OWI From the First Person

This is a true story about the events leading up to, the aftermath of, and how I got my OWI.

My senior year was coming to an end, so obviously there was a lot of partying going on, and I was scheduled to leave for Army Basic Training in two weeks. I was proud of myself-- I had a great score on my ASVAB and was going into an Intel field. My actual job was called Electronic Warfare Signals Intelligence, sounds pretty legit, right? On the last official day of school we decide to go to the quarry, where we spent most hot days, after school for drinking and swimming. I picked up a friend of mine then we each got a thirty pack. We then headed out to the quarry. I started drinking at 3:30 (school got out at 3:15). We got to the quarry. There was already five or six of my friends there; they were all swimming and drinking. I drank a couple beers, and went for a swim. Then a drank a few more beers, but just drinking for drinking always kind of bored me. I wanted a challenge or a game. I was a pretty quick swimmer, and I challenged anyone to beat my time across the quarry which was a minute seven. The deal was if I was beat I would chug three beers in rapid succession. A friend of mine, Justin felt up to the challenge and went for it. He was a pretty fit guy, but I didn't think he stood a chance. He started at the diving board, which was actually just a six or seven foot cliff, and dove in. About three-quarters across he was at around forty seconds, but the last quarter is the worst because that's when you start to get tired. At this point I still didn't think he'd win, but I knew it'd be close. He finished with a minute five. I was probably only six or so beers in. So then I chugged my three more, and by this time I was starting to feel a decent buzz coming on.

We hung out there and drank more. By about 5:30 we left to get more beer for the senior party. So I bought another thirty (I was giving some out at the quarry). Then we headed out to a friend-of-mine's house to wait for him to get off work. My friend, Austin, said he'd be about a half an hour, so me and my two friends decided we'd drink with his dad for a bit. During the forty or so minutes it took him to get there we had all drank quite a few more beers. I was starting to get drunk. Actually Austin's dad mentioned how he was friends with my uncle in high school. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to call him and tell him I was drinking with an old friend of his. I just looked stupid, but it happens a lot more with a lot more severity through out the story. Eventually my friend showed up and then it starts to get a little hazy. The next part is a mixture of drunken memory and what I've been told.

We headed to the senior party, which was just down the road from Austin's house. Austin drove the four of us, himself included in the truck. I road in the bed, which in my state was accommodating enough. By the time I got to the party I was pretty drunk. I remember seeing a guy from my school, a completely straight-edge dude, who I had been trying to drink, or at least go to a party, for months now. I apparently just kept telling him how crazy it was to see him there. After that I remember nothing. I was told I puked a bunch. Also, I made a friend's girlfriend cry. I guess I was being a dick...

The next day, I woke up in the passenger seat of Austin's truck parked in his garage. I was in the fetal position under the dashboard infront of the seat. I looked at my phone and there was a picture sent to me from Austin, which apparently was sent to everyone else, of how I fell asleep. I laughed and texted I woke up in a worse position. Luckily it was early because we had to rehearse the graduation ceremony that morning. It was probably around 7:30 and the rehearsal didn't start until 10. I drove home, took a shower, and got cleaned up. I was sitting on my couch when a friend of mine, Milks, walked in the front door. He looked at me, just started laughing, and said "Dude, you were fucked up last night." We laughed for a bit. Then he told me about the night.

Then both drove to the school for the rehearsal. Everyone I saw just looked at me and smiled, patted me on the back, or asked how I was feeling. I was kind of embarassed, but for the most part I just thought it was funny and shrugged it off. We went through the rehearsal smoothly enough, and then me and Milks decided we'd go get some lunch, so we went to the closest real city (twenty miles away). After that I just kind of hung out and recovered. Throughout the day we somehow decided we were going camping that night.

Me, Milks, Austin and his girlfriend, and another friend of mine, Adam all headed out to the nearest camping grounds. We set up our tents and started drinking. Milks challenges me to beer for beer, which is just saying we have to keep up with each other and whoever drinks the least loses. We were there for probably two hours, before the park ranger comes out and asks us if we filled out all the information and paid. We answered honestly that we had paid, but didn't fill out the information. We were all drinking in front of him, and he seemed pretty cool. He just said that he'd grab the slip so we could fill it out. We were fine with that and he was on his way in fifteen minutes. Around an hour and a half later, we started to get hungry. Me and Milks were around twelve or thirteen in. We decided we would go to the store and get some food. We both got in the car, and he realized it was a bad idea. He bailed. I didn't think it mattered; I had driven a bunch of times drunk and had yet to get in an accident. Anyway, we were only going to the convenient store in the closest town, maybe fifteen minutes.

I drove to the nearest town, which I was relatively unfamiliar with, and stopped next to someone and asked where I could get something to eat. He said there was a McDonald's in the next town up-- maybe ten minutes. I felt up for it, so I headed there. I stopped at McDonald's and started eating, drinking some road beers, and driving back to town. Twenty minutes later, I realized I didn't know where I was going and I was lost. This is due partially to the drunkeness, but more so to the fact that I wasn't familiar with the area. I just kept driving because I figured eventually I'd find somewhere I knew. Twenty minutes of driving aimlessly, I started calling people for directions. Keep in mind I was still drinking for some reason. Then I kind of draw a black until...

