Box Wine

I decided to post this blog because each year, during holiday weekends, drunk driving becomes an issue. Drunk drivers can kill themselves, kill their passengers, kill others on the road and on the street, and cause various amounts of property. Overall it's a pretty big public safety issue.

When I was a police intern I saw a pretty bad DUI accident. I was with my police officer that eveing. There was a call for a collision at an intersection of two of the main roads in the city. Upon pulling it appeared that a car had run into the back of another car that was waiting to turn left at the stoplight.

I got out and saw the EMTs removing a female from the car that was rear ended. At the same time I noticed that there were two juveniles in the car as well. The youngest juvenile was maybe six or seven. The oldest was probably about ten. By the grace of God, neither juvenile was on the driver's side of the car. This side took the bulk of the impact (the driver of the other car must have hit this car at an angle).

After ensuring tha the two children in the car were okay, my police officer told me to go take a look at the car which had caused the accident. Upon moving down there I got hit with the smell of alcohol. Strong, cheap alcohol. As I moved down the car it looked like there was blood all inside the car. Red liquid was spilled all over the interior of the car. I wasn't sure at this point if the driver of this car had been severly injured or not.

My police officer came up behind me, grabbed my shoulder, and kind of whispered "Ever seen someone get arrested for drunk driving?" I said "no" and he told me to turn around. There was the driver of the car, failing miseribly at the field sobriety tests that she was being given. Then it suddenly dawned on me-the red liquid in the car wasn't blood-it was wine. That is why I smelled that cheap alcohol smell.

As I listened and watched the driver who caused the accident, the entire story was revealed. The driver apparently had a bad day so she stopped to buy her drink of choice-box wine. She poured herself a few glasses while she was driving. It was while she was pouring her fourth or fifth glass she suddenly came up to the intersection and rear ended the car in front of her. The wine then was spilled over the entire interior of the car.

The woman in car who was rear ended had just picked her kids up for a family member's house. She was on her way home from work. Her husband was there already, cooking dinner for her and their children.

I was LIVID. That accident has stuck with me for a long time. I think mandatory jail term needs to be given with EVERY DUI arrest. Ten consecutive days, followed by more each time you get arrested for this. I have ZERO tolerance for this.

This woman could have killed either the driver or her children. I'm sorry she had a "bad day" but that is no FREAKING EXCUSE for endangering others with your RECKLESS behavior.

Just wanted to share this tale...