Common Sense – RIP

Posted by: Patty Gale on February 21, 2009 
Filed Under General

I consider myself a pretty upbeat person. I’m not a gloom and doomer, I love positive things in my life, I try to bring joy and positive things to other people’s lives, too, as evidenced by what I do for a living.

I also usually don’t blog or write about what I’m about to post here. I definitely have a lot of strong opinions about certain issues, but I’ve also intentionally made it a point over the years to stay publicly neutral when it comes to posting about politics, religion and most controversial subjects.

This one, though, I can not stay quiet about. I am so angry, I can hardly see straight. My heart is so heavy right now.

I know stories like this are happening across the country, but when it happens in your own backyard, it makes it that much more real because the reality sets in that it really could have been you or your loved ones.

So here goes. This YouTube video is from when this happened last year.

I live in a town of about 13,000 outside of Milwaukee. We’re not isolated by any means. There are a number of local towns here and lots of beautiful lakes, which is why we’re called “Lake Country” It’s a growing area, about 1/2 way between downtown Milwaukee and Madison.

Last April, I was driving home from picking up Emily from school about 3:40 in the afternoon when traffic on our main secondary road came to a crawl. Unusual for mid-afternoon, I thought. I saw flashing lights of police and ambulance’s up ahead, figuring it was an accident.

Odd, though, the weather was great, no snow or rain, “I wonder what happened?”

When I came upon this accident, I looked over to the cars involved and for a minute, I wasn’t sure if I was really seeing what I saw. At first glance it looked to be a typical rear-end collision, but after looking over some more, I realized what I was seeing was not typical at all.

The car that was hit, looked to be something like a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla, something of that size. It was obviously severely damaged, although that is an understatement. It looked as if the complete back half of the car was just missing. The top of the car had been completely crushed down to where the headrest meets the seat. It was just gone.

First responders were just getting to the scene and they had already draped a blanket over the top of the car, so I couldn’t see who or what was inside, nor did I want to.

The vehicle that made the impact was large black SUV.

As I looked even further, it was obvious that the entire front end of the SUV was literally resting on top of this little car.

“Oh my gosh!”, I thought. That SUV is on top of the car, what in the world happened here? I couldn’t believe what I was seeing as in my entire life, I’ve never seen anything so horrific. I didn’t know at the time what the details were, and I had no idea who or how many people were involved, but I just knew immediately that it wasn’t good.

I just hoped and prayed on the rest of my home that nobody was seriously hurt.

Later on that night, on the news, I found out what happened, and my heart was literally broken.

Jennifer Bukosky, the driver of the car that was hit, was a local high school assistant principal. She was 7 months pregnant with her daughter, Sophia. Her 10 year old daughter, Courtney Bella, Jennifer’s son, and a family friend were on their way home from school.

Jennifer and her unborn daughter, were killed instantly. Courtney lost her life at Children’s Hospital the next day. Jennifer’s son and another family friend were hurt.

Any loss of life is tragic, no question. However, if this had been a case of icy roads, or failed brakes, then one could make a little more sense of it all.

However, this was not the case.

These three beautiful lives, were senselessly taken by Mark Benson, a local doctor with a history of prescription drug abuse.

When I heard this on the news that night, I couldn’t believe my ears. This was not Benson’s first offense, nor his second. As a matter of fact, just 2 days before destroying this beautiful family, Benson was in court for yet another offense and was ordered not to drive.

So much for accountability.

Mark Benson was on his way to getting more prescription drugs….illegally AND after he was ordered to stay off the road.

Jennifer was stopped at a red light. The road is our local Hwy 67, which is a typical 2 lane secondary road with a speed limit of 45 mph. There is a group of several stores by this traffic light. Several of the store owners who witnessed the accident said that Benson was driving so fast and didn’t even attempt to slow down when he hit her.

Imagine driving your car at 60 mph into a brick wall. I can only imagine that is the kind of impact that Benson’s SUV had on Jennifer’s little car.

His bail was originally set at $1,000,000 by the judge at the time. I don’t recall who he was, but I do know that he intentionally set it that high as a deterrent for bail to be posted.

Benson’s assets were frozen and he had remained in jail since then…until yesterday.

This past Thursday, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge, J. Mac Davis, cut Benson’s bail in half..to $500,000.

The next day, Mark Benson, walked out of jail after someone posted his bond. To say I am furious is an understatement!

Judge Davis, what were you thinking? You have now put our entire community at risk and have completely disgraced the memory of Jennifer Bukosky and her family.

Judge Davis, as a taxpaying citizen of Oconomowoc, as a mother, wife and daughter, here’s my question to you.

If this were your wife and family, would you have done the same thing? Would you have given Benson the opportunity to walk out of jail?

Surely, you have enough common sense to know that by lowering the bail in half that somebody would post it.

Surely, you have enough common sense to have read Benson’s history and to know he has never complied with any of his previous orders?

Surely, you knew that just 2 days prior to destroying the Bukosky family, that Benson wasn’t even supposed to be on the road?

Mark Benson is not due in court again until July, 5 months from now. Who else is he going to kill between now and then, Judge Davis? It will be on your hands.

Common sense tells you that a man who has a repeated history of substance abuse and non-compliance with the law is a danger to the community.

Supposedly, Benson is under “strict restrictions” to not leave the county, not drive or taken prescription drugs.

Are you kidding me? He was under these same restrictions before and never complied then. If he had, then Jennifer and her husband, Michael, would be getting ready to celebrate Sophia’s first birthday.

How many more innocent lives are going to be taken at the hand of liberal Wisconsin substance abuse laws and liberal Wisconsin judges?

If you are reading this and live in southeast Wisconsin, Waukesha county or the Lake Country area, please, please visit Jennifer Bukosky’s website and sign this petition.

Start emailing our legislators.

If you live in the Lake Country area, please join me in Jennifer’s 5K Walk/Run for Life on April 25th.

This madness has to end.


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