Those touched by DUI share experiences with offenders
By Alexandra Bogdanovic
Reaction from a listener |
"But on the night that you were arrested for DUI, you were actually the lucky one."
Sausville said her stepdaughter, Lauren, wasn't so fortunate. The 16-year-old high school junior died in a drunk-driving accident in December 2004. She'd had her drivers license for three weeks, Sausville said.
"Every time she took the sports utility vehicle out, her father told her not to drink and drive," Sausville recalled. "The night she died, Lauren told him not to worry. She said she was the designated driver."
Sausville said her stepdaughter went to a friend's house that night. The teen allegedly drank at least six beers and four shots there before deciding to go to another party.
Because Lauren had a "terrible sense of direction," her stepmother said, the teen was following another friend on Colchester Road in Fairfax County when the fatal accident happened.
"The speed limit is 35 mph. Police estimated that Lauren was going 50-55 mph when she crested a hill," Sausville said. "Her friend had stopped at a stop sign at the bottom. He tried to get out of her way."
Lauren over-corrected and the sports utility vehicle flipped onto the driver's side, skidded down the hill and smashed into the other car, Sausville said. Lauren was killed instantly.
The accident happened just before midnight. Sausville said she and her husband found out about it more than three hours later.
"The phone rang at about 3:30 a.m. My husband took the call. It was Lauren's mom. I heard bits and pieces of the conversation. All of a sudden he just sat straight up and said, 'Oh, Jesus, she's dead,'
"I will never forget the look on his face or the sound of his voice."
Hundreds of people attended the wake and funeral service, Sausville said. But more than a year later, the family is still seeking closure.
The 27-year-old man who allegedly bought the alcohol for Lauren and her friends faces three misdemeanor charges, according to Sausville. He has avoided capture for nearly one year.
"I hope he gets the absolute maximum (punishment) when he gets caught," Sausville said.
'Preventable deaths ...'
Theresa McCarthy and Pat Brown also shared their stories.
Like Sausville, McCarthy lost a daughter in an alcohol-related incident. But McCarthy's daughter, Mara Rose Fox, wasn't driving. She was simply walking along a road with a group of friends when an impaired motorist hit and killed her.
McCarthy explained that her daughter was a college freshman at Notre Dame University in 1993. The Notre Dame football team was having a great year and they were supposed to play Florida State University on Nov. 13, McCarthy said.
"I called Mara at 7:45 p.m. on Nov. 12. She said she and her roommates had been working on a banner all day and that they planned to go out for pizza. I told her to be careful and have fun," McCarthy recalled.
The girl and her friends went out to eat at a restaurant, but they couldn't find a ride home, so they decided to walk back along a well-traveled road.
A 26-year-old law school student who had allegedly been drinking since 3:30 p.m. that day was driving on the same road when he was "blinded" by the headlights from an oncoming vehicle, McCarthy said.
"He turned right into Mara. The impact knocked her 10-15 feet into the air. She hit her head on the windshield (when she came down) and he took off," McCarthy said.
Police found the driver "passed out" at his apartment hours later, McCarthy recalled. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and causing a fatal accident while intoxicated, she said.
"His trial was two and a half weeks long. A jury found him not guilty," McCarthy said. "Today he is a practicing tax attorney in McLean.
"He never served any time. He's never tried to contact us. He's never tried to make amends. My daughter sustained brain damage that was so severe, she never recovered."
For his part, Brown said he is still living with the consequences of the drunk driving incident he was involved in more than 36 years ago.
Brown recalled that he and his friend, who had just graduated from a high school in Northern Virginia, got together on a Friday night. They went up to Washington D.C. to buy beer, and spent most of the evening drinking.
"We each consumed about one six-pack," Brown said. "At dusk, we went to the high school parking lot, where we met a couple of other people. So we had four people riding around in what was essentially a two-seat sports car."
Together, they drove up and down a nearby street they had traveled dozens of times. But that night, they were going through the residential neighborhood at approximately 60-65 mph, Brown remembered. The driver lost control of the car as they approached a traffic light. They smashed through someone's front yard and hit a tree.
"When I came to, I was covered in blood," Brown said.
He suffered severe facial lacerations, a broken femur and other serious injuries that resulted in a nine-month hospitalization. He went home in a body cast and spent months recuperating.
Today, Brown is legally blind in one eye and has one leg that's shorter than the other. He said he contracted Hepatitis C from blood transfusions while he was in the hospital and his liver enzymes still have to be assessed to this day.
The driver and one of the other passengers sustained broken bones and other non-life threatening injuries, Brown said. His best friend came out of a coma after six weeks, but never recovered from catastrophic brain injuries.
"Every year, about 17,000 people die in drunk driving accidents," Brown said. "That's 17,000 preventable deaths."
Getting started
Many of the audience members thanked the panelists on their way out of the courtroom and said they had been moved by their stories.
Pavelko said he hopes that his office, in conjunction with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, will host additional Victim Impact Panels in the future.
"The judges here began referring clients in October (for the first panel). We encouraged them to refer not only DUI cases, but anyone they felt would benefit from this program," Pavelko said.
"Initially, we'll be holding the panel on a quarterly basis. As it gains popularity, we hope it becomes a monthly event."
Judge H. Dudley Payne of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court has already expressed interest in adapting it for use in juvenile justice, Pavelko said.
E-mail the reporter: abogdanovic@timespapers.com