TEXAS OFFICER'S DEATH SPURS CALL FOR CELL PHONE LAW
The way Lisa Dawn Norling sees things, she lost the love of her life to a cell phone. The driver of a sport utility vehicle that hit and killed Harris County Precinct 5 Deputy Constable Jason Norling on the busy Westpark Tollway on Monday morning may have been distracted by a phone call, prosecutors say.
That detail has stuck with Norling as she prepares for today's funeral and watches the TV reports about her husband's death.
"I lost my husband because of a man on a cell phone," she said before his wake on Wednesday. "Things like that keep happening, and somebody has to do something." She and others close to the deputy constable, who had been writing a ticket at the time of the crash, may become a force in a future battle to limit cell phone use on Texas roadways.
Although such bills have failed to gain momentum in the past, Jason Norling's niece, Delta Humphreys, has started a campaign on MySpace to change the law, and Lisa Norling says she will petition lawmakers if that could make a difference. That kind of emotional currency could be what's needed to shift public opinion in a state like Texas — where folks cling tightly to individual rights — said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, who plans to introduce a bill on the matter in the next legislative session. His proposal, which has failed before, would limit drivers' cell phone use to headsets or other hands-free devices.
"If we had passed this last time, maybe this wouldn't have happened," Coleman said.
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