Robert E. Cartwright Personal Injury Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Drunk driving is a problem in California as it is all over the country.  According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, drunk drivers killed nearly 12,000 people in 2008, and they injure and maim thousands more (www.madd.org).  So when a citizen tried to keep someone who had too much to drink from getting into their car, you know something peculiar is going to happen.

A recent Northern California newspaper article from The Press Democrat (www.pressdemocrat.com) told the story of a Petaluma, California man who spent a night drinking.  After imbibing to excess, he went outside where he was observed by a downtown employee stumbling down the sidewalk trying to get into his truck.  The observer approached the man and convinced him to wait for a taxi.  As the taxi arrived and the intoxicated man got into the cab, the employee flagged down a police officer and told him what he had seen.

After getting into the cab, the drunken man instructed the driver to circle the block towards his vehicle.  The taxi went around the block twice and dropped the man off at his truck.  Unbeknown to the inebriated gentleman, he was being observed by the officer.

The moment the drunken man put his key into the ignition of his truck, the policeman arrested him for driving under the influence.  Later, a test revealed that his blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit. 

And there’s more…

At the time of his arrest, he was on probation for DUI AND he had been convicted of DUI four previous times, yet he was still trying to drive while impaired yet again.

As a trial lawyer I see or hear about tragedy nearly everyday.  The real heartbreak is that many of the tragic stories could have been avoided if one person had exercised a little more care.  In the drunk driver story, tragedy was avoided when a concerned citizen did what he knew was right, which possibly prevented harm to the driver or to others.

If a drunk driver has harmed you, a family member or a friend, please give me a call and I will fight for you to receive the justice you rightly deserve.  Feel free to contact me at www.hurtbydrunkdriver.com. Whether it’s a negligent drunk driver or someone else who is at fault and has harmed you, make sure you call me and we’ll work together to get you the award to which you are entitled.

Robert E. Cartwright