Hirschey Court Appearance in Salerno "Homicide" Next Week
In Wisconsin, Scott D. Hirschey, 44, of Crystal Lake, Ill., faces a charge of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle in the January snowmobile crash that killed WBBM-TV News Anchor Randy Salerno, 45. According to news reports, Hirschey is scheduled to make his initial court appearance Monday.
I have read a number of the literally thousands of news reports, comments and emails that have been broadcast, printed and posted since Salerno's tragic death. As you will find if you read my earlier post on this blog, Managing the Court of Public Opinion, the influence of the media during litigation is of great interest to me intellectually and professionally. This story, however, touches me personally.
Some 20+ years ago "Sal," as many of his friends called him, was my college classmate and colleague at two off-campus jobs. With his usually sunny disposition and since he also was the weatherman at our university station, TV10, I called him "Sol" or "Mr. Sunshine."
Sol and I spent an awful lot of Friday and Saturday nights together in the mid-80s. After closing down the bar we both worked at, we typically headed out to separate after-hours parties, only to catch up a few hours later for the Sunday brunch shift at a restaurant where we both also worked. You could say Randy and I saw each other's best and worst during those years, and even at his Sunday morning worst, he usually was pretty fun to be around.
But tonight I'm not writing about Randy Salerno. I'm writing about Scott Hirschey - a man described as Randy's best friend, Godparent to his child and pall bearer at his funeral - and what is in my opinion, a gross misdirection of anger expressed by Randy's fans, and not shared by his family and friends.
As reported by Jay Levine on WBBM-TV earlier this week, "E-mail to CBS 2 expresses an outpouring of sympathy for Salerno's family, but little for Scott Hirschey."
A call-out from an email shown on screen during Levine's report read, "I do believe that Randy would still be alive today if Scott hadn't been so reckless..."
I have also read a number of online reader comments that render Scott guilty simply because he exercised his right to decline field sobriety tests - many written even before he had been formally charged, and before the inconsistent blood-alcohol test results were published. I ask those armchair jurists who are demonstrating reckless disregard for our criminal justice system to consider this: What if Randy were driving, survived the crash and Scott died? Would you react in the same manner, condemning your favorite morning news anchor?
According to news interviews of the friends who were with Randy and Scott that night, Randy was driving and at some point turned over control of his rented vehicle to Scott. Perhaps it was that one decision, that single judgment that he made, that led to this horrific accident. Randy's fans passing judgment on Scott without the benefit of trial only perpetuates the tragedy. Do you believe Randy would have wanted this?
In closing, I do not know Scott Hirschey. Randy had a lot of friends and those who visited during college from his hometown of Crystal Lake often hung out at the bar while we were working. Hirschey may or may not have been among them.
About our Guest Blogger: Starr McCaffery is an award-winning PR consultant who in 2004 formed Sound Solutions, Inc., a communications firm in Aurora, Ill., after nearly 20 years working for major Chicago public relations agencies. She is a regular contributor to The Law Blog. Randy Salerno often teased her in college about her career choice of "PR Flack." She remembers him fondly and sends her condolences to the Salerno and the Hirschey families and all those who knew and loved Randy.
The views and opinions represented in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the firm.
I have read a number of the literally thousands of news reports, comments and emails that have been broadcast, printed and posted since Salerno's tragic death. As you will find if you read my earlier post on this blog, Managing the Court of Public Opinion, the influence of the media during litigation is of great interest to me intellectually and professionally. This story, however, touches me personally.
Some 20+ years ago "Sal," as many of his friends called him, was my college classmate and colleague at two off-campus jobs. With his usually sunny disposition and since he also was the weatherman at our university station, TV10, I called him "Sol" or "Mr. Sunshine."
Sol and I spent an awful lot of Friday and Saturday nights together in the mid-80s. After closing down the bar we both worked at, we typically headed out to separate after-hours parties, only to catch up a few hours later for the Sunday brunch shift at a restaurant where we both also worked. You could say Randy and I saw each other's best and worst during those years, and even at his Sunday morning worst, he usually was pretty fun to be around.
