An on-call police officer sets himself behind the wheel of his unmarked police car and drives off to oblivion. Hmm…it would be a sad story if not for the fact that he was drunk when he did so. It’s being said that his action that night was simply an error in judgment, a bad choice. Will he be held accountable for such? The media coverage this case has received points us to the answer to that question…no. Dead or alive, were I, the ordinary citizen, to make such an error, I most definitely would be held accountable. The circumstances surrounding my decision to drive drunk would be inconsequential. If I lost a child to a long and painful illness, my husband left me for another man, and my house was destroyed in a freak wind storm…the saddest country song ever written…it would have no bearing on my fate. I would still have to face harsh punishment…Alive, I’d have to pay thousands of dollars, face a jail sentence and lose my license, as well as wear that great big scarlet DD on my chest for the rest of my life. But who would care? I would simply be another drunk driver getting her dues. Dead, my existence would be reduced to “just another drunk driver, who thank God, only killed herself and no one else.” No one would be giving testimonials on television about what a wonderful mother and wife I was. No one would say how hard I always worked for the sake of my family and community. No one would say what a terrible tragedy (in the long list of tragedies that were my life) my death was. My fate would be a Godsend, another drunk driver off the road. But, I forgot, we’re not talking about me, the ordinary, honest, hard-working citizen, we’re talking about a police officer…a man sworn to uphold and enforce the law, a man who had a very clear understanding of the law, a man who saw more than a few deaths and mutilations as the result of drunk drivers. This was not an error in judgment, not a bad choice. This was not a mistake. When one dedicates oneself to law enforcement and public safety, there is no room for error. What this was was a blatant disregard for the law. So, again I ask, will he be held accountable for causing his own death? Will his fellow officers, his drinking buddies, particularly the one who dropped him off at his car and let him get behind the wheel drunk, be held accountable? Or will it be the truck driver, who by no choice of his own, was forced to share the road with a speeding drunk driver, who will be forced to take on this awesome burden of responsibility? Will the M.A.D.D. mothers and the students of S.A.D.D., D.A.R.E., and P.A.N.D.A.² be forced to dismiss the fact that this police officer was driving drunk because he was a police officer, or will they demand that because this drunk driver was a police officer, that he, even in his death and the other officer who allowed this behavior be held accountable and reprimanded thereby setting a precedent for all those who follow who believe they’re above the law?
Officer's blood-alcohol level twice legal limit at time of crash
An on-call police officer sets himself behind the wheel of his unmarked police car and drives off to oblivion. Hmm…it would be a sad story if not for the fact that he was drunk when he did so. It’s being said that his action that night was simply an error in judgment, a bad choice. Will he be held accountable for such? The media coverage this case has received points us to the answer to that question…no. Dead or alive, were I, the ordinary citizen, to make such an error, I most definitely would be held accountable. The circumstances surrounding my decision to drive drunk would be inconsequential. If I lost a child to a long and painful illness, my husband left me for another man, and my house was destroyed in a freak wind storm…the saddest country song ever written…it would have no bearing on my fate. I would still have to face harsh punishment…Alive, I’d have to pay thousands of dollars, face a jail sentence and lose my license, as well as wear that great big scarlet DD on my chest for the rest of my life. But who would care? I would simply be another drunk driver getting her dues. Dead, my existence would be reduced to “just another drunk driver, who thank God, only killed herself and no one else.” No one would be giving testimonials on television about what a wonderful mother and wife I was. No one would say how hard I always worked for the sake of my family and community. No one would say what a terrible tragedy (in the long list of tragedies that were my life) my death was. My fate would be a Godsend, another drunk driver off the road. But, I forgot, we’re not talking about me, the ordinary, honest, hard-working citizen, we’re talking about a police officer…a man sworn to uphold and enforce the law, a man who had a very clear understanding of the law, a man who saw more than a few deaths and mutilations as the result of drunk drivers. This was not an error in judgment, not a bad choice. This was not a mistake. When one dedicates oneself to law enforcement and public safety, there is no room for error. What this was was a blatant disregard for the law. So, again I ask, will he be held accountable for causing his own death? Will his fellow officers, his drinking buddies, particularly the one who dropped him off at his car and let him get behind the wheel drunk, be held accountable? Or will it be the truck driver, who by no choice of his own, was forced to share the road with a speeding drunk driver, who will be forced to take on this awesome burden of responsibility? Will the M.A.D.D. mothers and the students of S.A.D.D., D.A.R.E., and P.A.N.D.A.² be forced to dismiss the fact that this police officer was driving drunk because he was a police officer, or will they demand that because this drunk driver was a police officer, that he, even in his death and the other officer who allowed this behavior be held accountable and reprimanded thereby setting a precedent for all those who follow who believe they’re above the law?
July 2, 2008 at 12:25 p.m. permalink suggest removal