And that’s not the worst of it. The passenger in the car my nephew was driving was dead at the scene. All of this happened because of drinking and driving.
I supposed my nephew, aged 25, back from two tours in Iraq, was feeling invulnerable. It was 3:00 am last Saturday. He and a friend were returning from a trip to a park where they had been drinking and celebrating the passenger’s engagement to my niece on Christmas Day. My nieces were in a car far enough ahead of them that they didn’t see what happened.
My nephew was speeding on a bypass and lost control of the car. It was a Honda convertible and they were driving with the top down because the night was warm and windy. It crossed two lanes of traffic before it hit a wall or a culvert. A policeman who was a witness said that it flipped over about nine times. Both of them were wearing seat belts.
The officer who saw it happen summoned help immediately and the guys were taken to the local hospital. As I said, it was too late for the 23 year old passenger who had become engaged less than 48 hours before. My nephew was badly injured and needed to go to a larger facility about 70 miles away. It was too windy for a life flight.
It took most of the top of his scalp off, but it was still attached a little. It was reattached with just less than seventy stitches. There is bleeding in the brain, but the last I had heard two days ago, they didn’t know the source. His arm and shoulder are mangled and his face is messed up. He continues to be in critical condition and in a lot of pain.
He remembers nothing of the entire day of the accident. (He can talk and form sentences.) That means he doesn’t remember even being with the young man who is dead. So he hasn’t been told that he is responsible for the death of his sister’s fiance.
Charges are pending if he makes it through. My sister said that it will most likely be criminally negligent homicide. This is her grandson – actually my great-nephew.
A life destroyed. Families are in pieces. The grief is intolerable.
Don’t get behind the wheel if you have been drinking. Just don’t. DON’T. You are in denial if you think it can’t happen to you.
Oh Zoe, I’m so sorry. What a tragic end to one young life and a tragic beginning to another. Good words to spread on this night of alcohol induced stupors.
That’s got to be rough on your niece. I hope the family gets through it, but it’s hard for me to say I feel sorry for your nephew. I don’t think drunk driving is punished harshly enough. It’s only sheer luck he didn’t hurt more people.
Having said that, I can’t say I never did it when I was that age. There’s nothing more arrogant or unteachable than a 25 year old male. There but for the grace of God.
I am really sorry to hear that. I hope you can get through this. There are a lot of preventable deaths, but driving drunk is just plain dumb.
PM me if you need to unload.
Thats terrible. I’m so sorry. My thoughts are with you and your family.
It’s amazing how one second can ruin so many lives, and how one stupid choice can fuck things up for years. Times like this are when I hope there is a heaven so that we can all go someplace a little more forgiving.
Sweet Jesus! I opened the thread hoping he had gotten a bad haircut when inducted.
Zoe, I hope my pagan prayers work for nephews of friends. My prayer asks that he learned from this. (shudder) As for the boy who is dead, he is where he was intended to be. My prayers can do little on his behalf and I can only assume he is where kids who weren’t deserving it go.
I’m so sorry for your family, Zoe. This is a tragedy, a preventable one, true, but young men always believe they’re indestructible-- even more so when alcohol is involved. My condolences to your niece as well.
I hope he survives and regains enough mental capacity to speak out against one of the more ignorant selfish things a person in a motorized country can do…drive drunk.
Sorry, don’t mean to be harsh in your time of loss. But what a waste. Jeez.
I hope things work out for the best for you and yours.
6-year-old nephew, struck and killed by a drunk driver at a school bus stop at 8am
Two high-school classmates out joyriding and drunk ages 16 and 17
Uncle driving to Chicago from Florida a week before Christmas 8 years ago, struck by an 18-wheeler that crossed 4 lanes of traffic and a center-divide to become airborne and land on my uncle’s car,
I think I can say I might have an inkling of what you’re going through.
I’m so sorry. Your family has a long way to go, to get through the hurt and sorrow, but you will get through it no matter how bleak it seems now. I hope your great-nephew can get through it and be able to live with himself. He will have a really rough time whether the courts are easy on him or not.
Zoe, I’m so sorry for the pain you and your family are going through. One of my nephews was in a similar situation a few years ago and it was difficult for all of us. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.
I’m so sorry. My husband’s cousin was in a very similar situation - killed his friend, went to prison for a few years, and was suicidal for some time. I think he was punished sufficiently, especially by his own conscience. He is now married and has a new baby. I have no doubt it still tortures him, but at least his life was not a total loss. (And yes, I know the friend is just as dead as ever and will never get a chance at marriage and children. I’m just saying, given the horrible situation as it is, not everyone involved has to lose all hope of a life.)
Astoundingly, his brothers continue to drive drunk. Some people never learn.
