Thinking like a lawyer - develop your questioning skills from the general to specific...

Some questions that I have created while looking at this topic of "accidental" deaths of alcohol poisoning or overdoses due to teens binge drinking and / or mixing with drugs were...

1. What happened? (Must hear every side of the story.)
2. Who was involved in this situation?
3. Where did this happen?

Example 1. Party Hosts Fined in Teen's Alcohol-Related Death

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/11/29/mb-dauphin-party-death.html

In 2009, a 15-year-old girl named Tamara Aller froze had died from alcohol. She froze to death in a parking lot. She was at a birthday party where the hosts, Allan and Mary-Anne Kostur were serving alcohol. Both him and his wife were fine to a huge amount of money. The party consisted of 20 people and most of them were under the age of 18. Apparently, "the Kosturs had purchased a case of beer for the party, but guests — including Aller — brought beer, liqueurs and coolers as well." (Section 2) After the party, Kostur had not ensured that the people arrived home safely. In the end, Aller did not make it home, but froze to death outside due to her being unconscious.

When reading this article, it looked like the Kostur was at fault. Allan and Mary-Anne Kostur were serving alcohol to minors. What was not mentioned was that if they knew that most of the people were under the age of 18. Also, as a parents and the hosts of a party, they should have taken responsibility and knew better of serving alcohol anyways in the party. When driving the two people back home, it was their responsibility to see if they got home safe after heavily drinking. It is understandable, that they may be able to answer questions or walk properly, but one may never know when the person can become in danger. In my opinion, the sentencing for the couple were too light, for a young teenager girl had died due to their not responsible actions. The blame is to go to the parents that hosted the party.

Example 2. Father Demands Answers About Teen Party Bus Death

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/02/18/bc-party-bus-death.html

"A 16-year-old boy died on Friday in Surrey, B.C., while riding a party bus..." (Paragraph 1) The article is mainly about the father who is in shock and full of sadness that his son had died from underage drinking in a bus. His son collapsed on the bus and could not wake up.

When reading this article, it does not say who was to take the blame, but I believed that it was everybody. Ernest Azoadam probably did not tell him parents that he was going to go and party because he may have believed that his parents would not let him go. The father did not know anything what his son was doing outside late at night. Miscommunications between the parents and Ernest Azoadam may have played a big role. Azoadam's father mentioned that he did not know what a party bus was until this tragic event. I understood then that parents may not have been educated with these things. When reading the article, I thought that parents had to be educated to know and understand what these things are. The party bus came into playing a big issue as well. Did they not know that the boy was 16 years of age? Don't they have security guards. The party bus should be heavily asked questions as well as the people who were inside the bus as well. The results of this event is unknown yet, but so far I believe that the blame would be on the party bus.