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A class I currently am taking let out last night at 10:30.
After driving back across town to my home, I had just turned onto the last major artery street leading to my subdivision when I noticed the car now in front of me is weaving back and forth in its lane. The speed limit on this street is 40 mph. The proverbial Red Flags begin waving for me. Then I see the car hit the curb, bounce back into its lane, serve, hit the curb again, bounce off, swerve and hit it again. It doesn’t stop. I decide to keep following it and pass up the street leading to my home.
I am pulling out my cell phone to call 911 on this driver who obviously is either drunk or in some sort of trouble, when I see that the front tire is shredded and deflated due to its many contacts with the curb and the car now is riding on the wobbling rim while swerving more than it ever had before. The car then pulls into a convenience store parking lot (thank you, God!) about two blocks from the entrance ramps of a major highway. I pull in after the car and park.
The car ends up parked at a forty degree angle over two parking spaces in front of the store, but it hits nothing more. The driver (a guy who looks to be in his mid to late sixties) gets out, stumbles over to the passenger side and stares at the blown tire while swaying back and forth. For a few moments, the driver just looks blankly at the tire, then screams “F***” and throws an open can of beer on the ground. Ok, now I have no doubt that this is a drunk. The driver next stumbles into the store. I get out and follow him.
When I get inside, the driver is slurring his words as he yells at the employee behind the counter that he needs someone to get his tire fixed and it better be quick. The employee (a young guy who looks no more than twenty) calls over another employee to watch the register, and to my amazement, goes outside with this guy. I again follow while pulling out my phone to call the police.
The employee squats down and looks at the tire in the middle of a puddle of beer from the thrown can, then says that it looks like a blowout and asks if the driver has a spare. I can see that there is far more damage to the car as the wheel’s rim is bent and seems to be jutting out at an odd angle. Something in there is twisted.
It takes the driver a moment to understand that the employee needs the jack and spare, but he finally weaves over to the trunk and manages to find the key to open it. The employee begins to look for a jack in the trunk. The drunk pulls out his cell phone and calls someone, then he plops down on the asphalt and starts crying into the phone that his car is wrecked. The drunk appears to lose all interest in what the employee is doing as he sobs on about the car.
At this point I decide to get involved. I walk over to the employee and tell him that I need to speak to him immediately inside the store. The employee looks puzzled, but puts down the tire iron and walks back in. I inform him that I already have called the police because the man is drunk, and that the employee should have been able to see the driver is drunk and has wrecked his car. I then tell him that if the employee helps him get back on the road, the employee and the store will be liable for any accident or damage the driver causes. The employee looks at me like a deer in headlights, then says we need to give the guy a break and help him get home. His co-worker overheard what I said and tells the employee to stay inside and wait for the police.
While this is going on, the police arrive. The woman the drunk called (probably his wife) shows up a few minutes later and is visibly angry at the him. The police handcuff the driver; but after speaking with me, the employee and the driver, they decide that they are not going to arrest the man because THEY did not observe him behind the wheel (never mind that I did and could testify to it) so they will not charge him with DUI; and since someone is there to take care of him, they cannot charge him with public intoxication either. They let him go, but thank me for taking an interest in public safety. I am flabbergasted, but know it will do no good to argue about it.
After the driver and wife (who got mad at me for calling the police) leave, I tell the employee that he needs to be more aware of the people who come in and that he needs to learn the signs of an intoxicated person lest he break the law by selling that person alcohol. His co-worker agrees.
I arrive home after midnight, frustrated but relieved that at least the drunk is off the road and might have learned a lesson.
(Yeah, I know, but I can hope.)
After driving back across town to my home, I had just turned onto the last major artery street leading to my subdivision when I noticed the car now in front of me is weaving back and forth in its lane. The speed limit on this street is 40 mph. The proverbial Red Flags begin waving for me. Then I see the car hit the curb, bounce back into its lane, serve, hit the curb again, bounce off, swerve and hit it again. It doesn’t stop. I decide to keep following it and pass up the street leading to my home.
I am pulling out my cell phone to call 911 on this driver who obviously is either drunk or in some sort of trouble, when I see that the front tire is shredded and deflated due to its many contacts with the curb and the car now is riding on the wobbling rim while swerving more than it ever had before. The car then pulls into a convenience store parking lot (thank you, God!) about two blocks from the entrance ramps of a major highway. I pull in after the car and park.
The car ends up parked at a forty degree angle over two parking spaces in front of the store, but it hits nothing more. The driver (a guy who looks to be in his mid to late sixties) gets out, stumbles over to the passenger side and stares at the blown tire while swaying back and forth. For a few moments, the driver just looks blankly at the tire, then screams “F***” and throws an open can of beer on the ground. Ok, now I have no doubt that this is a drunk. The driver next stumbles into the store. I get out and follow him.
When I get inside, the driver is slurring his words as he yells at the employee behind the counter that he needs someone to get his tire fixed and it better be quick. The employee (a young guy who looks no more than twenty) calls over another employee to watch the register, and to my amazement, goes outside with this guy. I again follow while pulling out my phone to call the police.
The employee squats down and looks at the tire in the middle of a puddle of beer from the thrown can, then says that it looks like a blowout and asks if the driver has a spare. I can see that there is far more damage to the car as the wheel’s rim is bent and seems to be jutting out at an odd angle. Something in there is twisted.
It takes the driver a moment to understand that the employee needs the jack and spare, but he finally weaves over to the trunk and manages to find the key to open it. The employee begins to look for a jack in the trunk. The drunk pulls out his cell phone and calls someone, then he plops down on the asphalt and starts crying into the phone that his car is wrecked. The drunk appears to lose all interest in what the employee is doing as he sobs on about the car.
At this point I decide to get involved. I walk over to the employee and tell him that I need to speak to him immediately inside the store. The employee looks puzzled, but puts down the tire iron and walks back in. I inform him that I already have called the police because the man is drunk, and that the employee should have been able to see the driver is drunk and has wrecked his car. I then tell him that if the employee helps him get back on the road, the employee and the store will be liable for any accident or damage the driver causes. The employee looks at me like a deer in headlights, then says we need to give the guy a break and help him get home. His co-worker overheard what I said and tells the employee to stay inside and wait for the police.
While this is going on, the police arrive. The woman the drunk called (probably his wife) shows up a few minutes later and is visibly angry at the him. The police handcuff the driver; but after speaking with me, the employee and the driver, they decide that they are not going to arrest the man because THEY did not observe him behind the wheel (never mind that I did and could testify to it) so they will not charge him with DUI; and since someone is there to take care of him, they cannot charge him with public intoxication either. They let him go, but thank me for taking an interest in public safety. I am flabbergasted, but know it will do no good to argue about it.
After the driver and wife (who got mad at me for calling the police) leave, I tell the employee that he needs to be more aware of the people who come in and that he needs to learn the signs of an intoxicated person lest he break the law by selling that person alcohol. His co-worker agrees.
I arrive home after midnight, frustrated but relieved that at least the drunk is off the road and might have learned a lesson.
(Yeah, I know, but I can hope.)
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