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| Karen Wittman |
Anyone who knows me would say I am not a perfectionist, not
a person who insists on exactness. But I do have one thing that I must insist
on - stop calling impaired driving crashes “accidents.”
Hello, my name is Karen Wittman. I currently am Deputy
District Attorney in the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s office, and I
specialize in traffic prosecution. Prior
to coming to Wyandotte County, I was the Kansas Traffic Safety Resource
Prosecutor for the state.
Read about any crash online or in print media and the
headlines state:
“Son dies in second drunk driving accident”
“Drunk driver kills couple in accident”
“One paralyzed in accident with
drunk driver”
“Driver impaired in accident killing
baby”
This is wrong! It is
inaccurate! If you look up in Webster’s dictionary “accident,” it is defined as,
“an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally;” or
better yet, “an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or
deliberate cause.”
An impaired driving crash is foreseeable, expected,
intentional and NOT by chance.
I have made it a point to go out on all fatal crashes in
which someone could possibly be charged with a crime. I work closely with law
enforcement to determine if a crash involves criminal behavior. I remember one
night specifically. On that night, I
received a call from my husband. He was
bringing our kids home from soccer practice.
He was wondering if I knew why the traffic was so backed up. I told him I did not know. As soon as I hung up, I received a call from
dispatch. There was a crash and they were requesting me to come out. I called my husband back and told him he may
be there awhile.
When I got there, it was obvious how the crash occurred. A
vehicle had travelled the wrong way and hit a car head on. There was debris all
over the roadway. I asked about the person who was driving the correct way. I
was told he was still alive but that he probably would not make it. I asked
about the other driver and was told she was not hurt but was being transported
to the hospital to get checked out. The cops on the scene indicated they could
smell alcohol coming from her and that there was an open container of alcohol
in the vehicle. The driver who was driving the right way died three days later.
After further investigation and a blood test, the wrong way
driver’s blood alcohol level was 0.24! The legal limit is 0.08. I
charged the driver with involuntary manslaughter while Driving Under the
Influence, a felony.
While working the case, I met the victim’s wife and 4-year-old
son. They were devastated by what happened. I found out the victim was coming
home from college where he attended night classes to make a better life for his
family. His wife was about four months pregnant with their second child. The
victim’s mother and father were in constant contact with me - they lived out of
state. They wanted answers! I did not
have any. Why did this person do this? How did she get so disoriented to be
going the wrong way on that stretch of highway? The only answer I could tell
them is she was impaired.
In the end, the wrong way driver went to prison. She
pleaded not to go. She wanted to be with her daughter who was young at the
time. She begged the judge to allow her to be with her family. I told the judge
my victim had no chance to beg for more time with his family. My victim wished
he could have one more day, one more minute, one more moment with his family
and that was all taken away from her selfish act.
Months passed and I received a card in the mail. It was a
birth announcement-- a baby girl was born. A girl who would never know a father
that wanted her life to be better than his. A father that would not walk her
down the aisle, or give her advice or bring her home from soccer practice. Then
it hit me … my family was on that road that night.
This crash and all other impaired driving cases are preventable!
These crashes are foreseeable, they are not by chance … these crashes are NOT
accidents.
