Many in Davis were devastated by the news on an otherwise uneventful Picnic Day that a former Davis High and UC Davis star baseball player had died from a tragic accident.
The Yolo County coroner ruled the cause of death was blunt force neck and head injury. After extensive examination and testing the Yolo County Coroner concluded that the manner of death was homicide, as it was by definition, “a death caused by human hands.”
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced Wednesday that the District Attorney’s Office had declined to file charges in the death of 22 year-old Davis man Scott Heinig.
However, the DA determined, “even though the coroner determined the death was caused by human hands, the cause and manner of the death of Heinig does not meet the legal definition of murder.”
According to the press release from DA Jeff Reisig, “For individuals to be responsible for murder they must commit an act that causes the death of another person with the necessary state of mind, intent to kill, and without lawful excuse or justification.”
“Individuals are not responsible for homicide when they kill someone as a result of accident or misfortune, the DA continued.
The District Attorney’s review of the nature and circumstances of the death of Scott Heinig establishes that it occurred as a result of accident or misfortune. Furthermore, the accident was the result of conduct that the individuals had engaged in on multiple occasions in the past without these tragic results.
On April 16, 2011, at approximately 8:41 p.m., the Davis Police Department received a 911 call that a man had fallen and hit his head. When the Davis Fire Department and AMR arrived on scene they found Scott Heinig lying in the driveway of the home not breathing and unresponsive.
Paramedics, fire personnel and partygoers rendered CPR to Mr. Heinig and he was immediately rushed to the UCD Medical Center Trauma Unit. After medical staff made extensive efforts to save his life, Mr. Heinig was pronounced dead at the UC Medical Center on April 17, 2011.
Officers and detectives from the Davis Police Department arrived on the scene and conducted an extensive investigation to determine all of the circumstances surrounding the activities and death of Mr. Heinig.
The investigation revealed that Mr. Heinig was at a small party with many friends that Mr. Heinig had known since childhood.
Many of the partygoers, including Mr. Heinig, had been drinking alcohol. At approximately 8:00 p.m. the party was winding down and most of the guests were talking about dinner and had agreed to remain in the house to avoid disturbing neighbors. Mr. Heinig and three or four of his friends were standing in the driveway talking.
During this time, Mr. Heinig was insisting that his friends punch him in the face. The investigation revealed that this type of conduct was a common occurrence between Mr. Heinig and his friends.
While all of Mr. Heinig’s friends refused his initial requests, Mr. Heinig insisted that one of his friends strike him. When he was met with additional refusal, Mr. Heinig struck one of his friends in the face twice, and the friend hit Mr. Heinig one time in the face. Mr. Heinig stumbled and fell backwards striking his head on the cement driveway.
“It is our deepest regret this unexpected and tragic death occurred,” city officials said in a statement released shortly after the event. “We are saddened that the Davis community has lost one of its own young people on Picnic Day.”
Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi said she was saddened to learn of Heinig’s death. “Losing someone at such a young age who was so full of promise is a tragedy,” Katehi said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this difficult time,” she added.
UC Davis head coach Rex Peters said the baseball team had postponed a scheduled game on Sunday against Cal State Bakersfield when they learned of Heinig’s injury.
Hours later, when Peters learned of Heinig’s death, the coach praised the young man’s character. “Scott was elected a team captain his senior season, which speaks to how well respected he was by his teammates and to his work ethic and positive attitude,” Peters said. “He had an infectious smile and put his teammates in front of himself.”
“This tragedy not only touches UC Davis, but also Davis High School and the entire community,” the coach added. “Our heartfelt prayers go out to the Heinig family.”
Fred Wood, vice chancellor of Student Affairs, said he was deeply grieved and was struggling with the news of the death of Heinig, whom Wood met as a coach in community youth baseball about a decade ago. Wood said the student counseling center would be reaching out and offering support to the baseball team and other students impacted by this tragic death.
