A fight with my dad re: Matthew Broderick

[zzannahk]

Posted: 4/9/06 at 11:11pm

I tried to turn on Ferris Buller tonight and my dad flipped out saying that I wasn't allowed to support "some hotshot with a fast car" (Matthew Broderick) because some time in the 90's he hit and killed 2 people with his car in Ireland. and that he got off the charges because he's a star.
I may be young but I had never heard anything like this before so I got into a fight with him, maybe he's talking about someone else?? Can anyone shed some light on what I hope his my dad's mistake and not mine.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 4/9/06 at 11:15pm

It is true. There was a horrible accident - he was engaged to some celeb at the time who was with him - can't remember off the top of my head who it was, but if you do a search I'm sure you can find the story.

[zzannahk]

Posted: 4/9/06 at 11:15pm

thanks, i guess i have to appologize to my dad now

[Mamie]

Posted: 4/9/06 at 11:15pm

Sadly true. You can Google it and come up with lots of hits. This is one:
"BRODERICK'S GUILT" By BILL HOFFMANN(9/2/02)
Matthew Broderick has agreed to meet with the family of the mother and daughter he tragically mowed down in Northern Ireland 15 years ago - in a dramatic bid to ease his longtime pain and guilt.
And the relatives of Margaret Doherty and Anna Gallagher, killed when the star's BMW crossed into the wrong lane and slammed into their Volvo, say the sit-down will finally bring closure.

"He didn't kill my mother and sister deliberately," said Martin Doherty, who still grieves for the family he lost in the horror crash.

"There were strong feelings at the time, but I have since forgiven him and feel no anger toward him."

A spokesman for Broderick, who had an extraordinary Broadway run with "The Producers," told The Post: "Matthew is willing to meet up with them. There is no ill will - not any sort of anger. The family is seeking some sort of closure."

The meeting will take place sometime next year, after the birth this autumn of Matthew and wife Sarah Jessica Parker's first baby.

The awful crash occurred Aug. 5, 1987, as the career of the 25-year-old Greenwich Village native was taking off.

Broderick was in Northern Ireland, vacationing with his then-girlfriend, "Dirty Dancing" star Jennifer Grey, when the tragedy occurred.

As they drove in a rented BMW along a country road in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Broderick inexplicably veered into the opposite lane. He smashed head-on into the car driven by Gallagher, 30, with her 63-year-old mom as a passenger.

The actor - who had not been drinking - spent four weeks in a Belfast hospital with a fractured leg and ribs, collapsed lung and concussion. Grey escaped with minor injuries. Both women in the other car were killed instantly.

Broderick told authorities he had no recollection of the crash and didn't know why he was in the wrong lane. "I don't remember the day. I don't remember even getting up in the morning. I don't remember making my bed. What I first remember is waking up in the hospital, with a very strange feeling going on in my leg," he said at the time.

Broderick was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and faced up to five years behind bars. He was later convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving and fined just $175 - which had the victims' stunned family calling the case "a travesty of justice."

"There was a note after the accident from him saying how sorry he was - but no other contact," Martin Doherty said. "I would like a private meeting just between the family and him. I would like to reassure him that there are no bad feelings from us."

Broderick, now 40, acknowledges he was haunted then by the accident - and still is today. "It was extremely difficult coming to grips with what happened, but in time I felt better about that terrible experience. Therapy helped," he told the new issue of the British women's mag Best.

[pab]

Posted: 4/9/06 at 11:17pm

"In 1988, near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, movie star MATTHEW BRODERICK was driving a rented BMW and inexplicably crossed the center lane, crashing head-on into a Volvo carrying local woman Anna Gallagher and her mother, Margaret Dougherty. Both women were killed. Broderick's passenger, actress Jennifer Grey, escaped with minor injuries, and Broderick ended up in an Irish hospital with a concussion, broken leg and collapsed lung. He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but ended up being convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving. He paid a fine of $175. At the time the women's family called the conviction and fine a "travesty of justice," but in 2002 Broderick and the family tried to patch things up."
Accidental Killers

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 4/9/06 at 11:18pm

Thanks, Mamie - I wanted to say Jennifer Grey, but was afraid I was mixing up film siblings and real-life lovers. Apparently not!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/9/06 at 11:53pm

"He didn't kill my mother and sister deliberately," said Martin Doherty, who still grieves for the family he lost in the horror crash.

This is probably the most important part of that article. Your father, if I may say so zanna, is an asshole.

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 4/9/06 at 11:54pm

I would be forced to agree with Namo on this one. It's not as if he mowed them down and used fancy lawyers to fully acquit himself of all wrong doing.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 12:12am

There's always that kind of father in every generation.

"I ain't buyin no Jap car after what they did at Pearl Harbor 30 years ago."

"Hello, Jane Fonda, the Hanoi Hilton is calling."

Asshole fathers. No amount of apologizing is ever good enough.

You should totally run away zanna.

[zzannahk]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 12:14am

yeah, he was a real jerk about it, he didn't even know the actual story, I mean if you're going to takl about something like that, take the time to know what you're talking about!

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 12:17am

To this day, my mother despises Christopher Walken because she's convinced that he killed Natalie Wood.

[zzannahk]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 12:23am

it's unfortunate that when accidental things happen that it gets attached to the person as a crime. the media doesnt help because if you google walken,wood there a recent cnn stories about it, why arent these things left in the past?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 12:23am

Regardless of this situation, you shouldn't let Namo call your dad an asshole...

[zzannahk]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 12:25am

sticks and stones, baby, sticks and stones

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 12:27am

Well, as long as it doesn't bother you.

[Mamie]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 12:31am

Words can hurt a hell of a lot more (and for a hell of a lot longer) than sticks and stones.

[zzannahk]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 12:34am

words only have the power that you give them

see Saussure re:signifier and signified

[etoile]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 1:11am

Walken, really? See I always thought Robert Wagner knew more than he let on. Just like I always suspected William Shatner left out a few details of his wife's accidental death.

[Kringas]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 1:17am

Some versions of the Wood death implicate both Wagner and Walken, some implicate one or the other. Some just think it was an accident.

[BrunetteBombshell]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 1:46am

"To this day, my mother despises Christopher Walken because she's convinced that he killed Natalie Wood."

I don't think he or RJ killed her. It was a tragic, freak accident.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 2:52am

Gosh, Zannah, do you also have to turn off the TV any time Laura Bush is on it?

[Elphaba]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 10:37am

sueleen, whenever Laura Bush comes on TV I scream and claw my face.....I absolutle hate that woman.....

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 10:40am

But Ms. Bush would be a FABULOUS replacement for Ali MacGraw in Festen.

[xxnewgirlxx]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 11:48am

I'm surprised this article didn't mention Rebecca Gayheart. Although it was an accident, her impatient behavior caused the death of a little boy a few years back.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 4/10/06 at 2:44pm

Oh my God, Calvin, you're absolutely right.