Watched a drunk driver fly into a tree
16A couple nights ago I was smoking in the garage right before going to bed and I could hear somebody’s car frame sparking bouncing off the road from speeding (people fly down our street trying to beat the train I live behind or just use it as a cut through. It’s not uncommon to see someone going 50mph. The road is filled with pothole and is very uneven and the city will never repave it bc then people could really fly down it). When I stepped outside all I saw were sparks from him landing on the road. Then I watched him hit another ditch fly over two driveway and into a tree. You could feel the ground move he hit it so hard. I ran over there to see if he was ok, I was screaming through the window “are you ok, are you ok, I’m gonna call 911 if you don’t respond.” He didn’t so I called 911 (still even hesitated bc I don’t like to call the cops on people, personal thing). Neighbor from two house down (where the drunk diver landed) came out bc he thought somebody hit his house bc it shook so bad and we waited for cops to get there. When the cops got there the guy got out of his car stumbling around asking what street he was on so his sister could pic him up and the cops were like you need to come with us buddy. His car had a 3 foot indent in the hood and had even bounced off the tree a foot from hitting it so hard. His tailpipe and exhaust were fallen off the car and just laying on the ground. The guy went to the hospital and I’m sure he’s got a dui too. We asked the cop if we could take a pic of the car but he said no.
I went out and looked in the morning and what had happened was he few over the ditch (these are not tiny ditches either) three houses down, took out two fences, rode the side walk for two houses, jumped the ditch back to the street, that’s where I saw his car bouncing off the street. Hit the ditch on the other side of the street and flew over two driveways and into a tree. He just never slowed down, hopping the ditches and into the tree. It was honestly the craziest thing I’ve seen in a long time. But it was probably better he hit the tree instead of somebody else. I was talking to the neighbors where he started and they had parts of his car on the roof of their car and his side mirror on their hood. Tons of other parts of his car were scattered in the ditch too.
I guess a couple night before that on the other side of the railroad tracks across from our house a drunk driver hit a tree and died. My house seems to be a magnet for drunk driving.
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OMG!!! I hope your house didn’t end up getting hit - that’s insane!
Meant to say hope it DOESN’T get hit, since that road seems dangerous!
Calling the cops was DEFILITELY the right thing to do. Understand the whole personal thing, but the next time that tree could be a kid. Hopefully he gets help.
Wow, from that description doesn’t sound like any of the usual “traffic calming” structures short of a k-rail would’ve slowed that guy down …
Also - I think that police person was incorrect and you have every right to take a picture if you wanted to, it could be very helpful in subsequent legal actions. Unless you have some weird laws in your state prohibiting taking pictures of accidents or crime scenes that are in full public view.
@stolicat Agree 100%. I would also have taken a picture of the cop. (Sometimes a law suit or two will get things back on track, if necessary.)
I do support the police, in general, but not blindly.
@stolicat Came to say the same: You can take pictures as long as you don’t impede the first responders.
@stolicat And if there was any property damage, people will need pictures for the insurance claims.
Wow , that guy got out and wanted to call his sister for a ride! He was one lucky (if you can call it that) SOB. It sounds like a good thing he’s off the road.
Must have been a good car for him to be able to get out and walk away from that. I’m glad there wasn’t a train on the crossing at the time!
I used to do a lot of late-night cross-country driving, and I’ve called in a drunk more than once. Yes, loads of cops are assholes, but a drunk behind the wheel is not getting any slack from me. And I have no other tool than the cops when it comes to getting that hazard handled.
It was very insane to watch, when I saw his car bounce back on the road I definitely didn’t think I was gonna see him fly over two driveways and into a tree next. Eventful night at least.
We had an experience with a drunk driver crash several years ago. It was warm evening in July, a little after 9 PM. My wife and I and two of my (young adult) children were in the family room watching TV. Suddenly we heard a loud boom and the power went off. We could hear a vehicle horn blaring. We went outside to investigate and discovered a pickup had taken out the power pole in the SW corner of our yard. The driver had failed to make the curve, run off the road, sheared off the pole, taken out a ~10" dia. oak tree and barely missed a second oak before coming to a stop. The front of the Ford F-350 Super Duty was smashed with steam coming out and the horn stuck on.
The driver was out wandering around the truck. I asked if he was OK and if there was anyone else in the truck. I went to check for myself (saw no one else) and see if I could disconnect the horn, but the front was too smashed to get to the wires.
Meanwhile, my son called 911 and when the driver heard him talking on the phone, he started muttering “We don’t need no cops!”. I said “Dude, there’s live power lines down on the road - we have to call it in.” So he jumped in the truck and tried to start it (apparently wanting to make a hasty getaway, but no luck), then got out and started walking away down the road.
In surprisingly short order (we live about 12 miles from the nearest town), the county sheriff’s deputies and fire crew showed up, followed soon after by the electric utility crew. The deputies took our statements and sent a couple officers down the road to look for the driver. They found him and walked him back, questioned him and gave him a sobriety test (in our driveway) as we watched the show from the front porch. Eventually, they hauled him away and the fire crew left. Amazingly, the utility workers replaced the electrical pole, restrung the wires and had power restored by 1 AM.
Turned out the driver lived about 1/2 mile down the road. I was subpoenaed to testify at his trial, but never heard about the verdict or sentence (I think it was pretty cut-and-dried, but who knows?). Now, several years later, I see him going by in a shiny new F-350 pickup from time to time, so apparently he must have a license again.
Calling the cops was definitely the right thing to do! I’ve been hit a DD twice in my life. The second time was on Christmas eve 2014 when I was 33 weeks pregnant with my youngest. We were on our way home from church, my dad was driving and my mom was sitting behind him. I was in the passenger seat and my then 7 year old was behind me.
The DD was in the oncoming lane and did not negotiate a left turn correctly. My parents ended up in separate ICUs (an hour apart from each other) for 3 weeks… my mom was in the hospital for a total of 9 months. Very extensive injuries.
The DD was let go that night and didn’t see the inside of a jail cell for almost two years. He ended up spending 9 months in jail - same length of time he put my mom in the hospital for.
Thank God the DD you saw was caught by a tree and not a person. It’s awful going through something like that.
Moral: plant more trees, and landscape with large boulders.
Trees are wonderful!
My brother had a big pine tree intercept an idiot and his Mustang that was headed for their kids second floor bedroom.
The genius was doing burnouts and lost control. Ours is a quiet town, and he said it looked like every cop, fireman, and paramedic in town showed up. The driver tried to spin a tale of dropping something, and only taking his eyes off the road for second, and NEVER exceeding the speed limit. But the cops found the story told by the tire marks much more persuasive.
One of the officers asked my brother what he wanted them to do, and he said: “Make it painful enough that he’ll never do it again.” He replied that they’d be delighted to do that.
The pine tree was scarred, but unyielding. The front of the Mustang was caved in a couple of feet, and it was wedged between the tree and the slope.