Am I a jerk for being kind of glad that a drunk driver killed himself rather than someone else?

[Anonymous]

So there was this guy in the same class as me. Class of 2013. He was at a party up the river, and decided to drive home drunk. He hit a tree and died upon impact. I knew him, but I wasn't friends with him. My friend also knew him, but wasn't friends with him. Well, my friend and i were talking on psn last night about him, and I said "im kind of glad that he killed himself, and didn't end up killing a family". I forgot my friends exact response, but he was like "dude, thats fucked up. He was someone's son, and brother". I just dropped it. What do you think?

[Ozanne]

No, that's not very nice. There are a LOT of what ifs that can come into play. What if he went home safely, didn't kill anyone, was jolted by the experience and went to get help for his drinking? Or vowed never to do it again.

We can't start judging people based on what we decide is virtuous when we don't know the situation or what could have happened afterward. Someone lost their life, and it was tragic. Period.

[Spongebobssocks]

Nah you are right. He could have killed someone doing that

[worldscolide]

No you're not a jerk, drunk drivers are a special kind of monster and deserve the death penalty when they harm someone else with their behavior. This is just a Darwin award much deserved.

[Anonymous]

Your friend would feel differently if someone he cared about was killed by a drunk driver. You aren't a jerk for this.