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The InsiderOne Daily Report |
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Tuesday, March 20, 2001
DUI Past Midnight InsiderOne's Michael Goldberg writes: In the very early hours of the morning, as I lay drifting off to sleep, I heard the screech of burning rubber, of a car being driven too fast by a driver not entirely in control. Perhaps because just a few hours earlier I had seen the Coen brothers film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", this sound took on heightened meaning. Who, at this hour, is careening along an empty street, making too much noise, endangering himself and the neighborhood? Behind my house is an empty lot, bordered on the far side by a normally quiet street that ends in a cul de sac with a couple of houses. That was the street where the car was being driven at an unsafe speed, and that was where the driver, apparently drunk, hit something. He damaged his car — this I know because I got up and looked out the window and watched as a car, with its blinkers on, seemed to stagger very slowly along the street, in the opposite direction from that in which it had been racing just minutes before. Soon it came to a stop. It just sat there, its lights flashing, then seeming to grow dimmer. On-off-on-off-on-off. I imagined someone too drunk to get out, or, really, to do anything. A person who had created quite an ugly scene, in which he was the central character. All was again quiet, and at first I was just going to go sleep. It was now the early morning following St. Patrick's Day, and clearly this joker had been drinking. Clearly he (somehow I just knew it was a guy) was drunk, and yet had gotten into his car and hit the road. Luckily, no one had been hurt. Or perhaps the driver was hurt. I guess I could have walked across the field and seen for myself, but I didn't. These days, who knows what you might come face to face with? A drunk guy with a gun? A car full of drunk guys with guns? People do stupid things when they're drunk — this guy, in his messed-up car, being a perfect example. I saw no need to physically step into his drama. I called the cops; five minutes or so later two police cars pulled up near the car with the blinking lights. Through my back window I watched as the officers first spoke to the driver, then helped him out of the car. They searched him, and then held onto him as he lurched to one of the police vehicles. They put him in the back seat. Another pair of police walked along the street, with flashlights, apparently looking to see what he'd run into. Eventually, each pair of officers got into their car and drove off. I fell asleep, and when I awoke and looked out the window, the car with the blinking lights was gone. From where I stood, there was no sign that anything had happened. The InsiderOne Daily Report appears weekdays at 9 AM PST, except when it doesn't. Michael Goldberg is the president of insiderone.net. He founded Addicted To Noise in 1994. |