The alleged drunk driver who allegedly drove through my apple tree (Or how I spent my Sunday evening)

 

Last evening, May 15 2016, my family and I arrived home to discover that a bale of hay that had been delivered, was dropped off in the wrong place. So my son and I decided to move it to where it belonged. My wife snapped a few pics, as we decided the ordeal would make good blog material.

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My son standing near a bale of hay that we are getting ready to roll into the pasture. The black object is a truck bed liner that we used to haul the roll from the driveway, to the other side of the property. The matted area in the grass, is where the roll had been after it rolled out of the bed liner. Will and I pushed it to where it is in this pic.

 

A few minutes after the task was done, we were outside in the backyard with the goats, and that is when the allegations, suppositions, car parts, and hunks of trees started flying about.

We were chatting as families are known to do. The subject escapes me. We were just finishing up a day that had been like many others.

Out front, toward our driveway came the sound of screaming rubber, followed by a horrifying crashing sound. Allegedly, a driver moving at a high rate of speed, allegedly lost control, of what was one time a car, or so I assumed. Since I did not see what happened, I can only suppose that my ancient apple tree tried to slow her down, and failed.

To the best of my knowledge, my neighbor’s trees also stood in to help, and from all appearances, they were allegedly successful, because what appeared to be a motor vehicle was lying on its side facing the opposite direction from where it had come, allegedly.

At that point, somebody I can best describe as a white male who looked, sounded, and dressed exactly like I do allegedly ran to the suspect vehicle where he allegedly discovered the apparent driver to be in a semiconscious state.

It is reported that he asked the suspected driver if there was anybody else in the vehicle, and allegedly he was told that there was nobody else in the car. Next, he tried to determine the injuries of the driver, because allegedly the vehicle was on fire.

The alleged good Samaritan then apparently assisted the suspected driver from the alleged vehicle, however the suspect driver then allegedly went BACK INTO the burning vehicle in a suspected attempt to retrieve her purse, where the Samaritan and his alleged neighbor, had to retrieve her once again.

At that point the Samaritan alleges that he smelled a heavy odor of what may have been alcohol on the suspected driver, and he further alleges that the woman allegedly became combative.

Moments later came the suspected sounds of approaching sirens, at which point the suspected driver of the alleged crashed vehicle is reported to have made the following statement.  “I am SO “F@*KED, do you have a breath mint?  Oh my God, I need to get back to my vehicle!”

Shortly after, the good Samaritan wasn’t feeling so Samaritanly, or good, because I heard him say, “LISTEN LADY! I have already risked my life TWICE pulling you out of a burning car, I am NOT going to do it again, now SIT DOWN, and SHUT UP, and wait for the emergency responders, or I will SIT ON YOU to keep you down.

When the police arrived, the angry Samaritan told the officer, “I’ve kept her away from her car long enough!  You deal with her now, cause I am DONE!”

EMT’s were on scene seconds later, as well as some Penobscot County deputies.  From that point it appears that the woman was not injured, and appeared she was  arrested under suspicion of drunk driving.

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In this picture, the truck bed liner is roughly below where the round bale of hay had been. The shattered apple tree is on the ground, where the matted grass was in the top photo, and that deep gouge in the ground on the right is just a foot or so above where my son was standing. Just before the top picture was taken, BOTH of us were standing where that gouge in now…

What is NOT alleged, is that before this very real accident occurred, my son and I had been standing in the very location of the accident, and most assuredly would have been killed or seriously injured when the driver lost control over her vehicle.

 

I can’t say for certain that this woman was drinking , but I don’t think she scored very well on her field sobriety test. In fact, each time she took it, she seemed to do just as poorly as the previous times. I am happy that she was able to walk away from what was an HORRIFIC crash! That she also seemed to have no injuries I find to be astonishing.

How the fire did not spread amazes me, but I am thankful to learn that I possess the courage to assist somebody in a situation that could have been very dangerous to myself

Mostly, I am happy that she does not have to live with the knowledge that all she killed were a few trees, and sadly a laying hen that happened to be taking a dust bath under the apple tree.

I thank God that my family had not been delayed along the way home. I find myself wondering what would have happened if I had stopped at the Levant Corner Store for a whoopee pie. Would my son and I have been standing in the path of that vehicle?

I wont use her name in this blog. Some of you reading this may know who I am talking about, and she may even be reading this…But in reality, this is for ANYBODY who gets behind the wheel while intoxicated. If you don’t care enough about your own life, or the lives of your friends and loved ones, PLEASE bear in mind that sometimes the lives you impact are the lives of strangers who are simply living their own lives, and in my situation, in my own yard. I am glad I have the hassle of getting an arborist out here, and finding a replacement chicken, because it is much better than selecting a casket for my ten year old son!

If you, or somebody you know and love, drinks and drives… I beg of you to seek out help! The life you save just might be my son’s!

In Maine getting help for many things is as simple as dialing 2-1-1 on your phone.

I also want to add how proud I am of my son!  He called 9-1-1 and gave the dispatcher calm, accurate information!  GREAT JOB BUDDY!

 

 

Doug Alley

About Doug Alley

I grew up in Bath, Maine in an upper lower class family with 3 step sisters, a step brother, and a little sister. After high school I spent 3 years serving in the USAF at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage AK. I've competed in, and won, demolition derbies. I've competed in, and never won, stock car races. I am the 47-year-old father of an 11-year-old boy who is pretty sure he is smarter than I ever was. We live on a little less than an acre of land in a 1973 mobile home in Stetson with my wife Jen, some cats, a few chickens, and rabbits, and a couple of goats. I hunt, fish, camp out, dabble in photography, gardening, and I cook in variable degrees of near success.