Safer Streets

Today on our way home from church we were following this silver mini-van that was driving a little strange.  He pretty much stopped in the middle of the road before making a right hand turn.....the turn he took was actually down the same street that we live on, so we turned right after him.....all the sudden we see something fly out of the passengers side of his van.  I looked at the street to see what it was he threw out and it was a beer can, a natural light long can.  Ova said "that guy is drunk" and I was just looking to see if he really was alone or if anyone else was in the van with him.  He immediately pulled off to the side of the road and as we were driving past him he started screaming and pointing at us.....like trying to call us out or something.

Of course Ova reverses, rolls down the window and says "what's your problem"......the guy is alone in the van and it was almost funny to see how his composure changed once he saw that Ova was a BIG brown man....he started saying "I don't have a problem, what's up"......his speech was completely slurred and he said that same phrase a few times.  Ova said "dude, you were pointing at me"....and he denied it of course.  Then Ova asked "are you drunk" and he laughed a little and said no.....we told him we saw him throw his beer can out the window....he just sat there for a minute dumbfounded trying to think.....Ova reversed our van far enough for me to get the guy's license plate.  As soon as the guy saw that Ova was on the phone, he flipped a U turn super fast and tried to get away......Ova called 911.  We, of course, flipped our van around as well and started following the guy.  He was trying to get away from us, but it was a pretty busy street we were on so he didn't really have a chance to.  Ova told the 911 operater exactly what happened and that the guy is driving around under the influence.  Not even 2 minutes later a police pulled up behind us.  Ova motioned to the police that it was the van in front of us and we continued to follow them until the cop pulled him over......then we turned around and went home.

The 911 operator took Ova's information and phone number just in case they had any further questions.  On the way home, Ova stopped and picked up the beer can that the guy threw out, just in case the police officers needed it.

Several hours later Ova's phone rang, it was the police officer that pulled the guy over.  He was calling to get information from us on what we saw, and what exactly happened.  He had arrested the guy and charged him with a DUI.  Ova gave him the information and that was that.

To be honest, my heart was pounding like I was on a high speed chase the whole time we were following him.  And what happens when a crybaby's heart starts pounding like that??  They freakin' cry.....uugghh.....I hate those uncontrollable yet immediate responses that come to me.....hahaha (I was trying harder to hold back my tears than anything....hahaha....sad, I know)

I'm glad Ova did what he did.  That drunk guy was driving around in our neighborhood, were there are tons of kids running around and playing.  I would hate to think that he could have hit or even killed one of them.  Makai was in the van with us when all this happened, and he was scared because he didn't really know what was going on, but it gave us an opportunity to explain to him and teach him that it's not ok to drink and drive, and that by daddy doing that, he might have saved someone's life.

I have never been directly affected, or even had anyone close to me be directly affected by a drunk driver.....but I have heard many stories of lives lost unnecessarily.  I'm glad our streets are a little safter tonight thanks to my hubby!  :)