So awful.

That's devastating. RIP.

A former Major League Baseball pitcher who left the mound to become a Port Authority cop was killed in a wrong-way crash Sunday — while headed to work at Manhattan’s 9/11 service, cops and sources said.

the linguistics of this sentence are a ####### nightmare.


was varvaro driving on the wrong side of the road? or was he run into by someone driving on the wrong side of the road?
how fast was he going?
was anyone else injured?

Gofundme for the Varvaro family

was varvaro driving on the wrong side of the road?

Doubtful. I would guess that 100% of the time, the wrong-way driver is either drunk or elderly. Or both.

Here's a tip I got from a veteran drunk: Late at night, when there is light traffic on the highways, always drive in the right lane, because drunk drivers know they are drunk and will drive in the right lane, to avoid scrutiny. So if you're going one way in the right lane, and the drunk s coming at you in the lane that is the drunk's right lane, you'll likely avoid a collision.

Doubtful. I would guess that 100% of the time, the wrong-way driver is either drunk or elderly. Or both.

you've never seen a police car (or ambulance, for that matter) speed down the wrong way of a street?


btw: a bit more background about the linguistics issues that are triggering me here:

With regard to victim-blaming: It turns out that by far the most common way for the press to describe a crash is to write, “A pedestrian was hit” or “A pedestrian was hit by a car.” These sentences shift blame onto pedestrians in three ways.

First, they focus on the pedestrian [...]

Second, both sentences use the passive voice to play tricks with agency. Writing “A pedestrian was hit” omits an agent altogether. The crash just happened to the pedestrian. No one caused it. And if no one caused it, no one is accountable. There’s a reason people sometimes call this type of passive voice the exonerative tense — it’s how people talk when they need to acknowledge something bad happened, but would rather not dive too far into why. Fully one-third of the crash coverage we examined omitted an agent.

beyond that, i have a few more questions:

-- what time of day did the accident occur?
-- was there another vehicle involved, or was this a one-car accident?
-- did varvaro fall asleep at the wheel?
-- what was varvaro's BAC?


and lastly, i also take issue with the article's usage of the verb "killed", rather than the more neutral "died". "killed" implies that there was purposeful intent behind varvaro's death. i didn't rtfa, but based on the excerpt, i see no evidence that supports any intent behind his death. is that just sloppy editing/reporting? possibly. but as it's coming from the nypost, with a headline that doesn't even include the fact that varvaro died in a car accident, it reads more like a deliberate attempt to reinforce a certain sentiment to its readers.

I don't sense anything obviously misleading about the language here.

(1) Passive voice is used of deaths when one is more interested in the person who died than in the killer or inanimate cause. Here, Varvaro is the focus, as is appropriate. (And should be: RIP.)

(2) "Kill" is often used of non-intentional death, so frequently that the main sense in OED is this, italics mine: "To put to death; to deprive of life; to slay, slaughter. In early use implying personal agency and the use of a weapon; later, extended to any means or cause which puts an end to life, as an accident, over-work, grief, drink, a disease, etc."

My assumption would be that a police-academy instructor on his way to work was sober and careful, and sometimes things simply happen. Again, RIP.

beyond that, i have a few more questions:

-- what time of day did the accident occur?
-- was there another vehicle involved, or was this a one-car accident?
-- did varvaro fall asleep at the wheel?
-- what was varvaro's BAC?

Folks, read the article once in awhile! The other driver was driving the wrong way on a one-way street and struck Varvaro. It links to this story.

Anthony Varvaro, a 37-year-old married father of four, and former major league pitcher — was struck by Henry A. Plaras, 30, of Bridgewater, who was heading west on the Hudson Bay Extension in the eastbound lanes around 4:25 a.m. in Jersey City, New Jersey State Police Trooper Charles Marchan said.

Plaras' Toyota Rav4 struck Varvaro in a Nissan Maxima head-on causing the Nissan to strike the right concrete barrier. The crash remains under investigation.

Varvaro was on his way to work at the 9/11 commemoration at World Trade Center Command, Port Authority Police Supt. Edward Cetnar said.

I do agree with your concerns about passive voice when dealing with car collisions - and where you see it a lot more - police shootings.

Folks, read the article once in awhile! The other driver was driving the wrong way on a one-way street and struck Varvaro. It links to this story.

thank you for that link; that article is substantially better than the nypost one that was originally posted.

the headline alone addresses nearly every question/issue i had with the nypoost's coverage:

Port Authority Officer Who Pitched In MLB, Wrong Way Driver Both Killed In NJ Turnpike Crash