An update:

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:20 pm

I can hardly believe it, and I'm saddened, but those of you who remember

my story about my "citizen's arrest"... well, turns out the guy was NOT

arrested. I spoke with an officer this morning, and all he would tell me

(privacy concerns and I do respect that) was that the man had mental

problems and wasn't drunk, was on prescription meds and they spoke

with his doctor.

A little while ago I stopped at the PD to try and talk to this officer

again, but he was unavailable. I did leave another msg for him, I don't

mean to be a thorn in his side but I can't wrap my brain around this.

That guy shouldn't have been driving, period.

Now when you wonder why people don't get involved, well here's

a little taste of it.

:-1

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:25 pm

Then the children shoudln't be in the car with him! You did the right thing, Val!

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:28 pm

What happened to child endangerment laws??? If the guy is looney-tunes, he should not be driving period, let alone with children. WTF is wrong with our system that this guy walks away scott-free??? Geeze, this really p!sses me off...

Edited to add: Is there any way you yourself can go about pressing charges of some sort, Val?

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:30 pm

How sad, surely the guy should'nt be driving!

Shame on the police, shame for his children but kudos to you Val you did the right thing,

keep at him.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:38 pm

Did you write his license plate number down?

Report it to Child Welfare.

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:39 pm

BR, that's one of the things I'm going to talk to the officer about.

I don't understand, I just don't understand at all. You never hear about

something like this in the media... that someone gets off because it was

ONLY prescription meds. What if he had killed somebody? They let him off

THEN?

I did think of one thing, asking the officer if he listened to the recording

of my call. I held my phone up at a couple of points, so maybe the guy

yelling obscenities at me got recorded.

Either that, or calling a reporter. I'm tempted, because I'm sick to my

stomach, really. Everybody is lucky that guy didn't drive right through

the front door of the doughnut shop.

:-1

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:43 pm

valerie wrote: BR, that's one of the things I'm going to talk to the officer about.

I don't understand, I just don't understand at all. You never hear about

something like this in the media... that someone gets off because it was

ONLY prescription meds. What if he had killed somebody? They let him off

THEN?

I did think of one thing, asking the officer if he listened to the recording

of my call. I held my phone up at a couple of points, so maybe the guy

yelling obscenities at me got recorded.

Either that, or calling a reporter. I'm tempted, because I'm sick to my

stomach, really. Everybody is lucky that guy didn't drive right through

the front door of the doughnut shop.

:-1
Oh Val, that is brilliant, getting the media involved. Cops don't like to appear as though they're not doing their job. It makes them look lazy. I would absolutely get the media involved. Blow this thing wide open, the fact that the cops didn't seem to care that there were children in danger. Do it girl!!!!

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:49 pm

And mention you have left messages at the police department for a response on this case, that you weren't satisfied with their answer!

cars · Post by **cars** » Sun May 21, 2006 7:05 am

OK val, just something to consider, that if you do get this thing into the media & show that the police dept is not handling this case to what you think is proper, then you have to be prepared for a possible repriasal from cops through out your town! Like them giving you a speeding ticket for doing "31" in a 30mph zone, parking too far away from the curb, too close to a fire hydrant, banging on your front door at 2am saying they got a complaint, oops then they got the wrong address, etc. Something like this happend to a friend of mine. He took out an ad in his local newspaper stating his case against his local police dept. And soon thereafter he felt their presance everywhere, & anywhere, they were just doing their job. :wah: My friend eventually moved to another "state"!

Why is there usually never a cop around when you really need one?

robinseggs · Post by **robinseggs** » Sun May 21, 2006 7:10 am

Can someone link me the original post on this by Valerie? I want to read what happened!! Thanks

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sun May 21, 2006 7:19 am

SnoozeControl wrote: I'm not making excuses for the driver, but he could be on prescription meds for any number of things... possibly he just started using Xanax and his reflexes were way, way off. There's more to this than any of us know, and possibly the police really are satisfied with this conclusion. Let's hope so, for the kids' sake.

