Hancock lawsuit a sorry legacy for young pitcher

There are, thankfully, few parents who will ever experience the pain of losing a son or daughter.

The father of St. Louis pitcher Josh Hancock is unfortunately one of them. Hancock was killed last month when his sport utility vehicle crashed into a tow truck. Police said Hancock was speeding, speaking on a cell phone and was legally drunk at the time of the crash. Marijuana was also found in Hancock's car.

Dean Hancock filed the lawsuit Thursday in St. Louis. (AP)

Bitterness and anger can cause a person to react in ways they otherwise would not. That is the only explanation for why Hancock's father, Dean, would file a stunningly inappropriate and needlessly wasteful lawsuit against the restaurant that served Josh drinks as well as the company that owned the tow truck hit by Hancock.

By the time the smirks cease, the flabbergasted close their mouths and the lawyer jokes end, this lawsuit may serve as the latest example of the human compulsion to blame others for faults and mistakes that are one's own.

There is no other explanation for this kind of wasteful legal action other than lawyer avarice and parent pain transference.

While you feel sympathy for the Hancock family you also wish someone would explain to them that this kind of lawsuit will only deepen their pain because no one will understand it, believe it or accept it.

And soon many will mock it.

The Hancocks are going to be seen as money grubbers and excuse makers, not Erin Brockovich.

The sympathy for Hancock will slowly erode, replaced by a cascade of new emotions like disbelief and anger.

The two main points of the lawsuit will also only cement the belief that athletes -- from the time they are young, until the time they, well, die -- have an army of people making excuses for their mistakes and misconduct.

Basically the suit states the restaurant, Mike Shannon's, is responsible for Josh's alleged excessive drinking because it kept serving him.

Meanwhile, the suit says, the tow truck operator and driver of the stalled car are responsible for the crash because they did not move off the highway fast enough.

"It's understood that for the entire 3½ hours that Josh Hancock was (at the restaurant) that he was handed drinks," Keith Kantack, a lawyer for Dean Hancock, told the Associated Press. "It's our understanding that from the moment Josh Hancock entered Mike Shannon's that night that he was never without a drink."