Ok, that title should get your attention.
Friday night my brother came home from Sylvan Lake with his new tires. We figured we had to go for a cruise, for obvious reasons. We were going east on Jasper Ave. and saw a car scream out onto the street in front of traffic, nearly getting t-boned hard by the car in front of us. Trav slammed on the brakes and we escaped without incident, as did the car in front of us.
We immediatly figured the guy has to be drunk to do something so stupid. We passed the drunk dude as he was stuck behind some traffic in front of the bar he likely just came out of. We decided it would be a good idea to call it in, so we pulled over to the side and waited for him to pass him. I dialed 911 and reported it once we got his license plate.
The cops had us follow the car, which I guess makes sense but it seems a little dangerous to me. What if the guys realize we’re following us and do something stupid to try and get away? What if they decide they feel like shooting the people reporting them? We followed them as per the cop’s instruction all the way across the hi-level bridge, down 109th St, to the odd intersection at 63rd Ave with the stop sign that faces partially into oncoming traffic. At this point they stopped at the stop sign in the left hand lane, then cut someone off and headed down the 1 way street the wrong way to 62nd Ave. He was driving into oncoming traffic!
We took the normal route to the lights, and turned right onto 62nd, then he pulled into the turning lane to head south on 111th st. The cops caught up to us and pulled in behind him, and waved for us to follow. They pulled the guy over, and the cops on the phone told us to park nearby an wait for a phone call once they are done with the pull-over. We waited about 20 minutes or more for the phone call, and were told we needed to go to the police station to fill out a report. The squad car that pulled the guy over let the passenger go. They called her a cab, but she just stumbled away. As we passed her when we were on our way to the cop shop, she stuck her thumb out like she wanted a ride. That’s pretty fucked up right there!
We spent another 45 mins at the cop shop talking to the guys and filling out a report. We heard the guy come into the station.. he did a breathalyzer test and later was yelling and screaming at the cops. We didn’t get to see any of this because we were in a room filling out the reports.
The cops said he was clearly very drunk and thanked us for calling it in. We inquired about the dangers of following the guy like we did, especially since Trav drives such a recognizable vehicle, but the officer assured us that he probably won’t remember a damned thing in the morning. I sure hope so, ’cause he sounded really pissed off.
This brings to light another question though. With all the trouble we had to go through to report this guy, how many people out there can afford to put two hours or more into something like this? What happens if I tell the officers I cannot fill out a report? I don’t think it’s mandatory (I might be wrong), but does the guy just get away with a DUI, and gets off scott free on other charges like reckless endangerment, or stunting? I’ll have to ask Mike (our resident five-o in the jeep club) about this.
In my opinion they need to develop a better system for reporting a drunk driver. Taking 2 hours to get something like this done, and the potential for danger is just too much. I was on the phone for 30 minutes, following a drunk driver, who potentially could be a very dangerous person. What if he’s smart emough to realize what’s going on? I’ll make sure to check my schedule before I call 911 again.
What do you think? Have you ever reported a drunk driver? What percentage of drunk drivers that are caught are because of call-ins? Leave a comment damnit!
