Dang drunk driver

[superj]

This chick got sent home from work at lunch for being drunk and hit my wife's 2019 4 door wrangler while we were visiting a friend. She pushed our jeep into our friend's 2023 2 door wrangler and wrecked them both. The 23 is fixeable, i dont know about ours, its pretty rough looking.

She hit us and went up on two wheels and than slammed down next to our jeep, after ours and our friend's moved forward about 15 to 20 feet.

I was in between the two jeeps and was pointing out bumper stuff to our friend when i saw the suv coming right at our jeep. I dove into the grass just in time to not get cut off at the thighs.

What a day! The cops finally let us go at 330ish and we are at the er for my wife having neck and knee pain since she was sitting in the passenger seat waiting for me when this happened. She bounced off the windshield and her back into the seat but her knee tried to go through the dash speaker next to the glove box and is swollen and sore now. Her neck is stiff and hurt to look to the left.

This girl! Her sister said she has been in so much trouble because of her drinking and she hopes this straigtens her out. Why in the world would you loan your car to a drunk who keeps drinking?

Sponsored

 

[STEVE_K]

Frustrating!

Sadly I have lost a couple friends in recent years to alcohol. It's amazing how it doesn't impact some people, yet for others it's a downward spiral to an early ending.

 

[emjay24l]

Wow! This could have been so much worse and thankfully it wasn't and I am not diminishing the injuries that did occur. I hope they throw the book at her because this could have left more then one person dead and because she is a habitual offender.

 

[OxygenMask]

Damn dude! Sorry that happened.
I too have lost 2 friends in the last couple years to severe alcoholism. (They didn't die they're just too far gone to associate with any longer. )
It's heartbreaking.

 

[NM Mike]

Not to minimize your wife’s injuries, but glad you all weren’t injured more seriously.

 

[bigb]

Sorry to hear. At least she didn't hit and run, that is pretty much the norm these days around here. My neighbor had a similar thing happen when she was standing in front of her car waiting for an approaching vehicle to pass before walking into the street to open the door. That vehicle, driven by an 18 YO, hit the rear corner and drove up onto the roof and flipped. My neighbors car got shoved 7 feet and knocked her down, she was unable to walk for 2 months due to 3 leg fractures. My CCTV caught the whole thing and the footage was used in the settlement.

 

[OxygenMask]

Not to minimize your wife’s injuries, but glad you all weren’t injured more seriously.

Those injuries can be no joke!
My wife was hit in an intersection by a young girl who ran a red light. (2006 Dodge Magnum wagon hemi AWD, we had owned it for 28 days...) Demolished the driver side rear enough the tire leaned inward at a good 30 degrees (independent rear rear suspension). Spun the car into the oncoming lane and was hit on the other side by a Tacoma. Initially it seemed like some minor neck and back pain that would go away. It didn't. Every 2 or 3 years she has to have ablation surgery at the base of her neck, probably for life. Good thing WE had good insurance...

The girl was driving a POS 80s Camry with a salvage vehicle title and the bare minimum insurance....

 

[got3fords]

DAMN! I hope the offender learns from this. She could have killed somebody.

 

[OxygenMask]

Oh, and talk to your insurance guy asap.
The girl's ins co made an utterly ridiculous low-ball offer within days. That stopped the rental car benefit... And one of their " comparables" was actually our own car, and the $ numbers were nothing near what we paid for the car. Ultimately that attempted deception helped in being made whole.

And don't be too quick to accept a settlement offer, my wife's permanent injuries weren't obvious for more than a year...

We eventually had to hire an attorney to get it settled, they take roughly 1/3 of the settlement amount.

Different states have different insurance regs, but the insurance companies have playing the system all figured out. They are not your friends...
Just sayin....

 

[Wallowa Ranger]

This chick got sent home from work at lunch for being drunk

Surprised not to see any comments on this part yet. That sounds like a huge liability for that company! Not sure if you're the litigious type but that company definitely screwed up by telling a drunk employee to drive home.

 

[superj]

I am worried about the future effects of this on cristina. The er said nothing is torn or broken but i know i still have neck issues from being rear ended 20 years ago.

