The Kurt Busch-Patricia Driscoll domestic violence allegations ended on a messy note. There wasn’t enough evidence to press criminal charges against ex-boyfriend Busch, but there was enough to assign Driscoll a protective order. Now, garbage people are using Busch’s latest NASCAR win as a reason to taunt Driscoll.
Driscoll and Busch may have gone through a very public set of proceedings, but at the heart of it lies a very serious allegation. Domestic assault isn’t a subject to be taken lightly or glossed over for the sake of sport. It doesn’t matter which side of the case you think is right: if you’re honestly taunting Busch’s accuser based on the results of a motor race, you are a garbage human being.
Here’s tonight’s Hall of Shame, which ranges from blame to gloating, and to insulting to threatening. If you posted something on this page, you seriously need to re-examine your life choices.
Driscoll herself punched back at the onslaught of horribleness with excerpts from her civil hearings against Busch, wherein Driscoll was awarded a protective order against Busch based on a ruling that he “more likely than not” strangled her and smashed her head against a wall:
Ultimately, her second point goes right to the exact reason why taking to Twitter to heap abuse on Driscoll is wrong: seeing things like this discourages victims of domestic violence from coming forward. They don’t deserve to become collateral damage from a bunch of idiocy on Twitter. How would you feel about coming forward about something you’ve suffered if you saw a bunch of tweets urging Driscoll to “quit [her] whining” after she points out the court decision that approved her request for a protective order? Likely, you’d have second thoughts based around “what kind of abuse will I suffer if people don’t believe me?”
Matters like this aren’t decided based on whose side tweets the angriest, or who wins a race. They’re decided among adults in a court of law. Ultimately, there wasn’t sufficient evidence on either side of this case for the kind of neat, tidy resolution these trolls suggest. Busch couldn’t provide the necessary evidence to prove Driscoll wrong in court, and Driscoll’s allegation didn’t have the proper evidence for criminal charges to be pressed against Busch.
It doesn’t matter what you think of Busch, Driscoll or anyone involved in this case, or even if you are convinced that Driscoll was in the wrong. If you’re using Busch’s win as an excuse to heap abuse on Driscoll, you’re doing actual domestic violence victims everywhere a huge disservice. Get off the Internet.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.