I AIN'T NO SNITCH!!

[HUSKER 37]

OK...

Maybe since I used a double negative..I am.

 

I decided to take the Pecos Freeway after dropping my Son off at his Mom's a little over an hour ago.

Noticed a lifted air hauler (large empty pickup) with his hazard lights on trying to occupy more than one lane at a time.

 

Probably because his hazard lights were flashing, that I imagined some little kid driving one of his parents to the Hospital or something, so I decided to drive a little slower than usual and just keep this person ahead of me and offer assistance if the chance presented itself.

 

I rode my brakes each time I saw the P/U swerve back into his lane or the near misses from passing vehicles, then decided to follow as he cut across two lanes to take the off ramp at Arizona Avenue about three miles before my usual off ramp.

 

Tried not to stare after he slammed on his brakes in the middle of the off ramp as me and another honking car went around him...It was dark, so even my halfway staring at him, I couldn't tell if the driver was a kid or not..We're at a stoplight waiting to turn left on AZ Ave. and the car behind me decides to get out of the way and moves to the right lane and takes off..Then I see the White P/U slowly approach me trying? to find his brakes.

I feel compelled to get out of my car and go back to offer assistance, but I then get this funny feeling and a news report about road rage plays back in my head and I decide to stay in my car so I can take off if he forgets to keep his foot on the brake.

 

I let him pass me in the middle lane and lose him behind a couple of other cars at the next stop light due to road construction taking three lanes down to one..try to keep him in sight, but don't see any autos with hazard lights on a block ahead but notice what appears to be a p/u pulling off the road to go into a Circle K (convenience store/gas station), so I park next to the only truck in the lot..the headlights are on, but the windows are tinted, so I can only make out an outline.

 

I lose all nerve I had, and decide he probably has a gun, so I just go inside and ask the clerk to call it in, that I suspect this guy of being impaired..as I walk back out, I get a better look at the driver..his head slumping and drops a couple of times hitting the steering wheel.

 

I lost confidence in the store clerk calling it in, so I walk over to the intersection to get a location from the street signs and called 911 on my cell (almost forgot I had it).

I was a little surprised at one of the first questions that the 911 operator asked (about the impaired driver's race), but she manages to get me to agree to stay there and talk to the cops afterward (I then re-iterate that I'm pretty sure the p/u I was following was white, this one is gray).

 

I go back in the Cir-K as two police cars show up..even consider buying some beers just for the adrenaline rush of talking to the police while holding beers, but decide against it.

When I get back out, I notice the P/U is gone, and two officers are talking to each other next to my car...I tell them I'm the one who called, and asked if the guy was impaired. The really short officer said that the "guy hadn't been under the influence of alcohol, but was "on something"..I then told them they might want to let other officers in the vicinity to be on the lookout for a Northbound white P/U with his hazard lights on...and now I wonder why I didn't ask why they let the gray p/u guy go if he was "on something".

 

 

I felt more than a little conflicted..I mean, I used to take great sport in seeing how drunk I could drive when I was a lot younger..I know first hand how much it sucks to lose your driver's license for 6-months..but then I realized as a father, how gravely crushed I'd be if a drunk ran my Son into an early grave..and somehow remembered the tone in some of Skersfan's posts on the subject and decided the self inflicted damage that I may help give this drunk far outweighs the potential damage he could cause others.

 

Hope everyone had a safe Memorial Day.

[zoogs]

I felt more than a little conflicted..I mean, I used to take great sport in seeing how drunk I could drive when I was a lot younger..I know first hand how much it sucks to lose your driver's license for 6-months..but then I realized as a father, how gravely crushed I'd be if a drunk ran my Son into an early grave..and somehow remembered the tone in some of Skersfan's posts on the subject and decided the self inflicted damage that I may help give this drunk far outweighs the potential damage he could cause others.

 

Absolutely right call...driving impaired is no joke. We're all young and reckless at some point, but that's people's lives right there, potentially...good story 37.

 

Interesting you thought of a kid driving his parents to the hospital. Man, that would be an incredible feat...and story. Wonder if that's ever happened.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

You did the right thing by calling it in.

[Roxy]

You did the right thing by calling..but..I don't understand why the police let him go since they said he was "on something" .what about the way he was driving?? At least you did your part..good job:) I would like to think that the police followed him for awhile to observe his driving.

[HUSKER 37]

I felt more than a little conflicted..I mean, I used to take great sport in seeing how drunk I could drive when I was a lot younger..I know first hand how much it sucks to lose your driver's license for 6-months..but then I realized as a father, how gravely crushed I'd be if a drunk ran my Son into an early grave..and somehow remembered the tone in some of Skersfan's posts on the subject and decided the self inflicted damage that I may help give this drunk far outweighs the potential damage he could cause others.

 

Absolutely right call...driving impaired is no joke. We're all young and reckless at some point, but that's people's lives right there, potentially...good story 37.

 

Interesting you thought of a kid driving his parents to the hospital. Man, that would be an incredible feat...and story. Wonder if that's ever happened.

 

I'm almost positive I've heard of something like that happening out here..I remember hearing the 911 transcript of a young child calling for help after his Mom passed out drunk while behind the wheel.

 

I also seem to remember someone being so drunk that they put their gradeschooler behind the wheel thinking the penalty would be less harsh for underage driving than DUI.

 

Boy, 6, tries to drive family car to school

 

I guess it was the hazard lights..I can't imaging being so drunk that you'd turn those on.

[HUSKER 37]

You did the right thing by calling..but..I don't understand why the police let him go since they said he was "on something" .what about the way he was driving?? At least you did your part..good job:) I would like to think that the police followed him for awhile to observe his driving.

 

Yeah..That's bothered me today too.

I'm also a little mad at myself for not insisting that there were probably two different impaired drivers...That they should have alerted other officers to be on the lookout for the white p/u that was probably less than 4 miles ahead of us in partially heavy traffic by the time I talked to the two officers.

 

As for the bolded part: The gray pickup was way too far away from me to be able to accurately criticize his driving (~1/4 mile with a few cars ahead of me).

 

 

I still wish I felt comfortable enough to take care of this without involving the Police..but I guess that's what they're for ...Among many other things.

[huKSer]

 

I guess it was the hazard lights..I can't imaging being so drunk that you'd turn those on.

The thought(?) process probably went "One of these buttons is the radio"

[Manhattan]

Very unusual experience. Maybe the police officers were just lazy and figured that he wasn't that big of a deal.

[sarge87]

You did the right thing by calling it in.

Ditto!

 

It would make me sick if I saw someone driving impaired and didn't report it, only to find out later the driver ended up killing or maiming someone down the road.