HUSKER 37
All-American
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.
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.
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I would like to think that the police followed him for awhile to observe his driving.