I feel bad for the girl's sister who had to come because it was her car. I feel bad for the girl because she is a very pretty girl and must have gone to some schooling to be a vet tech so she could have a good future. We thought she had a concussion when she first got out of the suv and was dropping her phone and acting like she had just woken up but then she got upwind of us and, holy cow, she smelled like straight alcohol. we saw her uniform for where she worked and messaged my son's friend who also works their and she said their boss had just sent her home, again, for being drunk at work.

I really hope my wife isn't messed up permenantly. She is already "disabled" because she is epileptic so they medically retired her from work this year. She loved her job building helicopter turbine engines but doesnt mind not getting up at 0400 anymore.

What a bummer day though.


I was supposed to put a lift on that black 2023 wrangler saturday but now we have to wait for it to be fixed. The tailgate is bent, the body under the tailgate and behind the bumper is bent inwards, the hitch may be bent down, the spare is all scratched up and gouged.

 

[superj]

Surprised not to see any comments on this part yet. That sounds like a huge liability for that company! Not sure if you're the litigious type but that company definitely screwed up by telling a drunk employee to drive home.

This is one i am really torn about. We wouldnt have known she was sent home if my son's friend didnt tell us and everyone where she works knows we are friends with her so they are going to assume she told us about her being sent home for being drunk and will probably fire her because of it.

BUT..... all this would have been avoided had they had someone take her home, or take a taxi, etc. I think the vet clinic should have some responsibilty in this because of that.

When i was a shop supervisor and had to deal with my few and far between guys who had this type of serious drinking issues, i had to make sure they made it home or the department of defense would gave been liable. Its my job as a manager to take care of my guys and make sure they dont get hurt or hurt someone so i had to not only send the offending guy home, i had to lose another guy for an hour while he took the other one home.

That is my dilema though. Person possibly gets fired and a bad reference because she told us in confidence what happened at work versus company taking the responsility for their seriously bad judgement in handling the drunk girl.

 

[Bear376]

A few years back, my wife was stopped at a light when a car rammed her in the back . It was two days before we had to drive to Baton Rouge for a conference. We had to rent a car for the trip and ordered a medium size sedan from Enterprise. When I showed up for the car, they gave me a Ford Escort and said I had to take that, because the insurance company never pays for anything more than minimum. Except the insurance company was not paying for it. And the only thing else they had were commercial vehicles, leaving me at the last minute with no other option. In hind sight, I should have driven my work truck. The culprits who caused the accident were out of state, we found out later that their insurance was invalid, and the next day they were arrested for drug sales. Being on the roads is a risk because the fact you cannot keep criminals, lunatics and addicts from driving.

 

[Bear376]

This is one i am really torn about. We wouldnt have known she was sent home if my son's friend didnt tell us and everyone where she works knows we are friends with her so they are going to assume she told us about her being sent home for being drunk and will probably fire her because of it.

BUT..... all this would have been avoided had they had someone take her home, or take a taxi, etc. I think the vet clinic should have some responsibilty in this because of that.

When i was a shop supervisor and had to deal with my few and far between guys who had this type of serious drinking issues, i had to make sure they made it home or the department of defense would gave been liable. Its my job as a manager to take care of my guys and make sure they dont get hurt or hurt someone so i had to not only send the offending guy home, i had to lose another guy for an hour while he took the other one home.

That is my dilema though. Person possibly gets fired and a bad reference because she told us in confidence what happened at work versus company taking the responsility for their seriously bad judgement in handling the drunk girl.

First, the police would have to be very incompetent to not have her arrested for DUI from what you said. Second, any competent attorney should have no difficulty with finding fault with the Vet clinic without getting anyone in trouble. In any case, anything told you by a third party, has nothing to do with the issue. The police report, and that she was wearing her work uniform at the accident are enough to start an investigation for damages.

 

[OxygenMask]

When i was a shop supervisor and had to deal with my few and far between guys who had this type of serious drinking issues, i had to make sure they made it home or the department of defense would gave been liable. Its my job as a manager to take care of my guys and make sure they dont get hurt or hurt someone so i had to not only send the offending guy home, i had to lose another guy for an hour while he took the other one home.

I've been there too.
One of the guys I had to take home, one of my best techs, eventually lost his job over showing up drunk. About a year later he died, alcohol related.
I went back and forth with myself over could I have done more to help prevent it. Today, looking back, no. I tried. It's on him. But it's still tragic and sad.

Sponsored