LA Pitcher Nick Adenhart killed in auto accident by a DUI driver

Tragedy has struck for a budding young star for the LA Angels.  Nick Adenhart was killed in an auto accident after his best game.

April 10, Los Angeles, CA

For a young pitcher who struggled for years with an injured arm and doubts that he could cut it in big league baseball, Nick Adenhart's performance Wednesday night gave promise that he had finally arrived.

But a few hours after the most impressive game of his brief career -- just seven miles from the mound where he threw six scoreless innings -- the 22-year-old right-hander was killed by an alleged drunk driver, the latest calamity in a baseball franchise haunted by a history of misfortunes.

Adenhart and two friends were killed early Thursday morning when their car was broadsided by a driver who police said had a suspended license and a previous drunk driving conviction. 

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said Adenhart had struggled to reach the major league mound. "He just wasn't some extreme talent that was blessed," Scioscia said. "He fought to be here."

The Adenhart accident is the latest in a string of Angels tragedies. In the 1970s, infielders Chico Ruiz and Mike Miley and pitcher Bruce Heinbechner were killed in separate auto accidents, pitcher Minnie Rojas and catcher Ed Kirkpatrick were paralyzed in car crashes and outfielder Lyman Bostock was killed in a drive-by shooting while riding in a car with friends in Gary, Ind.

And last season, special assistant Preston Gomez was gravely injured when he was hit by a truck at a gas station on his way back from spring training. Gomez never recovered, dying in January at a Fullerton care center -- not far from the scene of the accident that killed Adenhart.

Assuming, the allegations turn out to be true against the driver, it is indeed a sad day for not only this young man, his teammates, but for so many others who see themselves in Adenhart's tale of perserverance and hard work paying off.

In this tragedy, there is an allegation of DUI, but if you read closely, you can see the individual charged was driving on a suspended license.  In Illinois, the charge of driving while your license is suspended is just as serious as a DUI.  As a misdemeanor, it is in the same class of crimes as a DUI and upon a finding of guilt carries the same maximum penalty as a DUI! In fact, as I tell my clients, the crime is not driving poorly but driving at all. 

Here in Chicago, my husband, frequently paraphrases Plato and Vaclav Havel at times like this, "Good men do not need laws, and bad men will always find away around them."