But tonight I'm not writing about Randy Salerno. I'm writing about Scott Hirschey - a man described as Randy's best friend, Godparent to his child and pall bearer at his funeral - and what is in my opinion, a gross misdirection of anger expressed by Randy's fans, and not shared by his family and friends.
As reported by Jay Levine on WBBM-TV earlier this week, "E-mail to CBS 2 expresses an outpouring of sympathy for Salerno's family, but little for Scott Hirschey."
A call-out from an email shown on screen during Levine's report read, "I do believe that Randy would still be alive today if Scott hadn't been so reckless..."
I have also read a number of online reader comments that render Scott guilty simply because he exercised his right to decline field sobriety tests - many written even before he had been formally charged, and before the inconsistent blood-alcohol test results were published. I ask those armchair jurists who are demonstrating reckless disregard for our criminal justice system to consider this: What if Randy were driving, survived the crash and Scott died? Would you react in the same manner, condemning your favorite morning news anchor?
According to news interviews of the friends who were with Randy and Scott that night, Randy was driving and at some point turned over control of his rented vehicle to Scott. Perhaps it was that one decision, that single judgment that he made, that led to this horrific accident. Randy's fans passing judgment on Scott without the benefit of trial only perpetuates the tragedy. Do you believe Randy would have wanted this?
In closing, I do not know Scott Hirschey. Randy had a lot of friends and those who visited during college from his hometown of Crystal Lake often hung out at the bar while we were working. Hirschey may or may not have been among them.
About our Guest Blogger: Starr McCaffery is an award-winning PR consultant who in 2004 formed Sound Solutions, Inc., a communications firm in Aurora, Ill., after nearly 20 years working for major Chicago public relations agencies. She is a regular contributor to The Law Blog. Randy Salerno often teased her in college about her career choice of "PR Flack." She remembers him fondly and sends her condolences to the Salerno and the Hirschey families and all those who knew and loved Randy.
The views and opinions represented in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the firm.
Posted by Administrator at 2/8/2008 10:38 PM 
Categories: Guest Postings, DUI and Other Driving Laws, Law and the Media
Categories: Guest Postings, DUI and Other Driving Laws, Law and the Media
I read this today about Scott Hirshey's court appearence in the NWHerald and it seems like the pepole like you who think everyone's been too hard on Hirshey are finally starting to comment. Too bad Randy let him drive but like you say, he made that call and I hope people learn from it. http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/02/11/news/local/doc47b0a0a640f7d697365327.txt#comment
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I live in Crystal Lake and was sickened by the attack on Scott Hirschey. I did not know him and I only met Randy once at a charity event. What happened was just a tragic accident. I think there is no punishment that the courts could sentence Scott that Scott himself will be punishing himself for the rest of his life. I thought it was very unfair of people who were bashing Scott unfairly without knowing all the facts. Scott lost a good friend in Randy and that is something Scott has to live with even though it was an ACCIDENT. That is painful enough punishment. My prayers are with both the Salerno and Hirshey families as they have been dealt a horrible loss. It was rather unfair of the media to put fractions of the whole story where everybody was being quick to crucify Scott without knowing all the details. Randy being the family man he was; would not have put himself in peril if Scott was truly impaired as it was implied. I always felt that there was a combination of factors involved; whereas the media made it sound like alcohol was the ONLY factor; when that was not the case. It is unfair to lay all the blame on Scott. As I said it was a tragic accident and I think he has suffered enough!
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I am a viewer who knew Randy not well, but wisely. Years ago in L.A., a man I knew drove his car drunk on the freeway and was turned in by a passing motorist because he was going slower than the crowd because he knew he was a bit tipsy and was trying to be careful. Being legally intoxicated does NOT compel one to drive a vehicle too fast. Had the snowmobile been going at a suitably slow speed, Randy would have had a much better chance of surviving. I was a passenger on a snowmobile once and we know, spills are unavoidable.
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