Whats with the logic ? Huh ? Whats up with that ?

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Sun May 21, 2006 7:24 am

robinseggs wrote: Can someone link me the original post on this by Valerie? I want to read what happened!! ThanksHere you go... #1

cars · Post by **cars** » Sun May 21, 2006 7:31 am

SnoozeControl wrote: You better stop making fun of me or I'm going to poke you in the eye with Bush's finger. You wouldn't like that.

Especially since you can only guess where that finger has been!

:p :wah:

robinseggs · Post by **robinseggs** » Sun May 21, 2006 7:32 am

Thanks Abbey! Wow Valerie that sounded awful. You did the right thing--you are very brave. Think I would have been too afraid to approach the situation. The poor kids though. Could he have been a diabetic? Diabetics that take insulin can sometimes go low and become irrational/crazy. If they are not stopped (as you did with him), and treated for the low they will go into seizures and die. There are many instances where diabetics are pulled over and arrested because of mistaken drunkeness. No matter what, you deserve an apology and that guy should be thanking YOU for saving his life and the childs!

robinseggs · Post by **robinseggs** » Sun May 21, 2006 7:35 am

...and by the way, I knew an ex-friend of the family who would not stop drinking and was destructive lost his entire family as they wanted nothing to do with him, especially his police officer son! In the end, he was so drunk one afternoon when he left a bar, he drove right through the barber shop he was parked in front and KILLED a man! You did the right thing Val!!!!

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Sun May 21, 2006 9:18 am

SnoozeControl wrote: I'm not making excuses for the driver, but he could be on prescription meds for any number of things... possibly he just started using Xanax and his reflexes were way, way off. There's more to this than any of us know, and possibly the police really are satisfied with this conclusion. Let's hope so, for the kids' sake.

I think you may have nailed it. I spoke with the officer again, and he did

make me feel a lot better about the situation. He said in his career, he's

made over 200 DUI arrests, they are his favorite bust. He didn't make

the decision alone, he and the other officers called their Sargeant to come

to the scene, and they all were okay with the outcome. I have decided

this is just one of those things I'll let go. Sometimes you have to for your

own piece of mind.

The officers must have been very satisfied, because after all, if this guy

does something again, their butts are the ones that will be getting the

heat for letting him go.

The officer said he did understand my frustration, and he didn't want me

to be so frustrated that I didn't call in the future. He sounded like he

was really dying to tell me what the guy's problem was, but he just

couldn't.

:-6

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sun May 21, 2006 9:56 am

Keep an eye on the donut shop, just in case............................

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Sun May 21, 2006 10:20 am

I thought anyones license could be pulled for medical reasons ie:Alzheimer's, Siezures, Vision you name it. If as doctor thinks your unfit to drive it gets pulled here in California. If they talked to the prescribing physician and he/she deemed him fit to drive you will be hard pressed to prove otherwise. The only other avenue is the endangering a Child law, Brittney Spears comes to mind with that recently. :-5

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sun May 21, 2006 10:26 am

That's true Carla. My step-father in L.A. had the doctor pull his license, because he had a small stroke. Medically, he was considered not able to safely drive. It was a good decision.

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Sun May 21, 2006 10:31 am

CARLA wrote: I thought anyones license could be pulled for medical reasons ie:Alzheimer's, Siezures, Vision you name it. If as doctor thinks your unfit to drive it gets pulled here in California. If they talked to the prescribing physician and he/she deemed him fit to drive you will be hard pressed to prove otherwise. The only other avenue is the endangering a Child law, Brittney Spears comes to mind with that recently. :-5

I don't think the doctor said he was fit to drive, my impression (without

really being TOLD anything) was that the doctor would change his meds.

The wife had come to the scene, too, so maybe she drove him home and

picked up the other vehicle later.

The other thing I thought about were those stickers on meds saying

don't drive or operate heavy machinery. I'm sure of one thing, his

insurance company is going to deal with him. The car he hit had quite

a lot of expensive damage, and his own did from hitting the post

prior to that.