DRIVING
DRUNK
Accident survivor opens up about alcohol-induced car crash
“N
o one ever thinks anything will happen to them,” junior Will Hunter said. “You hear about people dying but I never thought about it. I thought I was fine.” But the morning of Dec. 7, when Will awoke in a hospital bed, his perspective changed completely. “What the hell is going on?” Wired to IVs and covered in bruises, he glanced over at the bloodsoaked clothes he had been wearing that night to a friend’s house, a small get-together that grew as the alcohol flooded his blood and clouded his thinking. The last thing Will remembers was being at a party surrounded by friends. He doesn’t remember the decision to get in the car or the instinctive instant he fastened his seatbelt. He doesn’t remember anyone attempting to take his keys or running two red lights at 12:30 in the morning, catching air in an intersection and smashing into a cement wall. Or the flames that filled his car and threatened his life. He will never recall the dozens of police cars surrounding his wreck, the smoke, the chaos, the miracle. “I was going very, very fast, they clocked me in at 87 down Exposition, which is a 30 mph zone,” Will said. “I ran the first red light and caught air. On the second light, a family saw me driving. They had a green, and after I passed they called the police.” This family’s decision to call 911 saved Will’s life, as the cops chased his car. “Soon after, I drove into the wall, flipped, skidded, and then my engine exploded,” Will said. “The police were not far behind me — they got there within a minute or two. My car caught on fire. Had it been any longer it would have been bad.” The officer pulled Will from the flames unconscious as his right hand began to catch on fire, leaving him with only a burn on his thumb. Although 75 percent of drunk drivers forget to fasten their seat belt, Will did, allowing him to walk away from the accident with minor injuries. Will’s mother, Mary Ellen Hunter, was at home waiting up for Will.
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She had texted him earlier in the night to get home, as he was late for curfew. “I heard the sirens from my house and had a gut instinct that something was very wrong,” Mary Ellen Hunter said. “Then one of Will’s friends approached my door because they had seen [the wrecked car] and I was very calm. Incredibly calm. I just asked if he was OK, and this boy said he didn’t know. I got in my car and drove to the hospital. It was the worst car ride of my life.” When Will awoke at Brackenridge Hospital still intoxicated, he was confused and confronted with consequences. “I sat back against the wall for a good half hour trying to figure out what was going on, then I really freaked out,” Will said. “And my first question was: did I kill anyone? Because killing yourself is one thing, but killing an innocent person is another. It’s 110 percent the drunk driver’s fault. My mom was crying; she had her head in her hands. At this point I was still very intoxicated.” According to National Traffic Safety Administration, around 28 people die in a drunk driving accident every day, and someone is injured almost every 90 seconds. “Every time I hear of [a fatal] drunk driving accident, my heart sinks, because that should have, and probably would have been me,” Will said. “I don’t know how I got out of the wreck with not only so little injuries, but not having hurt anyone. I think it’s almost better that I don’t remember anything, because I think remembering something like that is so traumatizing. To actually remember it would be too much. I’m certainly never drinking and driving again. This has been a life-changing experience for me.” Prior to his accident, Will, like many inclined to drive home after a few drinks, put little thought into the consequences of driving under the influence. “Honestly, I drank and drove a lot,” Will said. “As scary as it is that I almost died, I hope that people can learn from this. It’s a very prominent and serious issue. I hope that my friends would change their opinions on drinking and driving.”