Adrenaline ran through me, it took me a second to realize what had happened. I don't know if I had quite comprehended what happened until a bit later. Bleeding like crazy, I scooted to my passenger side because me driver's side door was messed up good. It's all kind of a blur. I talked to the people I hit, but I don't remember any exact words. Then the ambulance came. They pulled me out of my seat ant put me in a gurney. They wheeled me over to the ambulance and put me in. More blur.

I was at the hospital. The doctors were cutting off my shirt and pants. I was wearing my senior shirt, too (which I designed). My mom was there. She looked worried and pissed at the same time... Only natural to feel that way. The doctors then began to fix me up. They were bandaging my left arm and leg. Then it came time for the big wound. I had a huge gash in my upper left arm. He didn't give me any anesthetics or anything. He just started stapling my arm. I felt the same way about staples as I did about stitching, the first time I got them. Wow, this is exactly what it sounds like... Seems kind of brutish. It hurt a bit, but fortunately alcohol kind of numbs pain. After I finished getting fixed up, I had to talk to a sheriff. I don't really remember much of the conversation, but I wasn't comforting. He essentially told me I was stupid and I'm getting an OWI. When they were all finished, the nurses wheeled me up to my room.

By this time it was 5:30 in the morning. I had been in the hospital for around four hours... Time flies when you're having fun... I was very tired and just wanted some sleep, but I couldn't get there. A lot had just happened. I turned on the tv, but didn't really watch. My mom was there with me, and we talked for a bit. She seemed so disappointed. I felt so bad. Two hours later she left to go to work. I could finally get to sleep now that she had left and my guilt and shame had subsided a bit. I woke up and looked at the clock. 9 o'clock, only two hours of sleep. I eventually fell back asleep.

At around 10:30 my mom comes back in and wakes me up. I look at my phone and see that I have quite a few missed calls and texts. Gotta love how fast word spreads in small town. I shit you not, by 1:00 nearly EVERYONE in the town knew. I was really embarassed. Anyway I read through my texts, most of them asking what happened or how I was doing. She asks if I had talked to my Army recruiter yet. I told her I was going to get to it in due time. The nurses came in a bit later and asked how I was doing. They started to test out my left leg which was sprained. I couldn't walk at all. They came back with a couple pairs of crutches, that I had to give back before I left the hospital. I tested them out and did fine. It was just practice for when I got a pair.

Eventually they let me leave. The nurse put me in wheel chair and took me to my grandpa's truck which my mom had parked outside. I hobbled in and we were on our way home. THANK GOD. We drove home and my mom, starting to lose some worry, lectured me the whole way. I got there and just relaxed. I had visitors through out the day. One of my friends brought me a pair of crutches, actually the friend who I had made's girlfriend cry two nights before. No hard feelings. My last visitor stayed until maybe 11:00 at night, but she ditched me for a party. I was pretty tired anyway. It had been a long day. I got up to get a glass of water and realized I didn't need the crutches anymore. It was pretty crazy to go from not walking at all to limping in one day.

That all happened Thursday night through Friday. It was now Saturday and there were graduation parties I was supposed to go to, but not feeling up to it I stayed home. I didn't really feel up to it because my leg still hurt and I was too embarrassed to show my face to everyone. I had periodic visitors today too. I was telling them that I wasn't sure if I would go to the graduation ceremony the following day because of shame. To make matters worse Adam, who is somewhat of a pathological liar, was telling people complete bullshit that made me look like more of an ass. He was telling people that I pushed Milks in the fire and I tried to take a swing at him. He said that he told me to leave and that's why I was driving. He often lies to make himself more important. If you get past that he's a pretty cool guy. They all told me I had to go to because it would mess up the order of the ceremony and everything, but I wasn't convinced. It took a lot of self-convincing to make myself go, but I decided to.

The next day I went to the ceremony and we were all in the library waiting for it to start. Everyone was coming up to me and asking about it. I hated it. I had to tell a lot of people a story that I felt like a complete idiot about. I had to go out in front of a bunch of people that knew what happened and limp to my chair. It was one of the most embarrassing days of my life because I knew what they were all thinking about me. The ceremony eventually ended, and I was feeling a little better about the whole situation. People weren't asking me about it as much.

Within a week, the girl-who-I-had-hit's father called about some insurance information, and I got it for him. I told him I was sorry, I was and am a complete idiot, and that it was a mistake that I regret and will never make again. I told him I would like his daughter to call me so I can appologize. He said he'd tell her. A half an hour later I got a call from her. I told her how bad I felt that I could have hurt her or her friend, they came out uninjured. She said she wasn't angry and that she knew it was just a mistake. I was so happy she was that understanding about it. We eventually ended the phone call. I felt great that I got the opportunity to apologize.

I eventually got in contact with my recruiter and told him what happened. He was happy I was alright, but he said there was no way I could go into a Military Intelligence field with an OWI. I had such a good opportunity. Free college, great training, good pay, the opportunities I messed up were limitless. All because I wanted to get some McDonald's. I am still paying for those mistakes.

In the end I was stuck with tickets and fines, shame and embaressment, lost opportunities and missed options. It was not worth it and it never is. I consider myself a person with moral integrity, and I never like to wrong people. I didn't fully realize what I could have caused when I got in the car that night. Honestly, I hate to think about what might have happened to those girls. I now have a complete understanding of what could happen. I realize that it doesn't matter what is likely to happen when the risk is a life. I have not drank and driven since that night, and I will never again.