John Goodman
Car bomb. That’s the name of a drink.
I found that out the other day while reading an article about the trial of one of our wealthy citizens here in the Village of Wellington, Florida. John Goodman is a polo mogul who is on trial in a DUI (driving under the influence) manslaughter case in which he rammed his Bentley into a Hyundai Sonata driven by 23-year-old engineering grad Scott Wilson. The $200,000 Bentley weighed 2,000 pounds more than the Hyundai and nearly cut through it. Wilson’s mangled car flipped over and landed in a canal, where he drowned.
Whenever we go out for a cafe con leche at the local Cuban bakery, we pass by the intersection where the accident occurred and are reminded of it by an extensive flower memorial that has graced the site since Feb. 12, 2010.
Goodman suffered a broken wrist and a fractured sternum. He walked away from the accident and, amazingly, according to his defense, started drinking at a friend’s barn in order to deal with the pain. Others, however, say he was drinking at a party and later at the Player’s Club, a polo hangout around the corner from us. According to one tally, he consumed 16-18 drinks, plus he had taken pain medication that served as an additive to the alcohol. Three hours after the accident, when his blood was tested, it contained twice the legal limit of alcohol.
Since Goodman is a multi-millionaire, he was able to hire Roy Black, one of the top defense lawyers. Black is putting forward the idea that Goodman started drinking after the accident, which Black says was the result of a computer failure in the Bentley.
However, a bartender at the Player’s Club recalls making drinks for Goodman. And a friend of Goodman recalls ordering the polo mogul a nightcap with a twist. He gave Goodman a car bomb – a blast of a drink consisting of Bailey’s Irish Cream and a shot of whiskey dropped into a glass of Guinness. Chug and be on your way. In Goodman’s case, he headed into infamy and a trial in which he faces up to 30 years in prison.
If ever there was a warning label on a container of alcohol, it was the name of the that drink handed to Goodman. You can almost hear the dark Trickster chuckling in the background, watching to see if the man who made Wellington into the winter polo capital of the world would play the fool and slide behind the wheel of his car bomb.
Yesterday, the prosecution rested its case. Next week, the defense will present several witnesses. Then it goes to the jury.
I must say I stumbled( in synchronicity) upon an amazing website here…
I was originally watching a show on TV about the Bermuda Triangle, and its relation to “electric fog”
One link led to another and here I am. Haven’t been able to stop reading all this great stuff. It’s comforting to know that other people are out there (like me) with such an open-mind to trying to grasp the realms of reality (to say the least)
Thank you. 🙂
You’re welcome here, Yanna.We’re all trying to figure it out!
I agree with Nancy–
I do, too. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult for the dark elements in our world to hide in the shadows.
I hope he goes to jail for a long time… he probably won’t, but he should…
Somewhat related: It could just be me, but I feel like Florida gets a lot of the manic media attention. This case with the millionaire DUI, the very sad case of the teen boy who was shot and killed by a “neighborhood watch” volunteer, Casey Anthony, etc. Maybe it’s just me but I feel like every day/week there is some new viral case coming out of Florida. I started paying attention to it a while ago and now I notice it all the time. Weird.
Good points. There were: adam walsh, william kennedy smith (also defended by Roy Black). Not sure why Florida – the heat?? 🙂
I hope he gets what he deserves. What an awful-sounding cocktail. And then to get behind the wheel…. especially when this guy could so easily pay for a cab – or a driver. Egomaniac.
What a sad story. I hope this man doesn’t get off, what a failure of justice that would be.
By the way, missed your last post, and will now go to enjoy the interview!
Never heard of a ‘car bomb’. I read that a witness claims that Goodman made a phone call to a friend describing what had happened as being ‘an end of the world accident’ – and could well be the end of his world as he knows it if found guilty.
Re:
“Bailey’s Irish Cream and a shot of whiskey dropped into a glass of Guinness.”
Was this meant to be a St.Patrick’s Day themed type synchro ,or was it just chance that this drink happened to be in this post on St.Patrick’s Day?
Not intentional, but synchronous, as it turns out. Interestingly, neither Trish or I had ever heard of a car bomb, until this trial. But yesterday, while Trish was at her hairdresser, one of the women mentioned that she and a friend were going out for St. Patty’s Day and ordering car bombs. Trish had not said a word to her about this post.
Here’s a poster for a movie starring John Goodman called “Drunkboat” that has a prophetic message written on the poster , maybe?
https://www.imdb.com/media/rm3633099264/tt0460778
Good one on Goodman, Darren. Real life and fiction meet with the double J.G’s. Actually, the truth usually catches the lies, but as Mark Twain said: “A lie can go around the world several times before the truth catches up.” Something close to that. And with the internet, it can catch up very fast…as many politicians are finding out.
I was called for Jury Duty once a long time ago, and it was somebody who was on trial for drunk driving. I was released because I told them I couldn’t be impartial, he was already guilty in my mind. How many innocent people have been killed by a drunk behind the wheel of a car bomb?
Full disclosure: We have also gotten tipsy on a couple of occasions at the Player’s Club. But then we can walk, or stumble, home.