Unfortunately, this was a tragic end to a young man who had his entire future ahead of him.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
What the vanguard is touching on here is the problems with rampant intoxication. THey didn’t make the movie “Jackass” for no reason. the only problem is unlike the movie, there are real consequences for such idiotic behavior as the result of alcohol and drugs.
My heart goes out to all the family and friends of Scott Heinig. That said, what is instructive here are several things:
1) Intoxication makes people do foolish things;
2) Hitting the face with a fist is very dangerous;
3) If someone tells you to do something, and you don’t think it is the right thing to do, have the character and good sense to say “NO”. Trust your initial “gut” instinct.
My hope is Scott Heinig’s death will be a life lesson for young people to be more careful in regard to the above three points.
The family should summarily file a civil suit against the individual who hit Mr. Heinig in the face. Provoked or unprovoked–if it can be medically substantiated that the blow to the face resulted in the death of Mr. Heinig, legal responsibility will prevail.
Davis Enterprise article on the incident:
[url]http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/crime-fire-courts/authorities-heinigs-death-was-homicide-but-not-murder/[/url]
[i]”The family should summarily file a civil suit against the individual who hit Mr. Heinig in the face.”[/i]
Who benefits from such a lawsuit? Other than the lawyers who file these kind of lawsuits which harm our society and enrich lawyers.
Lawsuits of the type you suggest do no good at all for any of the parties involved. They mostly just waste court time and serve to destroy our country. They don’t make our society safer. They don’t bring young men who make bad choices back to life.
This is odd that the DA is not filing charges since they usually go overboard on everything else. I thought that “manslaughter” was an act that someone died without intent.
[quote]The family should summarily file a civil suit against the individual who hit Mr. Heinig in the face. Provoked or unprovoked–if it can be medically substantiated that the blow to the face resulted in the death of Mr. Heinig, legal responsibility will prevail.[/quote]
This is exactly one of the biggest problems with out society, no expectation of personal responsibility. Thank you for so clearly pointing it out so clearly.
Heining was asking to be punched in the face. Everyone refused until he punched someone else in the face, twice, encouraging someone to punch him. He got what he wanted and the result was not expected. I’m hoping I missed the satire in the post by Logos because truly believing that would be moronic.
This is a tragic event with very unintended consequences. Simply a sad story.
Because Heinig himself provoked the incident, I very much doubt there would be any civil liability. It is most likely why there was no criminal liability either.
This is emblematic of alcohol culture. Drunk people tend toward belligerent, senseless violence. Cannabis smokers tend to have increased flavor and sound perception, so they like to “mellow out” and garden/cook in conjunction with listening to and making music.
Davis’ politicians, typical of the two Rich Parties, are run-of-the-mill wino types (the uber-overpriced, snob variety of course) who deem cannabis “the devil weed” (i’m paraphrasing their opinion based on their cowardly, Obama-type legislative deeds.)
I’m sure the conformist, sportsfan milieu these kids took part in had nothing but disdain for hippies and their hugging, loving culture. Well there’s one less of them around to give us crap now. (Don’t get me wrong– far from trashing sports, I was 1st string Varsity in my day, but moreso hung with the music/ganja set. But yes, the political Right seems to thrive on putting down progressives, while the hate coming the other direction is negligible.)
Listen to the last few months worth of Cultural Baggage if you need some deprogramming: [url]http://kdrt.org/node/168[/url]
And pressing nationally, we have:[url]
http://www.alternet.org/story/151653/when_it_comes_to_medical_marijuana,_obama's_white_house_is_a_science-free_zone/%5B/url%5D
Peace.
[quote]I’m sure the conformist, sportsfan milieu these kids took part in had nothing but disdain for hippies and their hugging, loving culture. Well there’s one less of them around to give us crap now. (Don’t get me wrong– far from trashing sports, I was 1st string Varsity in my day, but moreso hung with the music/ganja set. But yes, the political Right seems to thrive on putting down progressives, while the hate coming the other direction is negligible.) [/quote]
Who hates who, when you laud the tragic death of someone?