Nick Hogan, the 17 year old son of professional wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, was sentenced to eight months in jail on Friday for causing a car crash in which his passenger suffered severe head injuries. The sentencing only seemed to trigger even more rage as people are saying that his punishment was to easy because he is a celebrity.

Nick Hogan, whose real name is Nick Bollea, pleaded no contest to a charge of reckless driving with serious bodily harm. Nick totaled a highly tuned Toyota Supra while driving at a high rate of speed on August 26, 2007. His passenger, John Graziano, 22, suffered severe head injuries and remains in a semiconscious state. There have been accusations of illegal racing on Hogan’s part, which people are claiming as the cause of the accident.

Judge Phillip Federico told Nick Hogan, “There has to be some punishment,” before handing him his sentence. The sentence also includes five years’ probation and 500 hours of community service. Federico also suspended Hogan’s driver license for three years. Graziano’s parents asked that Hogan be sentenced to some jail time, according to Reuters. They are suing Hulk Hogan and his son for “millions of dollars in damages.”

My opinion on the matter differs slightly. First, though Nick was driving recklessly, it is easy to see he meant no harm to his friend and did not want this. In other words, it was an accident. To think that John did not want to “go for a ride” or that he was not enjoying himself would be stupid. He wasn’t kidnapped, the kid knew what he was getting into, this was one of many times that he had ridden with Hogan and they were friends. Second, though I feel for the Graziano family for what they are going through, it is easy to see that their newest focus is not their son, but rather the millions of dollars they are most certainly going to get from the Hogans. If this was a middle-class family and any other situation this would never cross their minds. The school of thought with these people is that they can sue the shit out of the Hogans for all this money. I’ll bet if the Hogans stepped up and offered to pay for all the medical bills that the family would deny them and still sue for a multiple-million dollar settlement. They want the money.