The Tragedy of Jim Leyritz

I just read this article in the New York Times about former Yankee catcher Jim Leyritz. It basically describes the trouble he's had since the accident he was in last year that killed a mother of two, and how his court date is coming soon. For those unfamiliar with the situation, about a year ago Leyritz ran a red light and slammed into a vehicle at 3:15am tossing the driver out of the car. Leyritz was driving under the influence. His lawyers claim that the other driver is to blame because she too was under the influence, and was not wearing her seatbelt, which was more than likely the reason she died in the accident. To say he is not at fault is a ridiculous claim to make since Leyritz ran a red light while driving under the influence, but I understand that the tragedy of the situation is that had the woman been wearing her seatbelt its possible that it would have just been a bad accident with no loss of life. Obviously, if Leyritz had not decided to drive under the influence, there also would not have been any loss of life. Now the woman's two children are left without a mother, and Leyritz's three kids could be left without a father for up to 15 years if he is found guilty of man slaughter. Another layer to this is that Leyritz is apparently broke. According to the article, Leyritz ran through the $10.7 million he earned throughout his baseball career, and combined with what appears to have been an ugly divorce, he is out of money. He had been making a living from appearances, and making speeches, but those gigs have dried up because of his recent troubles. Now he collects money from the Baseball Assistance Team charity that helps "former players through hard times." All in all, its a sad story in that all of this could have been avoided.