Remember that drunk driving thread?

[Medmech]

Bond set at $1.25M for Mich. driver in wrong-way Ohio wreck

Midday update

John Seewer
Associated Press

TOLEDO, Ohio - A Michigan man accused of killing a woman and four children in a wrong-way crash on an interstate while he was drunk kept his head bowed and said little in his first court appearance today.
Responding to a question from the judge, Michael Gagnon, 24, said only that he could not afford an attorney because he was a self-employed construction worker. Toledo Municipal Court Judge Michael Goulding then said a public defender would be appointed for Gagnon, who's charged with five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
Goulding set bond at $1.25 million.



Police said tests showed Gagnon, of Adrian, had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit when he drove his pickupin the wrong direction on Interstate 280 on Sunday night.
His truck collided with a minivan filled with eight people returning to Maryland from a holiday trip to Michigan.
Killed were Bethany Griffin, 36; Jordan Griffin, 10; Vadi Griffin, 2 months; Lacie Burkman, 7; and Haley Burkman, 10, police said. Danny Griffin Jr., 36, and two other children were injured. All are from Parkville, Md.
Members of Gagnon's family filled the first two rows of the courtroom during today's brief hearing.
Rick Sanders, an attorney speaking for Gagnon's relatives, said they want to say that their thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the crash and their family.
"They don't know what happened," Sanders said of Gagnon's relatives. "They're understandably upset. They're good people."
Sanders described Gagnon as distraught.
"He couldn't believe this had happened," Sanders said.

[yal]

I saw the pictures Made me sick

Our local PD's caught 54 people DUI New Years eve night, one guy was driving his 6 and 1 year old home drunk (he has been caught before), another drunk woman ran over a 14 years old boy as he was crossing the road.

Some people just don't get it.

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by yal

I saw the pictures Made me sick

Our local PD's caught 54 people DUI New Years eve night, on guy was driving his 6 and 1 year old home drunk (he has been caught before), another drunk woman ran over a 14 years old boy as he was crossing the road.

Some people just don't get it.

And it's always the innocent victims that get killed.

[865sp300e]

EWING, N.J — The four people killed in a multi-vehicle accident on I-95 north of the Scudder Falls Bridge in New Jersey Friday night have been identified, according to New Jersey State Police.

The deceased were: Rebecca Hernandez, 28, of Princeton, N.J., Isabelle Rodriguez, 57, and Roberto Cancel, 28, both of Puerto Rico, and Robert William Clarke, 76, of North Carolina.

Clarke, a former New Jersey resident who'd been visiting family in Cherry Hill, was driving his pickup southbound in the northbound lanes about 8 p.m. when he collided with Hernandez's minivan, police said. Rodriguez and Cancel were passengers in the minivan.


One other passenger, Alby Vargas, of Puerto Rico, was taken to St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown with serious injuries. Three other minivan passengers — two from Puerto Rico and one from Princeton — and the driver of a third car that collided with one of the other vehicles after the initial accident were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries. The minivan occupants were all related and had been returning from a ski trip in the Poconos, police said.

State police said they found an open container of alcohol in the pickup.

[Mistress]

Memories of working the midnight shift in the ER....

[Dee8go]

Yeah, nighttime is when the bad stuff like that happens the most.