> The workers were motioning for everyone to turn back toward Lahaina.
They literally sent people to die, under the color of authority as working under county government.
Will anybody face accountability?
edit: I'm rate-limited but to provide an a historical analog:
In 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire killed over a hundred young women working in the garment industry. The building's doors were locked by the owners of the factory to reduce theft.
The owners were found liable for the deaths of their employees, but the damages were a pittance.
I have trouble seeing "deliberately blocking the means of egress with reckless disregard for its need in an emergency evacuation for the sake of your own convenience" as profoundly different here.
At which point you see them "disregarding common sense and basic humanity" ? I just see people completely overwhelmed by the situation that don't manage to find the good choice.
This is not an unforeseeable occurrence. Hawaii is a tiny island state that is often hit by hurricanes, tsunami, and volcanic freaking eruptions. Any organization that is empowered to close roads needs to have good policies to decide what to do in emergency evacuations so they don't accidentally social-murder anyone.
Somebody decided that preparing for this fully-predictable event wasn't a priority.
> Any organization that is empowered to close roads needs to have good policies to decide what to do in emergency evacuations so they don't accidentally social-murder anyone
So every time the utility needs to do line maintenance, it has to draw up contingency plans for a nuclear strike?
The problem wasn't overzealous road closures. It was a general lack of a fire plan.
It literally killed people, so determining if there's been no criminal negligence should happen in front of a court.
That's what accountability means. If the person in charge did nothing wrong, then the court will tell that. But you can't say “everything went fine, nothing to see here” when people died.
Have you any indication that Shirtwaist is remotely comparable? It seems that here those who closed the road believed this was to promote safety. There’s no indication that Shirtwaist doors were blocked to promote safety.
They literally sent people to die, under the color of authority as working under county government.
Will anybody face accountability?
edit: I'm rate-limited but to provide an a historical analog:
In 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire killed over a hundred young women working in the garment industry. The building's doors were locked by the owners of the factory to reduce theft.
The owners were found liable for the deaths of their employees, but the damages were a pittance.
I have trouble seeing "deliberately blocking the means of egress with reckless disregard for its need in an emergency evacuation for the sake of your own convenience" as profoundly different here.