"Please don't take me to jail"
http://coplife.net/wordpress/?p=24
Had an interesting OWI (or DUI as some call it) last night. I get called to help at a minor injury accident. I get there and the victims state that they are at a stoplight and get bumped from behind. Not uncommon.
As the light changes they advance forward to pull into the gas station parking lot as one may do, until they can call police. Well, when the light changes the drunk guy hits them again, kind of nudging them out of the way like a NASCAR short track race. Spins them out! But that time it was pretty hard and he bangs his car up pretty good too.
So we all show up, and I as the OWI expert there, talk to him and do the tests. The victim has some cuts to his face, but is fine. This guy I am talking to is more concerned about the damage to his 1991 Ford with 500,000 miles on it, and is spending the other part of his time begging me not to take him to jail because he doesnt want to lose his job.
Which brings me to this observation.
Drunk driving is a crime. It is a crime made by the result of your imparied condition allowing you to make the poor decision to attempt to drive yourself home. It can (and does) happen to everyone, including police officers. After all, we are just humans too.
What gets me in this instance (and actually a lot of them, including the other OWI I arrested yesterday, oddly enough, at fault in that crash too) is that same impaired condition puts you in "me" mode. You dont realize or remember the details of the crash you caused. You dont care or ask about the condition of the people you hurt.
In my experience, what drunk drivers in crashes seem to care about is the damage done to their car, with a feeling of 'remorse'- not for driving but for wrecking the car, so your OWI can't be covered up anymore because you can't make it home now. Or like the kid I started to tell you about, the possible loss of his job, and his broken used up car. Not about the condition of the people you injured.
"Please don't take me to jail" he said. What the hell else do you think would happen to you when youre drunk (in this case .20) and you hurt people when you wreck your car??
Its a messed up sense of priorities you see at OWI crashes.
Had an interesting OWI (or DUI as some call it) last night. I get called to help at a minor injury accident. I get there and the victims state that they are at a stoplight and get bumped from behind. Not uncommon.
As the light changes they advance forward to pull into the gas station parking lot as one may do, until they can call police. Well, when the light changes the drunk guy hits them again, kind of nudging them out of the way like a NASCAR short track race. Spins them out! But that time it was pretty hard and he bangs his car up pretty good too.
So we all show up, and I as the OWI expert there, talk to him and do the tests. The victim has some cuts to his face, but is fine. This guy I am talking to is more concerned about the damage to his 1991 Ford with 500,000 miles on it, and is spending the other part of his time begging me not to take him to jail because he doesnt want to lose his job.
Which brings me to this observation.
Drunk driving is a crime. It is a crime made by the result of your imparied condition allowing you to make the poor decision to attempt to drive yourself home. It can (and does) happen to everyone, including police officers. After all, we are just humans too.
What gets me in this instance (and actually a lot of them, including the other OWI I arrested yesterday, oddly enough, at fault in that crash too) is that same impaired condition puts you in "me" mode. You dont realize or remember the details of the crash you caused. You dont care or ask about the condition of the people you hurt.
In my experience, what drunk drivers in crashes seem to care about is the damage done to their car, with a feeling of 'remorse'- not for driving but for wrecking the car, so your OWI can't be covered up anymore because you can't make it home now. Or like the kid I started to tell you about, the possible loss of his job, and his broken used up car. Not about the condition of the people you injured.
"Please don't take me to jail" he said. What the hell else do you think would happen to you when youre drunk (in this case .20) and you hurt people when you wreck your car??
Its a messed up sense of priorities you see at OWI crashes.