Driver in fatal crash charged with DUI

Dear Vanessalynn,

I am heartily sorry for your friend Erica,and for you and for Sonny. Her parents and anyone who’s lives are effected by this horrific event.

I think the comments that make it harder for you on this post are because of the frustration and fear of these people who have children. Parents that know that their children hold “their” lives also, in their hands.

I have come to admire and respect a woman who has posted here ,who if she lost one of her daughters she would be the walking dead and would rather be dead herself in exchange for her daughters life. I’m sure Erica’s Mother and Father feel the same way.  We kid’s don’t understand how much of an obligation or how much power we have in our parents lives. If we die…we kill them too, and their death is much slower and painful. We owe them much more than that.

If we all knew what Sonny knows clearly and definitively right now …right now ! We would all understand that he’s no longer a threat to do something like this. He will go to jail to send a message to someone else , but the problem is that the message that this “club” he drank at sends,  or a kids peers and friends sends..  is much louder and more enticing than what your parents warn you about ,or the sentencing of this good kid.

We are a society that doesn’t have an answer for this yet. If there will ever be one it would clearly begin with us. We see the answer ….it begins with us…it depends on what message we want to listen to.

Right on all levels. The BAC that causes that kind of impairment after “2 beer” could be possible; if he weighed 100 lbs. and the beer were 12 oz. drank in a very short time.  Most establishments smallest beer is a pint.  He made a very poor choice (sorry, this is too serious to call a mistake) and this young lady is dead because of it.  He should have sorrow in his eyes.
I feel for the families of all the people involved in this.  I hope they find out who served them.

He got into the club with his legal ID. He is 19, not 17. Not all clubs are 21+ for guys, and not the club he went to. When I was underage I stupidly drank in the clubs too. The difference was I wasn’t the one driving home. And I usually was the designated driver for my friends and didn’t drink a sip. It is just too easy for kids to drink in the club. Everyone needs to realize that this happens daily. I was the most responsible and aware of all of my friends yet I still drank at the clubs. Kids need to be taught properly why it is wrong, and not just lectured until their ears ring. Even the smartest kids don’t see it as that big of a deal when it really is. American kids live most of their lives untouched nowadays, and therefore think they are totally indestructable. And once they learn the lesson it is already too late.

I do believe that he only had two beers, and they don’t serve 40 ounce beers in the clubs. It is what he told me right after the crash, and he actually seemed sober. He is a boy of small stature, so I can imagine that two beers hit him a little harder than it would hit you or me. This boy was not about to lie about a single thing. He understood what he did and felt absolutely horrible. I could see the overwhelming sorrow in his eyes.

hitech401 I think about it everyday since 091301….yes I have gone through it.  I also know that most who say “I only had 2 beers”  usually can be accurately put more like 2- 40 ounce beers.  The fact is this young man made the decision to get in his car and drive after knowingly consuming alcohol.  Believe me he had more than 2 beers.  Two beers would not have his BAC at .11 on the scene of the crash.  Remember this the Preliminary Breath Test (PBT which he took on scene at the request of the RISP) and Alcohol Breath Test (At Police Stations in RI) are on average 10% less than the true test of blood.  That would put him at greater than 6 times the legal limit.  This isnt the case of being border line.  I know it is easy to “Monday Morning Quarterback” but you dont hear of many men/women who have killed someone that have taken responsibility for their actions.  When you can PLEAD GUILTY and save the family the trial…..let me guess he wasnt intoxicated it was the infamous “black dog” crossing the roadway…..