A tipster sent in this campaign the other day, however we sat on it mostly because we needed time to process the sheer mass of balls required to put up such a fundraiser.
Before we get to the GoFundMe campaign that has outraged the family of the teen killed in a car wreck, let’s get to the back story. In October of 2015, then 17-year-old Abby McGaha of Charlotte, NC was charged with involuntary manslaughter after the SUV she was driving at 70 to 100 MPH in a 35 MPH zone hit a tree. Alexander Mundt, a high school student from New Mexico, was in the back seat and died at the scene. She later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor death by vehicle.
McGaha was sentenced to 10 days in jail, 24 months of probation, 100 hours of community service, as well as issued a six month driver’s license suspension.
Now, on January 2, McGaha’s dad put up a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $75,000 to help his family pay off a civil settlement with the deceased boy’s family. Yes, you read that correctly. Dad wants other people to pay for his daughter’s actions.
He writes:
Dear family and friends, I am reaching out to you on the behalf of myself and our family to ask for your help in our time of need. As many of you know, our lives were rocked by tragedy on October 25th of 2015 when Abby had her car accident and we lost an amazing young man and friend, Alex Mundt. We have been slowly trying to recuperate (if that is even possible) and put the pieces back together. We have been overwhelmed throughout this entire process by the love and support that our family, friends, local lacrosse community, and the Myers Park community have provided us. For this reason, the following request seems unfair and is an incredibly difficulty thing for us to request, but are out of options.
So, the following request is “unfair” and yet he makes it anyway. Mmkay.
He continues:
Except for serving the remainder of her probation, Abby’s criminal legal battle is pretty much behind us. But the civil battle remains with Alex’s family. In an effort to avoid a civil lawsuit, we have settled with Alex’s family. This obviously has placed a great financial burden upon us, and we have utilized money that we had been saving for years. In addition to the legal fees from both the criminal and civil cases, we are also faced with medical bills from the accident, as well as Nick’s recent knee surgery. The second portion of an established payment is due to Alex’s family in February. The first payment was made in November. We are establishing a Go Fund Me for this purpose.
What a lesson to teach their daughter. Listen, sweetheart, we know you killed your friend due to negligence on your part but instead of working toward fulfilling your financial obligation to his family, let’s just put up a GoFundMe and make everyone else pay for it. Hang on, let me write a sob story right quick. Alright, done!
Local WSOC reached out to Alex Mundt’s family regarding the GoFundMe campaign, and it seems they didn’t even know about it.
“I’m stunned that they would do such a thing,” said father Mike Mundt. “I can’t imagine what all was involved in the case and then a civil settlement afterwards, but those are natural consequences of crime and to ask the community to pay for the consequences of crime is incredulous to me.”
The McGahas’ GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $5k as of press time.